Quote of the Day (Patti Smith, With Advice for Young Artists)

“The most important thing is the work and the evolution of the work….So focus on the work. That is the greatest gift we have as artists, to create an enduring work.”—American poet, rock-and-roll singer-songwriter, and memoirist Patti Smith, quoted by Amanda Fortini, “Literature Innovator: Patti Smith,” WSJ. Magazine, November 2020

(The image accompanying this post, of Patti Smith performing at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, was taken by her sister, Kimberly Smith, on Dec. 31, 2007.)

Quote of the Day (Patti Smith, on Mesmerizing Musician Tom Verlaine)

“I went to see Television whenever they played, mostly to see Tom [Verlaine], with his pale blue eyes and swanlike neck. He bowed his head, gripping his Jazzmaster, releasing billowing clouds, strange alleyways populated with tiny men, a murder of crows, and the cries of bluebirds rushing through a replica of space. All transmuted through his long fingers, all but strangling the neck of his guitar.”—American singer-songwriter and memoirist Patti Smith, on guitarist, songwriter, and Television frontman Tom Verlaine (1949-2023), in “Postscript: Tom Verlaine,” The New Yorker, Feb. 13 and 20, 2023

I never followed Tom Verlaine’s music, whether as part of Television in the Seventies or as a solo artist in the Eighties, so I didn’t take much notice of his death this January.

But I was instantly struck by Patti Smith’s extraordinarily vivid description of her lover from their punk-rock days, and wanted to share with readers how she elevated this mini-portrait to high art.

(The image accompanying this post, a 1977 publicity photo of Tom Verlaine promoting Television's debut album, Marquee Moon, on Elektra Records, was taken by Roberta Bayley and distributed by Elektra Records, then scanned by Yahoo Japan Auctions.)

Quote of the Day (Patti Smith, on the Mystery Behind Her Performances)

“It’s a mystery I’ve never solved. What is it that drives me to perform when I can hardly hold my own at a dinner party?”—Singer-songwriter, poet, and memoirist Patti Smith, on becoming a rock ‘n’ roll star, quoted in John Heilpern, “Conversation: Out to Lunch With Patti Smith,” Vanity Fair, November 2015

(The image accompanying this post, of Patti Smith performing at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, was taken by her sister, Kimberly Smith, on Dec. 31, 2007.)

Quote of the Day (Patti Smith, on Her NJ Cultural Upbringing)

“In our house, we had very little except for books. We had no money. But in 50s America people would dump books. Whole libraries. Or someone died. So we had beautiful books because my family would go to a church bazaar and buy them for pennies. Really, no one wanted them.” —Singer-songwriter, poet, and memoirist Patti Smith, on her cultural upbringing in southern New Jersey, quoted in John Heilpern, “Conversation: Out to Lunch With Patti Smith,” Vanity Fair, November 2015

(The image accompanying this post, of Patti Smith performing at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, was taken by her sister, Kimberly Smith, on Dec. 31, 2007.)

Quote of the Day (Patti Smith, on How ‘Everything Changes’)

“We want things we cannot have. We seek to reclaim a certain moment, sound, sensation. I want to hear my mother’s voice. I want to see my children as children. Hands small, feet swift. Everything changes. Boy grown, father dead, daughter taller than me, weeping from a bad dream. Please stay forever, I say to the things I know. Don’t go. Don’t grow.” —Poet-singer-songwriter-memoirist Patti Smith, M Train (2015)

(The image accompanying this post, of Patti Smith performing at New York’s Bowery Ballroom,  was taken by her sister, Kimberly Smith, on Dec. 31, 2007.)