Patti Smith

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Patti Smith | Outside Society

Columbia/Arista/Legacy (2011)
Punk-rock-poet-priestess, Mapplethorpian-anti-pin-up-queen, rabble-rousing-riot-grrl-archetype: Patti Smith is your go-to rock icon when it comes to underbelly doppelgangers of Pat Benatar or Stevie Nicks.
By ZETH LUNDY | August 10, 2011

Review: Williams S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Prime footage
Fairly disorganized in the telling and rather impersonally told by filmmaker Yony Leyser, this documentary biography of the stone-faced Beat author of The Naked Lunch is still worth seeing.
By GERALD PEARY | February 02, 2011

In the matter of Chafee campaign manager John 'JR' Pagliarini

Karl Rove would be proud; it’s still a Complex World; the return of Ut
The outrageous attempt to tar Linc Chafee's campaign manager John "JR" Pagliarini, who fell on his sword last week and quit the campaign, is the sort of Karl Roveian dirty trick that should make any decent Vo Dilunduh long for a good shower.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | October 20, 2010

Hope against Hollywood

Letters to the Boston editor, March 26, 2010
Mr. Keough’s “Is There Any ‘Hope’ in Hollywood” article makes my own point. Precious , The Blind Side , and The Princess and the Frog were strategically released to detract from the positive image of President Barack Obama.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 24, 2010

Excerpt: Patti Smith's Just Kids

Rock icon Patti Smith recalls burroughs and Mapplethorpe, the early days of CBGB, and saddling up for Horses in this memoir excerpt
The stars were lining up to enter the Ziegfeld Theatre for the glittering premiere of the film Ladies & Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones. I was excited to be there.
By PATTI SMITH | March 03, 2010

Review: Patti Smith's Just Kids

The small prophecies of Patti Smith
How do you get to be the Godmother of Punk? Pure dumb luck, for starters.
By CARRIE BATTAN | February 08, 2010

Graduate studies

The learning curve of Lissy Trullie
I'm not a big fan of the "you are what you eat" theory of musical influence. I've experienced enough defective Radiohead knockoffs in my day to know that a group's favorite bands often have nil to do with how their music will sound. I also think that our systems of influence are a bit more porous and a bit less under our control than any eating metaphor might suggest.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | December 16, 2009

Owing muses

Brian King sings his life in Venus As a Boy
A few days after I graduated from high school, the Internet showed up. "Well," I thought to myself. "That's just fucking great."
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | August 25, 2009

Fast-breaking music

You heard it here first
WFNX has always been a maverick radio station.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | December 03, 2008

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

An intimate, affectionate, non-linear visit
This collage of a documentary emanates from an 11-year collaboration between punk poet/rocker Patti Smith and her filmmaker friend Steven Sebring.
By GERALD PEARY | December 09, 2008

The ultimate balancing act

An extraordinary documentary opens the 2008 Maine International Film Festival
About 100 films deep, MIFF ’08 has intriguing offerings for cineastes of all stripes. Here’s a slice of what to look out for.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 09, 2008

Saving bonds

Unconventional wisdom at the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Moral and ethical quibbles aside, society’s objection to queers amounts to a question of power.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 06, 2008

Life after The Sopranos

Christuhfuh rocks
If you’re a Sopranos fan, you remember the demise of Christopher Moltisanti in an overturned SUV.
By JON GARELICK | April 09, 2008

Light show

Jagger and Scorsese start it up in Berlin
The biggest stars of this year’s Berlin Film Festival were neither actors nor directors.
By MATTIAS FREY | April 02, 2008

Allison Moorer

Mockingbird | New Line
Working with producer Buddy Miller, Moorer takes an approach opposite to Lynne’s on the stripped-down Lovin’ , giving each track its own distinct personality.
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 26, 2008

Dead of Winter + Fiery Furnaces

Music seen at SPACE Gallery, January 18-19
It was a weekend of big acts and big crowds at SPACE Gallery.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 23, 2008

Beyond illbient

DJ Spooky goes global
When I get DJ Spooky on the phone a week ago Tuesday, he’s fresh home in New York City from Antarctica.
By JON GARELICK | January 14, 2008

Start with some Spice

A recipe for a tuneful 2008
The game is on for the reunited Spice Girls.
By MATT ASHARE | December 26, 2007

Holiday books

Coffee-table madness
Okay, we admit, we went a bit crazy this year.
By PHOENIX STAFF | December 03, 2007

Rock And Roll Photographs by Lynn Goldsmith

Sticky and sweet

Juliette and the Licks, Middle East Downstairs, November 6, 2007
All for the love of rock-and-roll, uh, mediocrity?
By JIM SULLIVAN | November 13, 2007

Chairmen of the boards

Our critics pick the 14 producers with the fattest, meanest beats
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | October 18, 2007

Rocker moms

HRT come straight outta Sharon
In Sharon, there’s one garage that’s been a breeding ground for a very different kind of band.
By STEVEN LEE BEEBER | October 08, 2007

In search of Kerouac

‘Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?’ . . . Lowell?!
Ashare drops me off, frantic Matt Ashare from my paper, swilling coffee in a ceramic mug at the wheel of his sulky-blue Saturn Ion and ranting about dogfighting.
By JAMES PARKER | August 29, 2007