This year, Patti Smith’s appearances are going to have something special in the mix: a new bestselling book.
Just Kids, a memoir of life in 1970s Manhattan, was just released. It also features her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Described as the book that tells how Smith became who she is today, it features their love that circled around both of their paths to stardom that evolved into a deep friendship when Mapplethorpe discovered that he was gay.
From poet to major rock star, the book chronicles Smith’s life from 1967 when, at the tender age of 21, she uprooted herself to Manhattan to a life of uncertainty. While her fans see her as an audacious rebel rocker, unafraid and fierce, her memoir depicts her at an earlier time when she, like most people in their early 20′s, was as scared and searching as anyone else.
Her homelessness, her joblessness and hunger, and her own special corner of the summer of love are all delved into with the same emotional context and rhythmic nature found in her music.
Other famous movers and shakers in the poetry and music scenes during the time are also included in the memoir, from Janis Joplin to Allen Ginsberg to William Burroughs to Jimi Hendrix.
Just Kids is on sale at most major bookstores and Amazon.com. The hardback book is available for $15 to $27.
Smith has been promoting her book at various bookstores since its release in January. On February 18, she will be visiting the Ann Arbor Borders to promote the book and perhaps play some of her beautiful ballads or punk rock.
Here the songstress is performing at Book Soup in Los Angeles: