Patti book

[Marty <mcduda>]

I just conducted an interview with Chris Charlesworth, the publisher of
Omnibus Press  and asked him about their upcoming Patti Smith book. Here is
a transcript of that portion of the conversation:

MD:  I heard you're doing a Patti Smith book.

CC:  I'm quite excited about it.

MD:  Who's writing it?

CC:  A guy called Nick Johnson.  He's an English writer, writes for Melody
Maker.  I was really surprised no one has done a serious Patti Smith book
before, because she's perfect.  She has a literary tradition.  She's on the
cutting edge, or she was for a long period.  she's different, political,
unusual.  and she dressed in black and white clothes. There's a quote in
this book from Peter Buck (from R.E.M.)  he says when he saw Patti Smith
for the first time, he went out and for the next eight years, he wore black
and white clothes.  So cool.  and I figured, he did, didn't he?  He wore
black jeans and a white shirt and a white sort of vest, waistcoat thing,
and he wore nothing but that.Picture after picture after picture of Peter
Buck, and the reason was, he saw Patti Smith wearing that.  But no, this is
the first really serious study of Patti Smith's work.

MD:  She has always been reluctant to cooperate.

CC:  She hasn't co-operated with us, but she hasn't objected.  We told her,
'hey,
anybody can write a book about anybody.  You don't have to have the
artist's co-
operation.'  I fact, the majority of Omnibus books do not have the artist's
co-operation. It doesn't matter who you're writing about, a politician or a
film star,
any one in the public eye.  You can write a book about them as long as you
don't libel them or breach their copyright, which you must be careful
about.  But Patti said, 'You're going to write a book.  I can't stop you.
Best of luck.' But it's about 80-90 thousand words, the first decent length
book there's ever been about Patti smith.  It will probably be followed by
a spate of them, but at least I'm coming out first.

MD:  She definitely seems primed for it, with the comeback.

CC:  That's right.  She's re-emerged in the past twelve months. That's what
gave us the idea.

MD:  And she has a new album coming out in October.

CC:  It's great she's coming back.

Cheers,

Marty