Hello everybody,
Happy August I am still battling a bit with jet lag but all is well. Just saying hello and saluting Jerry and Hermann on their birthdays, with gratitude for their good works.
A couple of suggestions. If you like Instagram, one of our subscribers @fredericward, posts lovely meditations and pictures on the occasions of the birth or passing of many of our beloved poets, artists, activists and friends. Today he honors both of them. Also today on Rimbaud’s Lost Papers olivertompkinsray@substack.com Oliver Ray gives us a rare glimpse of the book he is writing, all his posts are illuminating.
I will be writing more soon, I am finishing another little poem to send my subscribers. It’s very hot in the city today, so I am sticking around, listening to the Grateful Dead and perhaps reread a few chapters of Billy Budd.
Oh! And that part of Billy Budd! I’ve never heard it. Sublime. Thank you.
Grateful is a favorite of mine — the major and minor keys, like certain call-and-response chants — for me it touches the light and dark of our lives, gains and losses, how it goes. Thank you for reciting it, Patti.
Wonderful Song
Good morning Patti,
Thank you for the pearl!
You always make me smile!
I come to this post late as there has been much going on in Britain that is very upsetting. So thank you Patti for cheering me up this morning and belated Birthday greetings to Jerry and Herman. Much love from London 🙏
Hi Patti,
When I was a child my father took us to the movie Billy Budd with Terence Stamp. At that time my hair was a light golden brown and I had a Pixie haircut. I had tiny curls like Billy Budd’s in the film. I was a bit of a tomboy and wore clam digger peddle pushers in 1962. I remember my dad calling me Billy Budd that summer. Funny memory!
Box of Rain
“Walk into splintered sunlight
Inch your way through dead dreams to another land
Maybe you're tired and broken
Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken
And thoughts unclear”
That’s been me, my dear
Celebrating Jerry Garcia 🌅
Plus I look forward to January to go read Miby Dick in New Bedford - I have followed along at home for a couple of years - this is the YEAR - it’s a bucket list kind of addition - I must Do This !!
Yes it GLORIA!!
I had a fun outing today then on returning home to downtown Sterling Mass - The PT Pickers played a certain song - and my ears perked up 🆙
Grateful for this Patti. Happy August!
There's no place like home, especially after a work/travel trip! Although, Patti, your performer's life doesn't equate with most jobs, I would bet that sometimes the travel part is a j-o-b. Anyway, I think I'll have some Cherry Garcia while I read comments here...
Thanks, so cool to know a bit of your thoughts behind a song. I was in NYC this past weekend at a birthday party. I was seated with two youngsters in their twenties. We started talking about music and they love you! They had recently seen you play and were so excited. I told them I have seen you ten or eleven times. I showed them the photo I have of my bookshelf with all of your books. They had read Just Kids and M Train but didn’t know there were more! It was really fun to have your music in common.
oh, beautiful uplifting post here. I am grateful for the words and spirit of it. thank you and welcome back! This particular clip of Billy Budd is glorious. (hat tip to Fred for his kind remembrances too).
Grateful. I run through all my gratitudes every day. You, Patti, gives us so much...art, hope and a reminder of how compassion makes us human. Cannot thank you enough.
I spent my afternoon today digging the whole Gung Ho album and while I was gathering more information on it, I came across a very interesting interview you gave at the time of its release. I'm pleased to share the link https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2000-03-31/76646/
Thank you Patti ❤️ Forever grateful to you, Anna.
Ooo, I’d love to hear Patti play the clarinet! Thanks for the link Anna !
Welcome back Patti and thank you for the beautiful stories and remembrances that you share with us. I know it could be taken as a silly thing but, listening to you, I feel the same feeling I felt when our parents or grandparents read us something before bed. Our joy made us fly high, and so we were ready to dive into the great lake of dreams...
Thank you again for everything you have done and are doing for all of us, dear and sweet Patti.
We love ❤️you❤️ so much!
L🌸u❤️c☮️a😊L☮️o❤️v🌸e
August 1st is my birthday too although I’m not great in any particular way like Jerry or Herman but it was nice to mentally hop onto to the birthday train and feel that gratitude 🙏 thank you Patti! Such a beautiful song. x
Happy birthday Sumishta! 🎉
Thank you Anna! 😇🙏
You bring resounding calm.
Thank you, Patti. Wonderful check in.
Thank you for this song, these lyrics, it ´s beautiful. I listen to it very often when I’m feeling down, or when I need some peace, some light. This song reminds me to enjoy each nice little thing I can see or feel around me, life looks different. Nice day to all
Patti, you are an inspiration to me. Oftentimes, I think why should I even bother with writing or poetry? No one will ever care to read the words of a 74 year old. Yet there is such wisdom in there to share.
Today, your “Grateful” poem (song lyric) touched me with a positivity that made a definite difference. It will all turn out fine. And I needed that message. I’m pulling on my silver hair, and I thank you.
This month marks the one year anniversary of my husband’s death, and he was often mistaken for Jerry García in his earlier days.
Hello.
There are guitar tuning videos on you tube. Useful
Tuning a Guitar - Standard tuning for 6 string guitar
https://youtu.be/jJxRjWtwmEE?si=5NPGbkHc_4OGTLaT
"Perfect Guitar Tuner (E Standard = E A D G B E)
https://youtu.be/DxkMQvmKZaM?si=oX_XXMHquUNP11IR
Hi Patti that was heartfelt and warming to hear this song tribute.
That story about the tuning is so near to my own experience lol even when i think I'm in tune using a digital gadget with my guitar (banjo is even more difficult) my musician friends always help out.
Also thanks for that small but beautiful songwriting lesson ❤⚘🙏
Beautiful words for a song so eloquently delivered, and you were right, everything will come out just fine 🌈 … the simplest of words carry the biggest punch, happy August Patti from Scotland 🥀
Happy birthday, Jerry.
I like the Grateful Dead's From the Mars Hotel 50th anniversary edition (3 CDs), released in June this year.
Also...
Celebrate Jerry Garcia's 82nd birthday with a live Grateful Dead performance from that day. [AUDIO]|Thursday 1 August 2024
https://liveforlivemusic.com/features/jerry-garcia-80th-birthday-grateful-dead-shows-audio/
Here are recordings of their 42nd birthday live on 1 August 1984 and their 52nd birthday live on 1 August 1994.
Great performance including Dr John's Iko Iko. I have to listen to this one too.
Patti, please do a birthday gig this year.
Patti, I have a little something from a poem of mine to share. Your little bird reminded me of it. "Life's a perch, and then you fly." --Leah
That’s so cool, I love it
Happy August! And grateful was awesome, thank you!
Sometimes your just a cleansing soul balm, I love a good Patti soaking, I awake refreshed and new, with eyes wide open.
Thank you so much, dear Patti.
I just got off of work and saw this lovely post. It truly touched me. Thank you for the reading of Grateful. It is so moving.
Happy August to you and welcome back home.
I grateful for you, going to listen to Ripple and turn in for the night.
Thanks again for the mention.
Sweet dreams from Detroit.
🌙🩶✨
You just flowed right into those lyrics. Grateful heart here, Patti - A woman like any other, a woman like no other (a nod to Artaud's waltz). Thank you kindly - and please mind how you go.
I return because I’ve rewatched the video and wanted to say again how overcome I am, Patti, by your recitation of “Grateful.” It is so powerful. I often listen to the song and even more often say the words to myself; I’m grateful now to have this video to return to.
Thank you for acknowledging Melville’s birthday. Though he is above all known for his fiction, he was an arresting poet as well. It is a bitter irony that a man now recognized as one of the greatest American writers went unrecognized and misunderstood in his lifetime. This induced in him a melancholy that he could never shake, but he continued to work and left us some of the greatest American writing we have.
In gratitude for Melville continuing to work despite being unpopular, I offer this poem on his birthday, fittingly titled, “Art”:
ART
In placid hours well-pleased we dream
Of many a brave unbodied scheme.
But form to lend, pulsed life create,
What unlike things must meet and mate:
A flame to melt—a wind to freeze;
Sad patience—joyous energies;
Humility—yet pride and scorn;
Instinct and study; love and hate;
Audacity—reverence. These must mate,
And fuse with Jacob’s mystic heart,
To wrestle with the angel—Art.
🪽🪽🪽
Thank YOU, Robin.
Touch of Grey Patti! What a beautiful tribute. ❤️⚡️🌹
Patti, you are such a wonderful poet. I’d never heard “Grateful”, I love it!! And your story on the guitar tuning.. love that too!! Thank you!
"Hey! Nice Guitar..."
A touching tribute to Jerry as he soars the Universe! Happy Birthday! Happy Day to Mr. Melville also! love the Grateful song! Grateful they shared their talents with the world!
I love your song Grateful. My favorite version of it: the version you made for your subscribers last year, where it's you singing, Lenny on guitar, and Cairo showing up at the end. Doesn't get any better than that. Happy August. Glad you're back home safe.
grateful is possibly my favourite song and i'll never tire of hearing it ...Happy Birthday Jerry, Happy Birthday to my dear friend Layla, and Happy August to Patti and all of us x https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzvk0fWtCs0
Thank you for Frederic Ward…I lost a childhood friend today and needed some poetry to soothe my grief.
Lezlie Sklar Hunt Warner
June 1, 1957 August 1, 2024
If you read this please offer a little blessing to help her in her new journey.
So sorry for your loss.
Blessings for your friend's spirit and love to you 💜💐
So sorry for your loss, dear Tama. Thank you for your beautiful, compassionate words.
It’s always so generous to share our emotions in front of course of life and I think that this could heal our spirit and and help us to be more together, spreading love one by another, in an infinite grace gesture.
I’ll send you my love and my dearest hug. Luca 🌸❤️🌸
Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your childhood friend.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
So sorry to hear of your loss. Perhaps this Native American prayer will help...
I give you this one thought to keep,
I am with you still, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on the ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain,
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush,
Of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night,
Do not think of me as gone,
I am with you still, in each new dawn.
This is beautiful, Lee. Thank you for sharing it.
Lee, that is one of my favorite "prayers". It has never failed to soothe. Thanks for posting.
P.Zs. I shared it with her family 💙
I'm glad. They are never really gone, just invisible:)
Beautiful and perfect! Thank you!
It's a beautiful poem, even without the music.
As a long time Deadhead, and a big fan of yours, I love this song and so appreciate your sentiments.
Looking forward to seeing you in Iowa City 😊
Peace to you, Patti
keep cool & thanks.......glad you're home & safe thinkin of you listening to the dead is quite a vision 💘
It was very crafty of you to get others to tune your guitar for you! (I've done similar crafty things!) I do love the song Grateful very much; it's a sweet song. I'm still reading Moby Dick, so Melville is close to my heart right at the moment, and I've had Ripple in my head on and off today; my "earworm radio station" is waffling between Ripple, the Age of Aquarius, and a song by Rilo Kiley, A Better Son/Daughter, so I've had to listen to all three to turn off the earworm. Isn't it funny when a song just pops into your head and gets stuck there on repeat? (Thankfully, I've had good ones!) It's hot here today; I did my gardening very early and did my rounds in the roses to pluck out any Japanese beetles this evening. I only found one, so I'm hoping they're winding down! Have a good night, stay cool!
Thank you ❤️❤️
It’s just unimaginable she can’t tune a guitar now , let alone she has be a artist for over 50 years.
Love hearing. You. Welcome back.
Oh Patti, I love to hear your guitar stories. And your song writing stories! Glad you are home safe❤️🌻☀️
One of Jerry's favorite songs that he wrote was Ship of Fools, perhaps an apt description for Melville's Pequod, pursuing the great white whale.
I know it was Phil singing on Box of Rain, but this lyric has been in my mind for a few weeks now: "Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there"
Yeah -- I miss Jerry A LOT.
Me too. And I always think of that quotation.
Happy birthday to all the horses in the southern hemisphere! 1st of January in the northern hemisphere. Corresponds to breeding and foaling season 🐎💕
Dear Patti,
I am grateful for the out of tuneness of your guitar because to hear you recite “Grateful” as the poem that it is was the gift of a lifetime. It has for me always been poem, song, and prayer. In the face of much these words have endowed me with strength, courage, and comfort:
Ours is just another skin
Simply slips away
You can rise above it
It will shed easily
It all will come out fine
I've learned it line by line
Thank you for writing those words, Patti. They have been rescuing to me in so many dark times, including this one.
I love the story of how you got your guitar tuned, and your reference to the things one has to do to get by. It’s far less beautiful than your guitar tuning method, but I had a thing I used to do, which I continued well into adulthood, that came to mind when you talked about doing things to get by.
I was really poor when I came to the city. I lived on Avenue D and 9th street and there was one bodega downstairs at the end of the block. There were times when I didn’t have enough money to eat. What I did and what I have continued to do in every neighborhood I’ve lived in since was go to the nearest little grocer frequently so they’d get to know me. One day, I am purposefully short a quarter. I ask if they’ll let me bring the quarter back later that day. If they say yes, I return within 2 hours with the quarter. They remember that I kept my word. Now they trust me and I trust that I won’t go hungry. I taught my children to do the same thing. One never knows what will come.
Anyway, that’s what I thought of when you told your guitar tuning story. Thank you for telling it.
I have been celebrating Jerry Garcia’s birthday all day by listening to him. I have been thinking about him all month as I always commemorate the last concert he last played on July 9, 1995, then his birthday on August 1, and then his passing on August 9, 1995. It was soon after that I saw you, Patti, sing “Dark Eyes” at the Beacon with Dylan. I’ve said many times that that experience helped me find a way to survive, as has your writing for decades.
I’m sorry for the length of this. I am just so grateful for what you have given and continue to give, Patti. You do nothing less than help people live.
With gratitude and well wishes to everyone, as ever,
Robin
Hello Robin, I love what you say about Patti ❤️ so beautifully expressed, thank you. We are so grateful to her, for whatever reason one has experienced in life. Thank you also for telling us openly your story, so touching. Take good care, Robin. Sending you a big hug 🤗
My dear Robin, thank you for the passion you put into participating in this lovely community. Your words and the affection for others that shine through always move me so much.
I wish you much love, dearest Robin, and may my sincere and affectionate embrace reach you.
Luca 😊 🌸❤️🌸
Thank you so much for your warm and kind words, dear Luca. It is a joy and a privilege to be a part of this community. Sending warmest wishes to you, as ever.
There's a lot in that last sentence. A lot to that last sentence. Your posts are always
heart-filled - that's where they seem to originate. Thank you, Robin, and mind how you go.
I am grateful that my posts feel heart-filled, Suzi, and appreciate your telling me so. They originate from my heart because Patti’s posts, and the comments herein, always speak to me feelingly.
As ever, mind how you go.
What a beautiful letter to Patti, a days long eulogy of Jerry Garcia and tribute to strength and survival, your own among millions, and the connectivity between human beings doing the best they can.
Thank you for putting it so beautifully, Patris.
Dear Patti and Robin, I am always so grateful to put my ear close to your musings. Thank you for the opportunity to connect with your divine shared sensibilities. Magical and healing energy!
Gratitude to you, Bobbe.
“You do nothing less than help people live.” I feel this. Thank you for writing it, Robin.
I’m glad it resonates for you, Karen.
Beautiful song. Thank you, Patti. Happy August! ☀️
Oh my goodness happy August everybody! Happy Jerry and Herman’s birthdays. Patti, single post you do makes me so happy and leaves me feeling so satisfied. Thank you for the nourishment.
Please excuse the shameless self-promotion, but I thought this may be of interest for some. For PopMatters, I wrote a 3000-plus-word article about the 50th anniversary of Patti’s first single "Hey Joe"/Piss Factory," copies of which were collected in Philadelphia at the end of July 1974... Additionally, the piece places Patti in the context of the poet as a seer following in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets to the wide-eyed Romantic bards to the Symbolist bad boys, and beyond.
The research and the writing took a considerable amount of time, so hopefully it is worth your attention. Anyway, a link to the article can be found below. Lastly, I recommend a novel: Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. Thanks! Jack.
https://www.popmatters.com/patti-smiths-hey-joe-piss-factory-atr40
Thank you Patti.
Today is also Jim Carroll’s birthday.
Always thought it interesting that Jim and Jerry shared a birthday.
Proud Leos.
Happy birthday to Jim, Jerry, Melville and everyone else…🍂💕
we are all jerry’s kids. 🐳
Hi Patti! Beautiful post. By the way, I am retiring tomorrow after almost 44 years on the air - and Barb and I are going to be spending a lot of time in Michigan! On my final show tomorrow, I will be playing your song "Grateful," because I am. For you. For your work. For all of it. One common wire one silver thread. Stay well. Jody xx
Congratulations on your retirement!
Congratulations on your retirement. May you have joy, and do all that you desire.
What a beautiful sharing of a memory!
I love your tuning trick, Patty! Brilliant. And thanks for sharing about your silver hair and Gerry appearing to you. Love that too.
Happy Birthday Jerry! Love this sing 🖤💜🖤
So Grateful to you, dear Patti. This song and lyrics touch the sky. ✨✨✨ Happy August to you and everyone here. 💖
Ciao cara Anna, what magnificent gifts we receive from our dearest Patti. It is always so sweet to see her and to listen such profound and beautiful words.
Ti abbraccio con tutto il mio affetto.
Luca 🌸❤️🌸
Ciao caro Luca, come stai? Come va con la schiena? Yes, you're absolutely right! Our Patti is a global treasure 💖 I was so lucky to see and hear her performing live this song on stage in Schio last December. She opened her concert with Jackson and Tony singing and playing Grateful with her guitar. I still feel chills. I could sing along silently with her these beautiful and touching words. Che emozione! Ti abbraccio forte anch'io 🤗 thanks for your words. 🥰
Grazie Anna. Ieri sera ho provato a risponderti subito ma il sonno non mi ha dato tregua e ho dovuto rinunciare.
My back is definitely better! It has been greatly strengthened by the resin they injected into the three damaged dorsal vertebrae. Next week I will see the professor who has been following me for infectious diseases since 1992 and who is organizing visits for me with the new endocrinologist who will take care of my osteoporosis and the worsening that caused the fractures and fissures.
How wonderful Anna! I am happy that you were able to see Patti live with her son and Tony! Here in Switzerland, Patti played at Paléo, an open-air festival that takes place in Nyon, on Lake Geneva, between Lausanne and Geneva, on the opposite side of Montreux therefore. Unfortunately it takes quite a while to get there from Lugano. I saw, if I understood correctly, that on September 5th Patti and her group will play in Mantua in the gardens of the Esedra of Palazzo Te. How I would love to…!!! Unfortunately, as in the case of the concert at Paléo in Nyon, I am not sure I can make it…
By the way, Mantua and its area are very beautiful (even if to tell the truth it has been many years since I have been there)! If the event were to take place in Milan it would be much closer and therefore more feasible.
Ora ti saluto carissima Anna e ti riabbraccio con ❤️ affetto.
Luca 😊 🌸❤️☮️❤️🌸
Thank you for the news, dear Luca. I wish you all the best for next week! 🍀 Keep us posted about the medical visit. Yes, I will be so lucky to see and hear Patti live in Mantova in September and I had already a ticket for Granada as well. Can't wait to both events! So exciting 🤗 In Mantua there's also a very interesting exhibition on Picasso opening on September 5th and I can't wait to see this as well! Sending you a big hug 🤗 take good care, Luca, a presto 🌳🍉🌻
Beautiful. A dead-head friend of mine swore he went to a concert in the late 70s where the Patti Smith Group opened for the Grateful Dead. We lost touch years ago, I think he said it was at a stadium or outdoor show, but it was definitely in Connecticut. You both were signed to Arista, and according to Clive Davis's biography, he had a house there although I don't recall anything about the GD and PSG crossing paths. I just hope the story is true and someday recordings are found. The connection between Europe 72 and Horses was Beat literature and you read Kesey, Kerouac & Ginsberg and Herman Melville is the next stop, or at least it was back then. Be like the whale, in this world not of this world.
Thank you for this, Timothy. It is beautiful, and what a great thing to know!
We opened them at the University of Amherst (Alumni Stadium I think.)
May 12, 1979 So it's true. Jerry was really nice to me.
Thanks Patti. You've made my day. He remembered it as a really good show, I knew it had to be true even though it sounds so incongruous. Even though you shared a record label, it seems like two different audiences back then, although Lenny Kaye wrote some famous reviews of GD records. Emily Dickinson's home town!. If there was a show, there has to be a recording. Hope Springs Eternal!
That’s so great to know! Thank you for telling us.
G R A T E F U L ~ to you and Jerry for the beautiful divine collaberation ~ what a duo
Maurice Sendak illustrated a version of Billy Budd, I hope you can find one.
Happy Birthday ❤️ Jerry and Herman.
Thank you Patti for the link to … the author. ❤️
Got my Capitol Theatre Hot Tuna tickets today. Good to know you and some others are still carrying the fire and truckin along. Peace✌🏻️❤️Love All Ways🔥🚲🌹🙏🏻🖖🏼
Happy birthday Jerry and Melville!
Grateful is such a beautiful song. The melody is haunting. I've said this before but you don't get enough credit for your melodies.
A while back, you asked for suggestions of songs you could cover. With Jerry in mind, have you ever thought of doing Palm Sunday? Tony and you could do the harmonies and Jackson could play a wonderful guitar line to take the place of the harmonica.
Thanks for the birthday memories. I look forward to the poem.
Happy August dear Jim.
A friendly and strong hug to you too.
Luca 😊 🌸❤️☮️❤️🌸
That sounds wonderful, Jim.
I love Palm Sunday. I have thought about it.
It's a great song and you'd more than do it justice.
Dear Patti, Happy happy August, happy weekend ahead. The truth is in the poetry, in the mornings far ahead. XXXGerard.
How beautiful that is. Thank you, Gerard.
So lovely, just about to go to bed and there you are with your beautiful words and soothing voice. Also grateful 🙏
Thank you Patti, happy August to you too!
Grateful is a Divinely Inspired Song
“All that you desire rolls on ahead.” Such a great line. Happy Birthday to Herman and Jerry; Happy Birthday to my sister Yordana! And, as always, thanks for stopping by.
How about a coffee and brown bread at cafe Fígaro…
Happy birthday to your sister!
Also, thank you for Grateful. A virtuoso.
"All will come out fine I've learned it line by line" such beautiful lyrics
Sweet sweet sweet , I love Grateful. Always missing Jerry so much . Love that you remember birthdays.
Thanks Patti , as always love you . ✌🏼🖤
Could you kindly play a song for Jerry on his Birthday and share it with us? It would be sooooo kind and sweet!
Good to see and listen to you, Always!
Love the words. Made me happy.
Always the perfects words just flow from you Patti
Thankyou
If you want to tune your guitar, I could get on a zoom with you right now. Let me know I would be honored.
Melville! One of our very greatest geniuses! A treasure!
Remembering Melville and, yes, Jerry Garcia, too! Such talent.
Yes, Melville!
Jerry!!! 🌹💀🌹 Thank you, Patti. ♥️