October 13, 2011 Jim Baade's review of: Patti Smith was featured on October 13, 2011 at Mott

Community College in Flint, Michigan. Student musicians accompanied Ms. Smith as she sang. Punk rock's poet laureate, Patti Smith, ranks among the most influential female rock and rollers of all time. An Evening with Patti Smith By: Jim Baade Full disclosure, I have never been a big fan of Patti Smiths music. That is not to say I do not recognize and appreciate Smiths contributions as the punk-rock poet of the late 1970s, I do! It was just a matter of musical taste than made me less than enthusiastic for her music; I preferred the thinking mans punk rock of the Clash, the fun and energy of the Ramones and the sheer audacity of the Sex Pistols. Still, when I heard that Smith would be speaking and performing at Mott Community College Thursday night (October 13, 2011), I was excited. After all, here was a true punk rock pioneer and survivor! It was the Patti Smith Group that had influenced the likes of U-2, R.E.M and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has also forged creative collaborations with legendary artists like Bob Dylan. Bruce Springsteen and Sam Sheppard. And certainly here was a central figure of the punk rock period that challenged the status quo of corporate rock and made rock music mean something again. Today, dressed in her trademark black, Smiths disheveled appearance is predictably suited as the Godmother of punk. At age 64, she is forever the lean, sturdy and feisty androgynous looking rebel she always has been. Smith brought a keen sense of awareness on both social and political issues of the day, as well insights of her past as she answered questions and performed a ballad with her daughter on piano in a small hour-long gathering with both students and faculty at MCC. What I first found in Patti Smith was a kindred creative spirit; I appreciated her reverence for her musical peers like the Clash and Television. I adored her love for Bob Dylan and JD Salingers landmark novel, -Catcher in the Rye. The swagger that propelled her to become a punk icon was and is genuine and not at all phony. Smith spoke of her unwillingness to lip sync her hit Because the Night for Dick Clark in 1979, even as Clark predicted that not doing so would mean a rapid end of the song on the charts. The same tough mindedness and uncompromising values serves her well today. Smith is a vigorous opponent of the war in Iraq and she judges both the invasion and George W Bush with much disdain. Again, like her punk rock stance, Smiths activism is encouraging to me, yet I think she would refuse such a label. The message I heard was dissent must be heard above the chores of lies that led our nation to war in Iraq and that is what is important. Even now, despite her progressive political nature Smith is first and foremost an artist. I discovered her to be academic and streetwise, bohemian yet bourgeoisie, an idealist who is also practical. I can now say Im more of a fan of Patti Smith and her book Just Kids, is next on my reading list.