Wednesday, January 27
Patti Smith
Singer-songwriter * Poet * Just Kids
In conversation with Kevin Berger

Singer, songwriter, poet, and artist, Patti Smith revolutionized rock music with her 1975 debut album, Horses, a galvanizing blend of spoken word, beat poetry and the punk movement. The album cover of Horses featured a now iconic photograph of the 28-year-old Smith taken by her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe. The record opens with the line, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine,” in Smith’s raw, emotion-filled voice. Smith’s eighteen albums include Easter (1978), Dream of Life (1988), Gone Again (1996), and Trampin’ (2004). In the late-1960s and 70s Smith lived in New York, and, briefly, Paris with her sister. During that period she formed many lifelong friendships, including with Sam Shepard, Jim Morrison, and James Carroll. Smith’s forthcoming memoir, Just Kids, deals with exactly that period, her youth in New York and enduring friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, with whom she shared a flat in the Hotel Chelsea. It was a particularly important era of creative exploration and growth for each of their burgeoning artistic careers. Steven Sebring’s film about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician, called Patti Smith: Dream of Life, debuted in 2008.

Journalist Kevin Berger was the executive editor and senior staff writer at San Francisco magazine for six years. Most recently he was the features editor at Salon. His articles have garnered many awards, and Berger has written about numerous music icons ranging from Mahler to Patti Smith.