A tiny bit behind on posts to this little spot on the Internet, I meant for this be seen on the last day of the year, but I seem to have had some Karma to work out & I spent the last day of 2011 working at my place of employment for 15.5 hours. On New Year’s Eve I want to bed sober, at 10:30pm, for the first time in 42 years. Sober. Who says you can’t teach an old goat new tricks?
My favorite book of last year was Just Kids, Patti Smith's beautiful book about her youth with Robert Mapplethorpe, who she calls "the artist of my life." This memoir is a celebration, an elegy, & a shocking, surprising slice of NYC from the late 1960s through the 1970s. It's also a study of a pair of very different artists, with very different sensibilities.
Seemingly having little ego, 20 year old Smith was seduced by the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. She wanted everyone she met to succeed. I would think you would need a healthy ego to become a rock star, but Patti never seems to be of a competitive nature. She was rather the essence of the hippie.
Mapplethorpe was always obsessed with becoming a successful artist & a star. He was willing to do whatever it would take to make to make his drean come true: hanging out at the right places, hustling, making friends with the rich & famous. He wanted to be bigger than Andy Warhol. They met cute. Mapplethorpe was already a serious artist, with a strong work ethic, secure in his sensibilities from the start of their relationship. Mapplethorpe was less secure in his sexuality, less honest & less sure how to present himself .
Smith brings that era & her experience of being a young artist in the NYC of the late 1960s & 1970s to life. I was struck with Smith’s sense of NYC history, when she mentions that she is booked in a club to do a poetry reading reading she also mentions that the building once was once a saloon frequented by Lillian Russell & Diamond Jim Brady, & continues associations with other historical figures & anecdotes.
Smith struggled with how her relationship with Mapplethorpe continued to change, or even how others perceived their relationship, but she was the first to realize that she needed something else, something more.
Mapplethorpe’s goals & drive did not match Smith’s, & as they drifted apart, Smith does not judge, she just simply loves him. Mapplethorpe would be a bit jealous or critical of her boyfriends, but he also never judged her. They encouraged each other, & spurred each other forward. It was Smith who suggested that Mapplethorpe take his own photographs, when he complained that images he cut out of men's magazines just weren't right for his collage works. Mapplethorpe told her that she should sing songs, not just read her poetry. They were true to each other. They were practically sewn together for 8 years. Mapplethorpe was not Smith’s perfect lover, but he was her soulmate.
They needed to grow apart, to move forward. Smith started to find success with her band & went on tour. Mapplethorpe concentrated on his photography, investing his subject matter, a stunning sexy flower, a socialite, or naked male, with exacting, brutal beauty & elegance.
The cast of NYC characters & locals are among my favorite of the era. I was there in the Manhattan of the 1970s. Just Kids brought it all back: William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, The Chelsea Hotel, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol, Tod Rundgren, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Holly Woodlawn, gay literati & other assorted downtowners.
The kids were in the whirlwind of unrest & change, & Smith was still a naive kid from the suburbs. At first I found it difficult to swallow how oblivious she was to Mapplethorpe's sexual orientation or how pure in her artistic pursuits she seemed to be. But Smith was of a different time & a different NYC than now. I know that when I moved to Manhattan in 1976, like many young people did & do, I wanted the full NYC experience like these kids in this heartbreaking book. I wanted to do my art & I wanted to be a star.
The book ends with their last days & conversations, as Mapplethorpe died of AIDs in 1989. Smith took a vow to protect him when they were just kids & she takes care of him to the end, eloquently sharing the legacy with her evocative memories.
Other non-fiction that I recommend:
Drama by John Lithgow
The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Bossypants by Tina Fey (this woman is seriously funny)
My favorite novel of 2011 was Remembrance of Things I Forgot by Bob Smith
My favorite film was Midnight In Paris & also very much enjoyed Jane Eyre with my current lover- Michael Fassbender, Beginners & Stupid, Crazy Love.
Things I look forward to in 2012: Republican primaries, Leap Year, Summer Olympics in London, Republican & Democratic Conventions, National elections, Smash on NBC, A new Aaron Sorkin show about cable news, the return of Mad Men, & of course… according the the Mayans, it is all over on 12/12/12. I put a reminder on my Outlook to not pay the utilities in November 2012.
My favorite book of last year was Just Kids, Patti Smith's beautiful book about her youth with Robert Mapplethorpe, who she calls "the artist of my life." This memoir is a celebration, an elegy, & a shocking, surprising slice of NYC from the late 1960s through the 1970s. It's also a study of a pair of very different artists, with very different sensibilities.
Seemingly having little ego, 20 year old Smith was seduced by the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. She wanted everyone she met to succeed. I would think you would need a healthy ego to become a rock star, but Patti never seems to be of a competitive nature. She was rather the essence of the hippie.
Mapplethorpe was always obsessed with becoming a successful artist & a star. He was willing to do whatever it would take to make to make his drean come true: hanging out at the right places, hustling, making friends with the rich & famous. He wanted to be bigger than Andy Warhol. They met cute. Mapplethorpe was already a serious artist, with a strong work ethic, secure in his sensibilities from the start of their relationship. Mapplethorpe was less secure in his sexuality, less honest & less sure how to present himself .
Smith brings that era & her experience of being a young artist in the NYC of the late 1960s & 1970s to life. I was struck with Smith’s sense of NYC history, when she mentions that she is booked in a club to do a poetry reading reading she also mentions that the building once was once a saloon frequented by Lillian Russell & Diamond Jim Brady, & continues associations with other historical figures & anecdotes.
Smith struggled with how her relationship with Mapplethorpe continued to change, or even how others perceived their relationship, but she was the first to realize that she needed something else, something more.
Mapplethorpe’s goals & drive did not match Smith’s, & as they drifted apart, Smith does not judge, she just simply loves him. Mapplethorpe would be a bit jealous or critical of her boyfriends, but he also never judged her. They encouraged each other, & spurred each other forward. It was Smith who suggested that Mapplethorpe take his own photographs, when he complained that images he cut out of men's magazines just weren't right for his collage works. Mapplethorpe told her that she should sing songs, not just read her poetry. They were true to each other. They were practically sewn together for 8 years. Mapplethorpe was not Smith’s perfect lover, but he was her soulmate.
They needed to grow apart, to move forward. Smith started to find success with her band & went on tour. Mapplethorpe concentrated on his photography, investing his subject matter, a stunning sexy flower, a socialite, or naked male, with exacting, brutal beauty & elegance.
The cast of NYC characters & locals are among my favorite of the era. I was there in the Manhattan of the 1970s. Just Kids brought it all back: William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, The Chelsea Hotel, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol, Tod Rundgren, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Holly Woodlawn, gay literati & other assorted downtowners.
The kids were in the whirlwind of unrest & change, & Smith was still a naive kid from the suburbs. At first I found it difficult to swallow how oblivious she was to Mapplethorpe's sexual orientation or how pure in her artistic pursuits she seemed to be. But Smith was of a different time & a different NYC than now. I know that when I moved to Manhattan in 1976, like many young people did & do, I wanted the full NYC experience like these kids in this heartbreaking book. I wanted to do my art & I wanted to be a star.
The book ends with their last days & conversations, as Mapplethorpe died of AIDs in 1989. Smith took a vow to protect him when they were just kids & she takes care of him to the end, eloquently sharing the legacy with her evocative memories.
Other non-fiction that I recommend:
Drama by John Lithgow
The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Bossypants by Tina Fey (this woman is seriously funny)
My favorite novel of 2011 was Remembrance of Things I Forgot by Bob Smith
My favorite film was Midnight In Paris & also very much enjoyed Jane Eyre with my current lover- Michael Fassbender, Beginners & Stupid, Crazy Love.
Things I look forward to in 2012: Republican primaries, Leap Year, Summer Olympics in London, Republican & Democratic Conventions, National elections, Smash on NBC, A new Aaron Sorkin show about cable news, the return of Mad Men, & of course… according the the Mayans, it is all over on 12/12/12. I put a reminder on my Outlook to not pay the utilities in November 2012.
