FREE MONEY!

Last night on the ARTE Network, here in France, the Patti Smith Documentary, Dream Of Life was shown. A very amazing film that was made over a 10 year period. It went back and forth through time, with archival footage from the 70's up until some of the recent performances of the last few years. In it, you saw her children grow over a 10 year period, she introduced her parents and spoke about her companion of the 70's, Rober Mapplethorpe and her marriage to Fred Sonic Smith.
Patti Smith was one of the artists that re awakened my interest and passion for rock and roll in the mid 70's. She is one of the people who inspired me to write and play music. I met her in the 70's in Detroit with a friend who was a rock writer, after that I saw her every chance I could. I had known her husband, Fred when he was the other lead guitarist of the MC5 in Detroit and loved his work with The Sonic Rendezvous Band. I have profiled the Sonic Rendezvous on this blog and mentioned the career of Scott Morgan of the Rationals who was the lead singer. Wayne Kramer put out a very good tribute record after Fred died called Dodge and Main...I highly recommend it!
Check out this video of The Sonic Rendezvous.
This is a video of Free Money from 1976 performed in Stockholm. This is a woman who trancends the lable Female Rock Artist. She is a great poet and a powerful passionate performer. What a life, small town punk poet who worshipped Arthur Rimbaud, New York Artist who learned to weld her poetry to rock and was one of the inspirations to a generation of punk rockers! While touring and visiting Detroit, she became friends with the members of the MC5, who were considered the prototype, and still are one of the most powerful political/rock musical units of all time. At that time, Wayne Kramer was still in prison and her Detroit performances would always end with various mewmbers of the MC5 on stage yelling FREE WAYNE KRAMER.
Wayne was released from prison and became reborn as a great solo musician in the 90's.
Meanwhile, Patti fell in love with Fred Sonic Smith, married him, stopped making recordes and lived as a mother and house wife in East Detroit for 10 years. She and Fred made one Record together, People Have The Power.
Fred died of heart failure, and she moved on and was encouraged to go back on stage.
She has only gained stature as a great American artist, a powerful voice, an icon...