#Lenny Kaye

[legendarytragedynacho]

Patti Smith Group

#patti smith group #patti smith #lenny kaye #music #musician #musica #rock #rock music #singer #rock singer #punk rock

[mrbopst]

David Johansen, Lenny Kaye, Dee Dee Ramone & Andy Paley, CBGB, NYC, 1977.

Photo: Bob Gruen

#bob gruen #david johansen #Lenny Kaye #Dee Dee Ramone #Andy Paley #cbgb omfug #Bob Gruen #1977 #70s #New York #Pinball

[mywifeleftme]

365: Patti Smith // Horses

Horses Patti Smith 1975, Arista

There’s a man named Nicky Drumbolis who lives up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in an apartment that doubles as perhaps Canada’s greatest bookstore almost no one has ever seen. The septuagenarian Drumbolis is short and nearly deaf, a master printmaker and eccentric autodidact linguist. For years he ran a second-hand shop on Toronto’s Queen St. called Letters, until push (the size of his collection) came to shove (skyrocketing rent) and he went north, where he could afford a sufficiently large space to spread out. Unfortunately, Thunder Bay has little market for antiquarian books and micro press ephemera, and his shop is located on one of the most crime-ridden streets in the country. And so, the transplanted Letters has no storefront—in fact, the building looks derelict, its windows boarded up and covered with what at first glance seems to be graffiti but on closer inspection resembles a detail from the cave paintings at Lascaux. Letters’ patronage is limited to the online traffic in rare first editions that brings him a small income, and the occasional by-appointment adventurer willing to make the long, long 1,400 km drive from Toronto or further abroad.

When you enter, you find yourself in what appears to be a well-kept single room used bookstore, the kind there used to be dozens of in every major city. Books of every type and topic line the shelves, neatly arranged by category, and a long glass display features more delicate items, nineteenth century broadside newspapers and the like, some so fragile they seem on the verge of crumbling into dust. But this is not, Drumbolis warns you as soon as you attempt to take a book off of the shelf, a bookstore: this room is a facsimile, a tribute exhibit to as he calls it, “the fetish object formerly known as The Book.” The real bookstore lies in the chambers beyond this front room, the full catalogues of bygone presses, the one-of-one personal editions he’s assembled over decades of following his personal obsessions, the stacks which crowd his own modest sleeping quarters.

To Drumbolis, the original utility of the book as a container and mediator of information is now effectively passed; virtually every popular book in existence has been digitized, their contents instantly available in formats that are better-indexed, more easily parsed, and more readily transferrable than the humble physical book ever allowed. To desire a book is to desire possession of the thing rather than its contents, this edition, this printing, perhaps this particular copy that once passed through the hands of someone significant. He can show you the copy of John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty that was owned by Canada’s founding father John A. MacDonald, and argue convincingly that this object helped set the course of a nation’s history; or a set of Shakespeare’s complete works bearing Charles Dickens’ ex libris, which sets off a long anecdote about how Dickens liked to troll his houseguests with a collection of fake bookshelves. Drumbolis’s collection is threaded through his life like an old wizard in a fantasy novel whose flesh has fused with the roots of a tree: he eats with his books and he sleeps with them; collecting fuels his arcane research and dictates where and when he travels; 25 years ago he uprooted his life when his collection bade him, and though he’s starved for company in the frozen city it chose for him, he abides.

My own case of collectivitis is not so advanced, though Lord only knows what I’ll be like when I’m Old (I’m currently 47). And despite the conceit of this blog, I’ve seldom spent much time in these reviews dwelling on the physical properties of my records, evaluating the relative merit of pressings and the like (or even mentioning which one I’ve got). But as I sit here listening to my copy of Patti Smith’s Horses for the first time, I feel a small but definite sense of wonderment. It’s an early ‘80s Canadian pressing, so near-mint I might’ve stepped back in time and bought it new, still with what I take to be the original inner-sleeve, pale azure (to match the Arista disc label) with a texture almost like crepe paper.

It’s a delightful, surprising contrast to the iconic black and white cover portrait of Smith by her former paramour Robert Mapplethorpe. Generations of fans have stared at this image as they listened, not simply because Smith is hot (though this is undeniably true) but because the music’s visionary qualities demand an embodied locus. That a record, unlike a book, can speak aloud, has always primitively fascinated me; that this one contains what I can only describe as rituals makes it magical, this physical copy that is unique because it’s this one that is speaking to me in this moment. 

 Smith writes on the back of the sleeve:

“…it’s me my shape burnt in the sky its me the memoire of me racing through the eye of the mer thru the eye of the sea thru the arm of the needle merging and jacking new filaments new risks etched forever in a cold system of wax…horses groping for a sign for a breath…”

“charms, sweet angels,” she concludes. “you have made me no longer afraid of death.” The record becomes an extension of Smith’s body as it existed in that time—I think here of the physicality of the moment in “Break it Up” where you can faintly hear her striking her own chest with the flat of her palm to make her voice quaver. It makes me wonder how anyone could sell this thing once they have it: not because it is particularly rare or difficult to acquire, but because it’s hard for me to imagine the experience of slipping the lustrous black disc from its dressing and setting the needle down upon it as anything but a personal one. It is poetry and waves; the subliming of the idea of a rave-up; Tom Verlaine shedding his earthly mantle in an explosion of birds; John Cale; Kaye, Král, Daugherty, and Sohl; one of my boys from Blue Öyster Cult; the pounding of hooves and the Mashed Potato.

I suppose what I’m describing is a fetish, my pleasure in acquiring these things and writing these reviews the hard and strange work of finding life’s joy in its dusty corners. This year has run through my fingers like water, as it seems they all do now. But on my good days, all these words behind me and the records in front of me seem like a document of abundance.

365/365

#patti smith #horses #john cale #lenny kaye #ivan král #blue oyster cult #tom verlaine #punk rock #art rock #female singer #poetry #collecting #music review #vinyl record #'70s music #the end

[thebowerypresents]

Patti Smith – Brooklyn Steel – December 29, 2023

Legendary singer-songwriter Patti Smith and her band were back at Brooklyn Steel on Friday to kick off the iconic New Yorker’s two-night birthday celebration.

Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | thisisnotaphotograph.com

#Bowery Presents #Brooklyn #Brooklyn Steel #East Williamsburg #Edwina Hay #Greenpoint #Lenny Kaye #Live Music #Music #New York City #Patti Smith #Photos #Williamsburg

[nofatclips]

25th Floor and High on Rebellion by Patti Smith Group from the album Easter

#music #patti smith group #patti smith #bruce brody #ivan král #lenny kusikoff #ivan kral #jay dee daugherty #lenny kaye #patricia lee smith #jimmy iovine #james iovine #thom panunzio

[creaminmybones]

We Three acoustic rendition-Electric Lady Livestream, 2/2/22

#patti smith #patti smith group #lenny kaye #we three #music

[midnight-to-six-man]

Happy 50th to the album that changed my life some 30 years ago.

#nuggets #garage rock #lenny kaye

[syruckusnow]

#music #book #Lenny Kaye #rock

[chakazard]

I went to see Patti Smith for the third time, because she is far too important a part of my personal mythology not to. Patti Smith is a guide post on my journey to discover myself. She made the world safe for stubborn awkward clarinet playing poet/rock stars and I may not be in her debt but in some small way follow in these footsteps. She is someone who exudes spirituality with every syllable and then turns around, spitting, declaring that she will not sell her soul to god, furious at the presumption of Jesus that he thought he had the rights to die for her sins! Patti butterflies between genres and genders and media without affixing herself to any of them. Considering the river of influence flows both ways, she exists in the center of the Venn diagram between all my favorite flavors of poetry and rock, the two art forms which speak directly to my soul.

Patti Smith is one of the most dynamic, transcendent, and evocative performers alive, and her powers may have only grown with age. The Field Marshal still leading the charge of rock n roll against the enemies of care and creativity. She opened with Dancing Barefoot, and the sound was a spiritual experience. She commanded energy and attention from everyone in the room and fed it back to us filtered through her voice. Lenny Kaye is still standing to her left after all this time and being one of the coolest fuckers to ever touch six strings. For the first few songs, she seemed ageless and eternal, repeatedly abusing her mic stand and commanding the attention of everyone in the room, (Free Money was twice as loud and fast as the record, and while Lenny and Tony Shanhan sing more lead vocals than you might expect, her voice hasn't lost any of its strength). Patti then had to interrupt the show to change her socks because they were bunching up in her shoes and making her uncomfortable ("I'm not dancing like this because I'm intoxicated, I have a sock problem!") which probably made this the most unique show I have ever attended and I loved it. It was a very human and relatable moment and Patti even made changing her socks seem artistic. She then followed that up with a positively beautiful rendition of Because the Night that brought a tear or two to my eye.

Partway through, Patti took a break and her band ran through a medley of songs about time including an unexpected but delightful Cher cover from Shanahan before the boss came back for the last half of Time Is On My Side. Patti sounded like the oldest being on Earth for a cover of Dylan's One Too Many Mornings and then got possessed by the Spirit of Fucking Itself (which popped into Lenny for a fiery guitar solo, then returned) for an unbelievably vibrant and sexual performance of Ain't It Strange. Afterwards, a cake was presented and balloons were dropped. Let me tell you. Nothing is as blissful or addictive as batting balloons around! It doesn't matter that I'm an adult surrounded by strangers. The excitement I felt whenever a balloon came close enough to hit was such a strangely tangible expression of joy. A blistering cover of the Chamber Brothers' Time Has Come Today gave way to an impassioned rant in which Patti got so invested in screaming to encourage the crowd to DO SOMETHING and make this bullshit world a better place, weaving lines of poetry in amongst primal yells, that she missed a few cues and the segue into People Have the Power. That gave her a sin to ask penance for "for fucking up the last 14 and a half minutes… but in my defense it was 14 and a half minutes of pure unadulterous joy!" (or did she say adulterous?). Her daughter Jesse joined the band to took up residence at the piano and they gave us a rendition of Gloria to shake heaven and Earth. Jay Dee Dougherty gave us a blistering drumming performance that was just as mind-blowing as it was in 1975 and Patti left us with one of the greatest things I have ever heard a human say in person. "People! A new year is coming! Be righteous! Use your voice!

Be good! AND BE REALLY FUCKING BAD!" There's my Patti, the one who sees both sides and that neither one is correct but they are two sides of the same thing. I left amidst the sounds of popping balloons, picked up a copy of Patti's new photography book, and headed back to the train, feeling like I had no fears and no limitations, and if I could only keep this feeling then I would look back a year from now and know that 2023 was one hell of a year, for me and for humanity. I talked to my sister a couple of days later and she said she had a friend who also attended and walked away with the same feeling. It was palpable, walking away from the venue, hearing the odd stomp of a balloon being burst. All people find their best selves in different ways. Patti Smith, as a performer, a poet, a concept, and someone victorious over 76 years on Earth, helps me see mine.

#chaknroll #Patti Smith #lenny kaye #live music review #new york punk rock

[popsixsquishcicerolipschitz]

Jessi Colter - PSALM 75 Unto Thee

JessiColterVEVO

About the album:

The striking new album by Jessi Colter features 12 original, spontaneous recordings, with lyrics drawn from the most timeless and sacred poems, the Psalms. Recorded with world-renowned producer/guitarist/author, Lenny Kaye with whom Jessi became dear friends while he worked on her late husband Waylon Jennings autobiography THE PSALMS encapsulates the universal yet simple joyous mysteries of this spiritual text resulting in an altogether unique and transfixing album.

Follow Jessi Colter:

Spotify - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/spotify!thee

Facebook - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/facebook!thee

Twitter - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/twitter!thee

Instagram - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/instagram!...

Website - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/website!thee

YouTube - https://jessicolter.lnk.to/youtube!thee

#Jessi Colter #PSALM 75 #Unto Thee #JessiColterVEVO #Lenny Kaye #Waylon Jennings #THE PSALMS #Youtube

[legendarytragedynacho]

Lenny Kaye and Patti Smith.

📷 Photo by Gus Stewart

#lenny kaye #patti smith #patti smith group #gus stewart #music #musician #musica #rock #rock music #singer #rock singer #punk rock #poet #classic punk

[filosofablogger]

♫ Amie ♫

As I mentioned a few nights ago, our friend Keith sent me an email with three song suggestions earlier this week, and today’s is the third of his titles!  (Feel free to send me some suggestions to help me out, friends!) This is one that a line or two periodically pop into my head for no particular reason, but I hadn’t given thought to the song in its entirety for a long time!  I’m generally not a…

View On WordPress

#country rock #Craig Fuller #Lenny Kaye #music charts #Pure Prairie League #RCA Records #Songfacts

[punkisnotdead11]

Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty Images

David Bowie (left) poses with Lenny Kaye, from the Patti Smith Group, at CBGB’s club in New York City on April 4, 1975.

#punk is not dead #punk #punk rock #getty images #david bowie #lenny kaye #cbgb omfug #new york #richard E Aaron #redferns

[julio-viernes]

En 1968 las Shangri-Las se separaron tras una racha de varios singles fracasados comercialmente. Avanzados los 70 se reunieron como trío – sin Mary Ann, fallecida en 1970 a los 22 años a causa de una sobredosis- y grabaron varios temas con Andy Paley que no llegaron a ver la luz porque las chicas quedaron descontentas con el material grabado, Además tocaron en el CBGB, acompañadas de Lenny Kaye y Jay Dee Doughety del Patti Smith Group y el propio Paley, con Lou Reed, Lester Bangs y Debbie Harry entre el público asistente.

Lo que sí llegó a materializar Mary Weiss fue un LP en solitario, respaldada por la banda de garaje The Reigning Sound. El sello Norton Records lanzó en 2007 el recomendable “Dangerous Game”. Arriba "You're Never Gonna See Me Cry", firmada por Billy Miller y Andy Schernoff (The Dictators), la otra es "Nobody Knows (But I Do)" de Andy Maltz y Greg Cartwright de R.Sound.

#mary weiss #the shangri las #andy paley #lenny kaye #the reining sound #andy schernoff #the dictators

[nofatclips]

Patti Smith interview + live excerpts @ Cirque Royal, Bruxelles, 1976

Gloria (Them/Van Morrison “cover”)

Land

Let’s Twist Again (Chubby Checker cover)

#music #live #live music #patti smith #patti smith group #them #van morrison #chubby checker #kal mann #dave appell #video #live video #koninklijk circus #cirque royal #bruxelles #lenny kaye #ivan kral #jay dee daugherty #ivan král

[creaminmybones]

Free Money acoustic rendition-Electric Lady Livestream, 2/2/22

#patti smith #lenny kaye #music #audio