Re: Patti Smith Repays Sweet Relief Charity

["Liam Sharp" <razorinc>]

Hi Lids,

I went to see Patti last night at convocation hall, it was a truly historic
event. She was energized and poetic. She even took off her shoes and jumped
into the audience to shake hands a few times. It was the fourth of July and
she had a big tattered US flag hanging in centre stage. She sang a few
oldies including GLORIA, the crowd were mostly 40 to 55 years of age, but
acted like crazed teenagers Im glad to say. Her hair was beautiful, not one
grey strand. Lenny Kaye was playing too. Does her kid play in the band?
Perhaps her kid was the skinny one with no face, only hair?? She sang this
Holy song I really liked, Holy asshole, holy cock, holy toronto, Holy New
York, Holy you name it..... There were slides and footage reflected on the
backdrop, behind the band. her voice was amazing as always. I was feeling
really down earlier in the day, and she cheered me up. The audience were in
love with her. She wore baggy jeans with holes, and pointy short black
boots, a baggy t-shirt, and a suit jacket that came off half way through the
show. People give her flowers. ..

Hope everything is okay with you, I have been without a computer for two
weeks, I've been sick with a flu, but now Im better, the kids are off
school, Bronwen is working and robin is bored. Liam just came back from
visting his mom in England. No more newss.....sheree

----------
>From: Lkg <Lkg>
>To: Perthmyer <robertson>, Pasqualina <pmeschi>,
Sheree & Liam <razorinc>
>Subject: Patti Smith Repays Sweet Relief Charity
>Date: Thu, Jun 22, 2000, 9:29 PM
>

>
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/so/20000621/en/patti_smith_repays_sweet_relief_
charity_b
> y_playing_fund-raiser_1.html
>
>> Patti Smith Repays Sweet Relief Charity By Playing Fund-Raiser
>>
>>  By Correspondent Christian Boone
>>
>>  LOS ANGELES — Punk poet Patti Smith and folky funk-rocker Beck helped Sweet
>>  Relief reach its goal of raising $400,000 this year by headlining the
> charity's second
>>  annual fund-raiser Tuesday.
>>
>>  It was payback time for Smith. She told the crowd of about 300 how Sweet
Relief,
>>  which assists artists with their medical and personal needs, aided her
> through "the
>>  most difficult time of my life.
>>
>>  "I was a needy musician, and I wasn't really certain where to turn,"
> Smith said. "I
>>  called Rosemary [Carroll, who, along with Jill Berliner was honored
> Tuesday night as
>>  founding members of Sweet Relief,] asking for assistance, and she restored
my
>>  dignity. I was in need, and now I'm strong."
>>
>>  Smith, who rebounded two years later with the album Gone Again (1996),
proved
>>  her rediscovered strength with a passionate five-song set. Accompanied
> by guitarist
>>  Oliver Ray, she included covers of Velvet Underground's "Heroin" and
Nirvana's
>>  "Heart-Shaped Box." She finished with a rousing finale that easily could be
>>  appropriated as a volunteer anthem, "People Have the Power" (RealAudio
excerpt),
>>  from 1988's Dream of Life, recorded with her late husband, Fred "Sonic"
Smith.
>>
>>  If anyone was wavering on whether to make a donation, Smith's vocal
exhortation
>>  that "we can turn the Earth's revolution" couldn't help but make a
> difference. Sweet
>>  Relief development director Noa Jones said on Wednesday (June 21) that the
>>  fund-raiser netted $250,000. "We met our goal last night, that's for
> sure," Jones said.
>>
>>  Smith's dedication was evident in her wardrobe. "Only for Rosemary would I
wear
>>  this," Smith said of her gray frock. "I think the last time I wore a
> dress was at [civil
>>  rights attorney] William Kunstler's memorial service."
>>
>>  Beck, meanwhile, whirled through a mellow, 30-minute-plus performance, doing
his
>>  best to overcome the din of the crowd. In an attempt to get their full
> attention, Beck
>>  took to the woods, literally (the fund-raiser was held on the lawn of a
> tony West
>>  Hollywood hotel) with "One Foot in the Grave," from Stereopathetic
Soulmanure
>>  (1994).
>>
>>  "It's not often I get to jam out in the trees," said Beck, vivid in a
> purple-sequined
>>  pantsuit. His eight-song set was highlighted by back-to-back singles
> from Mutations
>>  (1998), "Sing It Again" and "Nobody's Fault but My Own" (RealAudio excerpt).
>>
>>  A glance at the list of people helped by Sweet Relief shows little
> boundaries as to
>>  who receives assistance, from the famous (Smith) to the anonymous (such as
the
>>  65-year-old Las Vegas lounge singer who received a $1,500 grant for
> hospitalization
>>  for respiratory failure).
>>
>>  Folk singer Victoria Williams, who started the organization after being
> diagnosed with
>>  multiple sclerosis in 1993, said, "In my travels I have met many people
> who told me
>>  how grateful they were for Sweet Relief because they or someone they knew
were
>>  saved from a tragic circumstance — be it an accident, or a disease, or even
>>  recovery from a self-destructive lifestyle."
>