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^ATTI SMITH: STILL. EDG-y AfTeR ALL THeSk fyEAAS // p ecause of the events in my life in the last Dfew years, I became introspective." Patti Smith is talking about the music she made previous to he« recent Aiista album Gung Ho. After retiring from the stage in 1979, she returned to it in the mid-'90s, shedding the role of homemaker that she embraced after the birth of her children with late MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith. "It took me a while to rebuild rry confi dence enough to look at the external world again," Smith says. Patti Smith's latest record is a something of a surprise, considering that the deaths of her husband, her brother (Todd), a bandmate (Richard Sohl), and a best-friend/mentor (Robert Mapplethorpe) haunted her last two albums, Gone Again (1996) and Peace And Noise (1997). Those records invoked a sense of confusion, loss and anger—emotions which have fueled her entire career. However, those documents of her pain were rendered so personally and acutely that they seemed intrusive, if not downright masochistic. Rut such sentiments are the tableau from which Smith's art flows. "I'm like (fin de siecle French poet Guillaume] Apollinaire: one of these people who writes elegies," she says. Smith has always eulogized certain cul tural icons, like Jim Morrison, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain. On Gung Ho, she gives rock and roll props to Mother Teresa, Jerry Garda, Ho Chi Minh and even Custer's wife. Instead of fashioning odes to these individuals, she builds her song-poem state ments around them. Smith's father, who passed away recently, is eulogized on the cover of the record, instead of in a song. "It's one of the few shots of my father taken during the war." she explains. It's also the first time she has chosen a cover image not of herself. "My mom always used to say to us kids, 'Oh, look at your father. He's so gung hor Apropos of her skill as a wordsmith, the singer looked into the roots of the phrase. "'Gung Ho' is an old Chinese character meaning 'working together.' In 1942, the U.S. Marines—the Raider Division—used it as their slogan." To that end, the Patti Smith" Group—long- timers Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty, Smith's current beau, Oliver Ray and Tony Shanahan— have never sounded better, thanks in part to pro ducer Gil Norton, who always brought the Pixies' idiosyncrasies so audibly to the fore. Smith's vmce has grown into an amazingly versatile instrument; she wails, grunts, screams and moans through her poetics in a way that brings them to life like never before. No longer a musician-for-lack-of-a- better-term, punky Patti now commands respect as a songwriter, rather than just as a poet with a band. "I'm at a time in my life where I'm comfort able with what my skills aie," she says. Ever the artful provocateur, Smith has fash ioned "Glitter in Their Eyes" into the most potent single of her career. It's a gntty stab at our con- sumerist culture and features a guitar solo by old CBGB's compatriot Ton Verlaine (Television). R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, a long-time fan of Patti's, provides backing vocals. "I wish people would wake up," she says. "People are looking at themselves as consumers. Children are looked at as demographics. Even the way we're using the new technology is all about how you can buy something. We're losing our selves as spiritual beings to become just people who have stuff." Elsewhere on Gung Ho, "New Party" finds Smith directing her poetic venom at today's politicians: "Why don't you fertilize my lawn/ With what's running from your mouth." On "Strange Messengers," a piece on the pre-Civil War slave trade in the South, she transform: her voice into that of an old black woman, railing, "I toiled for you and your cnildren/ You bum your life on crack and sorrowful stories/ You feel so sorry for yourself/ that's how you repay your ancestors?!" Awkward and reckless though these songs may seem to some, they mark Smith's return to what made hei so ahead of her time, and so exciting to watch and listen to, when she first began recordmg and performing in the 1970s. She also returns to the essential subversion that made her '70s work so unforgettable. "People give me accolades I don't deserve," Smith answers, like the queen of punk. "I was just trying to be a Paul Revere character, the person waking people up. The tact that I didn't record for 16 years and have only made eight albums in 25 years means I'm still learning. My singing has gotten stronger." Smith's artistic voice has never been ques tioned, however, and never sounded more fit. Her gracing the stage at the 40 Watt Club constitutes the smallest venue the singer has played this tour, perhaps as a favor to her bud Stipe (who, we can hope, will join her for a rousing rendition of "Glitter in Their Eyes" on-stage). Further urgency was added when Smith recently announced she has recorded her last for Arista, a statement in response to the ouster of label founder, and Smith patron, Clive Davis. ‘I've never been in step. I was called old-fash ioned in the '70s by the English punk rockers. But there's so much more to explore. I've never heard so much music in my head." Mark Emge Tuesday's Patti Smith performance is part of the Digital Club Network Festival—a four-day "cyber cast" series in which dozens of national bands are broadcast live over the web from clubs across the country Go to digitalclubnetwork.com for infor mation. WHO: Patti Smith WHERE: 40 Watt Club WHEN: Tuesday, July 25, 8 p.m. HOW MUCH: $15 420 E. CLAYTON ST. & DOWNTOWN w SERVING LUNCH 11:30-3 AND DINNER 5-10 DAILY r A Bar > That Serves Great Food. EU TWO FOR ONE Sinner Specials between 5-7pm M-F 5-7pm Hum IA $2 Skyy Vodka $1 Pints Dos Equis & Killians $2 Pints of Guinness . & Bass ) ^WEDNESDAYfJULYA19I&T2G1 OPEN TURN TABLES BREAKS & HIP HOP DJ'S CALL FOR TIME SLOT 10-2:30 EVERYlTHURSDAYJ QUARTER DISCO NIGHT Dance Night with DJ Suprflyy . • FREE FOR 21 & UP r > Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag (MEMBERS OF SQUIRREL (\!UT ZIPPERS & BEN FOLDS FIVE) \JNGRID LUCIA & THE FLYING NEUTRINOS ? rTTTTT/^H iU Ladies' Night , with DJ Kas , V Ladies 18 & Up FREE J r \ Champagne Sunday "»Carlton Owens j© Carlton Owens Conspiracy $1.50 Champagne |TUESDAYffJULY/25' Singer Songwriter Showcase JEFF ANDREWS WILLIAM TONKS VjP MATT HOLLING J JULY 19, 2000 FLAGPOLE E3