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.