Patti Smith

A few weeks ago I was mightily disappointed in myself for missing the news that Patti Smith was appearing at Farringford Hotel, once home of Tennyson, here on the Isle of Wight.  With only about 200 tickets on sale, they apparently sold out in minutes.  Having scoured the net, visiting Wightbay regularly and brooding over the lack of progress in tracking down a ticket, I was fortunate enough to visit Vaguely Sunny’s website.  Information there pointed me to another source and now I can look forward to a great evening in June.  Patti will be singing and reading poetry.  The event recalls an incident in the late 70s when I bought an import picture sleeve 45 of Patti’s version of Gloria from a record store in my then home town of Reading.  Imagine my dismay when I got home and found that there was paper in the vinyl itself, making the disc unplayable!  This was then compounded by the shop refusing me a refund for what were plainly goods of unmerchantable quality.  Trading Standards sorted out the issue for me and I was able to collect a refund a week later, though of course no longer welcome at the one store that had good stock! Laying in bed this morning, listening to Gloria on CD over the headphones, I am struck by what a great version Patti’s is and how her voice seems almost elastic in its phrasing – a real gem.

Renewing an acquaintance

Last Friday found me at Quay Arts on the Isle of Wight, enjoying a solo acoustic performance by Glen Matlock. Of course, I’d enjoyed his antics with the Pistols from across the river at last year’s Isle of Wight Festival, but I’d also seen him with The Rich Kids circa 1978. Glen’s the same age as me, so it was interesting to see how he was still in music this many years on, while I have hopped from one thing to another and currently seem to have dropped out! Having commented that the t-shirt I’d bought so many years ago at that gig had shrunk, I was delighted that he dedicated his rendition of ‘Burning Sounds’ to me. The gig contained a sprinkling of Pistols (God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant, Stepping Stone), another Rich Kids track (Ghosts of Princes in Towers) and a range of more recent material. I particularly enjoyed the Iggy Pop song, Ambition, that Glen had written the lyrics for. A nice walk down memory lane, but also good to hear that he’s still creative with his band, The Philistines.

Saturday night Sex..

…. Pistols that is;  Next year’s Isle of Wight Festival is taking on a retro punk/new wave look, how about Talking Heads as the Friday night headliners?

Saw the Pistols in my youth at Uxbridge University (1978) and it was a near riot to get in, throngs of people without tickets blocking those with tickets from getting in, windows being smashed and people mugged for their tickets.  That was in the days of the Sid Vicious line-up.  I suppose it’ll be interesting to see Glen Matlock playing bass, something Sid never really mastered.