Patti Smith, 'Just Kids' and My Heroes

             As I let magazine subscriptions end in recent years, I have been reading many more books; my tastes run almost entirely to non-fiction (although I am intermittently reading a book of Joseph Conrad stories), including history (World War II to present my main focus) and music. Because I wanted to keep this blog musical, I have not written about most of these books.

But one book that I just finished is not only a great book, it is a relatively recent release and is music oriented, that being “Just Kids” by Patti Smith (HarperCollins, 2010). The book is about the years that Smith and her best friend, sometime lover and often muse, Robert Mapplethorpe, spent living, loving and creating together, one way or another.

As well as a fascinating description of Smith’s growing up, moving about and eventual relocation to and maturing in New York City, it depicts just how close the singer, poet, songwriter and music journalist was to not succeeding. It also shows in rich detail how fortuitous it was for she to have met and fallen for and in with Mapplethorpe, the vastly talented but conflicted and controversial photographer, and how fortunate he was in turn.

Their support of each other, artistically, romantically and eventually as friends, free souls and artists, is also the story in large part of the New York art and music scenes in the late 1960s through the early 1980s, when Smith married MC5 leader Fred “Sonic” and moved to Michigan. Their growing up and maturing as most people do includes many events most people encounter, seen through somewhat different lenses.

The stories of successes and failures, estrangement, chance taking and eventual notoriety and fame are framed in a sweet, almost innocent voice by Smith, whose memory of and eye for detail draws the reader into stories time and time again. You can see the photography and other artwork, and hear the poems and later songs, as if they are there in front of you, and you can sense her confusion and acceptance as her former lover Mapplethorpe realizes, embraces and portrays his sexuality, for all of its raw context.

Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine

I had looked forward to reading this book since I got it as a birthday gift last year, but didn’t get around to it until this summer. As a massive Patti Smith Group fan and avid reader about her, Mapplethorpe and so many related artists and musicians for years (mainly through subscribing to The Village Voice from about 1979-2000), I was interested in this story as what I eventually recognized as a central point of my appreciation of music and art that was out of the mainstream. Smith’s depictions of people for exactly what they are, sometimes colored a bit by romantic recollection, don’t hide any warts or realities, but also do not condemn people, something Smith has been the target of too much of for years.

Having written about music for more than 30 years, I have some serious favorite bands and performers, but until now, I have only really had one hero, Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer. The more I realize how I feel about her music, what she exemplifies and how she communicates it, I believe Patti Smith has become my second musical hero, and reading “Just Kids” has helped me realize it.

The Women of Robot Holiday at Larkin Square July 31

(Most of) The Women of Robot Holiday, accompanied by some bunch of guys they found at the last minute to play at Larkin Square. Does anyone here buy off the rack? Photo by Val Dunne/Barkloud Productions

        It may have been the perfect night for a show at Larkin Square, with the weather sunny and in the low-70-degree range, Amy’s Truck serving dinner and me off of work/political volunteering for an evening. But what made it even better was the performance of The Women of Robot Holiday (and backing musicians).

        Robot Holiday, the brainchild of bassist, producer, songwriter and too-funny-for-his-own-good guy Jonathan Hughes and friends, has been recording and releasing new, original holiday music for several years, and playing shows at The Sportsmen’s Tavern and Larkin Square in particular for the last few holiday seasons. With all of the talented musicians involved, happily someone or several people came up with the idea of displaying this talent besides during the holidays, and featuring the many female musicians was a very smart move.

        The show featured Dee Adams on vocals and guitar, Cathy Carfagna on keyboards, vocals and guitar, Alex Lynne on guitar and vocals, Joelle Labert on vocals and Katy Miner on vocals, all singing lead and backing roles. If you had heard any one of these musicians before, you’d know this would be a fun show, but blending all of this talent with the added backing of Jim Whitford on guitar, Hughes on bass and Rob Lynch on drums should have told you that this was a show not to miss.

        The show began with a really good sultry, funky and lusty number by Adams, which grabbed attention, and Labert added her rootsy, yearning lead vocals to the next tune. Miner, the only Robot Holiday woman performing I had not witnessed in her solo act before, contributed a fine, low, slinky funk song, aided nicely by Carfagna’s keyboards and Hughes’ bass. Carfagna then took center stage with a funky rocking version of “Tumble Down,” a song she recorded on her “Turn Your Face to the Sun” CD as well as with one of the bands she plays with, The Outlyers. 

           Lynne then sang a county and western flavored song with some real nice guitar interplay with Whitford possibly entitled "If I Were Lucky," where she is missing that special person; Adams followed with a chiming pop rocker, "Coming in for a Landing," where she seems to be seeing where things will lead. Labert and the women then sang a real nice C&W song with Carfagna supplying on-the-mark accordion, and Miner contributed "The Best of Me," slower and a bit dreamy. Carfagna then sang "Turn Your Face to the Sun," which sounded even better vocally here than on the CD due to the Women of Robot Holiday.

          

Cathy Carfagna singing, playing accordion and avoiding a snarky caption.
Photo by Val Dunne/Barkloud Productions

               I wish I caught the title of the next song, sung by Adams, which was a slower, smoky, bluesy country number with Carfagna's accordion and a good Whitford solo near the end standing out; Lynne continued the feel with a sinister, brooding cover of "Jolene" she recorded as part of Opaline with Hughes and guitarist, singer and songwriter David Mussen (who is also a big part of Robot Holiday).

               The evening came to an end with four more songs, a very danceable tune sung by Miner (with serious funky bass from Hughes and a disco guitar line from Whitford), Labert singing a cover of David Meinzer's "Right There in Your Eyes," Carfagna appropriately performing "Last Day in July," Adams and Lynne dueting on Michael Oliver's "Tell Me What You're Dreaming" and Adams then singing lead on the finale, a cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," which has been performed at previous Robot Holiday shows.

             Also deserving credit is Seamus Gallivan, who MCed the show and has been one of the contributing factors to the high quality of musical programming at Larkin Square and helping gain further support for the Robot Holiday cause, which again benefited the Food Bank of Western New York.  

Where Do You Dare Me to Draw the Line?

Cream would have written a more clever caption than this

As I finish writing the review of the Women of Robot Holiday and receive the photos, I had to mention an, um, interesting concert bill my wife Val mentioned to me today.

She said she was talking/writing with her friend Nikki, an expat Buffa

lonian in California working in television and movie industries. It seems she was waiting to go to a concert at the county fair, the double bill being Hall & Oates and Air Supply.

Air Supply - No, the night's aren't better

I hadn't recently felt my colon clench so fast; while I am a major Hall & Oates fan, Air Supply is WAY too pappy, schmaltzy, treacly and downright boring for me, even to sit through for a band I really like, from the "now I'm happy, really I am" of "Even the Nights Are Better" to the flat-out bathos of "All Out of Love," a song too many overemotional teens turned to when that one guy or girl dropped them.

I imagine hundreds, nay, thousands of people carefully scheduling their arrival and departures from this show so as to miss being subjected to Air Supply while not missing Hall & Oates. It would be tragic beyond words to miss Hall & Oates in any way, but to Air Supply? No can do.

The Fixx & Wang Chung at Buffalo Canalside July 25

            No doubt most of us attending the July 25 concert by The Fixx and Wang Chung at Buffalo Canalside were there for the memories, the admittedly large number of great older tunes by these bands.

            But both bands have relatively new CDs of original music, and one of the most interesting things to come out of the show was the two approaches taken to being in bands whose biggest moments commercially, and many of us would say artistically, occurred 25-30 or more years ago.

The Fixx 2013

            I don’t know of The Fixx was the entire tour headliner or if the bands are alternating the honor, but the Fixx headlined in Buffalo. The band opened with several songs off of their new CD, “Beautiful Friction,” displaying their approach, that of a band that may have been most popular 3 decades ago continuing to treat itself as a band recording new music and ideas and prominently including the material in their set. Singer Cy Curnin and the band performed the newer songs as tunes to be appreciated and not just as separators between the classic hits.

            I do not have The Fixx’s new CD, and Curnin did not introduce several of the newer songs by name, but some of these tunes sounded pretty good; the second song of the set had some cool atmospherics, followed by a song with some real energy and punch. Another song that was not introduced by name had a very strong gothic sound and feel, and Curnin’s vocals went off into very interesting Peter Murphy territory.

            The Fixx waited until the eighth song of the set before digging into the treasure chest, coming out with a spirited and seriously crowd-pleasing version of “One Thing Leads to Another.” After a pretentious, worst of U2-sounding new song, the band next played a really good version of one of my favorites, “Stand or Fall.” After a couple more new songs (one featuring some seriously good and heavy guitar), the band ended its regular set with a fun, extended version of “Saved by Zero.”

            Even during the encore, The Fixx stuck with its approach, with some newer material before ending with a strong version of “Red Skies at Night.”

Wang Chung 2013

            Wang Chung opened the part of the show we caught (apparently, Buffalo Canalside shows have taken the unusual step of starting opening acts on time, so we missed the first band); singer/guitarist Jack Hues (who looked and sounded ridiculously good and similar to his 1980s self) told the crowd before the show started that “We’re going to do some wanging and some chunging tonight,” so you could see where things were heading, even though the band released its first CD of new material, “Tazer Up,” in December. Original bassist/vocalist Nick Feldman also remains in the band and was apparently having a blast onstage.

            The band opened up with the first two songs from the new CD, “City of Light,” which kicked nicely, and “Lets Get Along,” a poppy sounding tune that had some punchy Tears for Fears touch. The sing-along chorus went from the song itself to the first insertion of the back catalog as Hues switched it to “Wang Chung tonight.”

            The next song, “Space Junk,” has been heard by some from the first episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC, and Wang Chung followed with their first US single, “Don’t Let Go,” sounding both a touch dated but really good; no need to update the sound when it sounds good. Sadly, the next song, “To Live and Die in LA,” from the film of the same name, sounds both dated and still rather boring, the one Wang Chung song I can do without hearing again. I always thought the song was somewhat overwrought and boring, and it still sounds that way to me; somehow, the synthesizer had that real bad 1980s sound as if it hadn’t been played since the 1980s and was just removed from a time capsule. Hell, at least get a new floppy disk for it.

            Wang Chung returned to better songs with a strong trio to end their set, starting with a lively version of 1986’s “Let’s Go,” building to “Dance Hall Days” and ending with the international smash and beer commercial soundtrack (I bet lots of tour buses, studio time and mortgages were paid with it) “Wang Chung Tonight.”

            As if a nod to the 1980s when both bands made their biggest marks on the charts and to fans, both bassists played…Steinberg basses. Something you don’t see a lot of any more.