The cover of Patti Smith’s memoir, “Bread of Angels.”
As part of her book tour for her memoir “Bread of Angels,” Patti Smith will present a “Songs & Stories” show at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Nov. 5 at noon for McCarter members and subscribers; Nov. 7 at noon for the general public. Visit mccarter.org.
According to the website, “In conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, poet, and Director of Princeton University’s Program in Journalism, Eliza Griswold, Smith will share passages that chart her journey from her childhood in postwar America to her creative awakening and life as one of rock’s most influential voices.
“The conversation will include an intimate performance of a select few of Patti’s favorite songs with acoustic accompaniment.”
“Bread of Angels,” which was released today, is a memoir. According to its publishing company, Penguin Random House, the book “takes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative role models as she begins to write poetry then lyrics, ultimately merging both into the songs of iconic recordings such as Horses, Wave, and Easter.
“She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred Sonic Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Here, she invents a room of her own, a low table, a Persian cup, inkwell and pen, entering at dawn to write. The couple spend nights in their landlocked Chris-Craft studying nautical maps and charting new adventures as they start a family.
“A series of profound losses mark her life. Grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life and, finally, writing again—the one constant in a life driven by artistic freedom and the power of the imagination to transform the commonplace into the magical, and pain into hope. In the final pages, we meet Smith on the road again, the vagabond who travels to commune with herself, who lives to write and writes to live.”
The McCarter show is being presented in partnership with the Princeton book store Labyrinth Books, and The Princeton Public Library.
Smith’s other book events in the New Jersey area will take place at Town Hall in Manhattan, Nov. 4; Marian Anderson Hall in Philadelphia, Dec. 1; St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, Dec. 11; and Symphony Space in Manhattan, Jan. 21.
Smith and her band will also present shows celebrating the 50th anniversary of her landmark album Horses at The Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, Nov. 21-22; and The Met in Philadelphia, Nov. 29.
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