Sunday, March 18, 2007

When I Grow Up...

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I wanna be Patti Smith. I watched the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing on VH-1 last night because I wanted to see her, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, REM and the Ronnettes. I hit mute during most of the speechifying and Van Halen. Even thought it was cool to see REM as a four-piece again, their set didn't move me too much (which was a little disappointing, cause I love a lot of their music.)

But Patti was solid. Her acceptance speech was pretty low-key--she made a point of saying that she'd promised to be a lady and not curse which she lived up to and dedicated her award/induction to her late husband Fred. Yea, she sang "Because the Night," but followed that up with "Rock-n-Roll N*****." A better choice, I suppose, than "Gloria" or "Summer Cannibals" or a rock poet reading of "Piss Factory."

The finale was suitably schizoid given the inductees: Smith, REM, Grandmaster Flash, Van Hagar, the Ronettes and Keith Richards doing Smith's "People Have the Power." Given the climate of the times, a better choice than "Right Now," "Hot for Teacher," or "Shiny Happy People." (Though "World Leader Pretend" might have been good.)

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