Re. Patti's anger

["Alison Armstrong" <alikat>]

I think it's unfair of people to blame Patti for being angry at the 
CBGb's concerts.  Granted, i wasn't able to attend Thursday's show, but I 
was at the other three performances..  During Wednesday's show I was 
becoming quite angry myself at certain people in the audience, and as the 
evening wore on, my misanthropy grew.  That night I kept getting jostled 
by people crowding closer to the stage and was almost knocked over by 
some buffalo man with a blank nobody-home yet hostile glint in his eyes.  
A woman next to me was crying during "About a Boy," yet, oblivious, 
people just continued shoving past her.  Then on Friday night there was 
an asshole of all assholes (not the "holy" kind either) who continually 
shouted out idiotic remarks such as "Peace and Noise, Patti, Peace and 
Noise,"  "Robert Mapplethorpe," "Sam Shepard" and other meaningless 
phrases even when Patti was performing a song.  I felt so sorry for Patti 
to have people like him who considered themselves fans and weren't even 
listening to what she had to say or considering how she may be reacting 
to all the  distracting interruptions.  I was especially incensed when I 
heard him tell a companion he was going to ask for Patti's autograph 
after the show and when his buddy said, "I don't know, she's preety tired 
and might get mad," he replied, "I don't give a shit."  At one point 
during a climactic build-up in "Land,"  this same creep was banging me on 
the head with beer bottles.  
     Patti performed with such mesmeric focus and stregth, gave so much 
of herself despite all this imbecility and obnoxiousness, but I was 
getting the impression that the experience was taking its toll on her.  
She said something to the effect that performing at CBGB's these four 
nights had damaged her as a human being.  At times like this I think I 
can perhaps understand some of what's she's saying.  To try to 
communicate something of great importance and perception to an audience 
containing even a few of these loudmouthed shitheads must be 
demoralizing.  I don't see Patti's reactions as "petulant" at all, nor do 
I believe her new work fails to address the needs of a new generation.  
What she says ins songs such as "Whirl Away," "Don't Say nothing," "Last 
Call" and the others on Peace and Noise are very relevant, not only to 
our time but universally significant as well.  The themes of human 
callousness and the struggle for spiritual insight are always with us, 
whether in a microcosm (such as CBGB's) or the world as a whole.  I don't 
think we can afford to delude ourselves with happy-ever-after visions of 
the future.  The world, as we all know, can be brutal, and in order to 
save our humanity and our earth for future generations we have to be 
aware, sometimes even angry, in addition to having hope.
     Alison