Patti Smith on SNL

A lot of music in the air today (and a couple of more posts after this!). Today is also the birthday of holy-punk-poet-saint Patti Smith. I first saw her/ heard her during her performance on Saturday Night Live in April 1976. Being ten, I was too young to recognize how remarkable the performance was, but going back and watching it now — holy crap! (This was two years before she crossed over with the hit single “Because the Night”)

To find out more about the variety artspast and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. 

And don’t  missmy new bookChainof Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc