Queen of punk comes to Philly

    Punk pioneer and poet, Patti Smith reads from her book “Just Kids.”

    Patti Smith, reading from “Just Kids”

    Years ago, a little girl from Deptford Township, New Jersey, came to Philadelphia for New Years Day:”A face pressed to mine. A black hole planting a kiss, an uproarious cry. It was not cruelty, not even insult, but a quirky form of universal love. An impulse of great narcotic joy. One of the lower orders, a lone mummer from Conception Bay, engaged in horseplay far from home. He pressed his face next to mine, then staggered away, howling, while I, small and reproachful, tried to wipe away the smear of a vague initiation into the festival of life.”(excerpted from “Mummer Love” by Patti Smith, from the collection “Auguries of Innocence”, 2005)She later went on to write the songs in “Horses”, then won a National Book Award for a memoir about her life with Robert Mapplethorpe. Now Patti Smith is coming back to where it all started. C’mon, Philly, give her a hug.

    Patti Smith, reading from “Just Kids”Wednesday, December 8 Central Library 7:30PM

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