Patti Smith will be joined by her band for free July 14 show at Castle Clinton (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL
Castle Clinton, Battery Park
Thursday, July 14, free, 7:00
212-835-2789
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.pattismith.net
It’s been quite a year for Patti Smith. The New York City-based writer, poet, musician, and always captivating ethereal presence won the National Book Award for her moving, revealing memoir, Just Kids, which focused on her relationship with visual artist Robert Mapplethorpe, and in May she won Sweden’s prestigious Polar Music Prize. “By devoting her life to art in all its forms, Patti Smith has demonstrated how much rock ‘n’ roll there is in poetry and how much poetry there is in rock ‘n’ roll,” the award committee said in a statement. Over the last year, she’s given a series of intimate performances, including celebrating the fortieth anniversary of her seminal 1971 show at the Poetry Project by returning to the venue with Lenny Kaye and presenting a special program at the Morgan Library in conjunction with the exhibition “William Blake’s World: A New Heaven Is Begun.” She even recently guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. But she’ll be returning to her rock-and-roll roots on July 14 as she plays a free show with her band at Castle Clinton in Battery Park; tickets will be given out starting at 5:00 for the 7:00 concert, but you’re going to have to get there early if you want to grab one of the limited, coveted seats. Smith will also be participating in the Escape to New York three-day festival in Southampton on August 5 ($100, with Best Coast, Chairlift, Lissy Trulie, the Postelles, and the Static Jacks), and there are still some tickets left ($40) for “Patti Smith: Artist and Muse,” her December 2 tribute to Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she’ll be performing with her daughter, pianist Jesse Smith. But there’s nothing quite like seeing her with her full band, rocking out to such classic songs as “Gloria,” “Because the Night,” “Frederick,” “Dancing Barefoot,” “Wicked Messenger,” “Waiting Underground,” “Peaceable Kingdom,” and “People Have the Power.”