Rock poet

Patti Smith, a poet who expresses herself in rock, began a two-night engagement at the Agora last night.

1

1

2

r

Is

})-

1.

of

Patti Smith is spellbinding at Agora

By Jane Scott

She looked like a 16-year-old refugee. Stick slim. Shaggy black hair. Leg warmers over her jeans, a black sweater tied around her. waist and a short leather jacket.

But she held a sellout audience spellbound for almost two hours last night at the Agora. That was Patti Smith, the rising star of the '70s. She was sheer electricity on stage.

"I need energy. I soak it up from the audience," she said before the show. But the 29year-old singer had energy of her own that that matched the excitement of the audience.

She came into rock 'n' roll through words. She had written stories for Creem magazine and has had two books of poetry published..

Her songs are sometimes poems put to music. She spoke in a low hypnotic voice. Then she suddenly broke into high-energy rock 'n' roll, jumping, dancing, and even crawling around the stage.

"I improvise as I go along. People usually don't get more than 50% of the words anyway," she said. But last night you felt that she was în complete control, on top of all her material.

At times she sounded almost like a little 59 girl, stuttering in a wispy voice. Other times she pounded out her notes like a prizefighter, swinging her fists into the air. At times you could close your eyes and her voice sounded a e little like Lily Toml's.

is

4474

st

M

S

Patti began her show with an old Lou Reed song, "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time." By the end of the song, she had slipped her

In Review

!

jacket, revealing a faded white T-shirt with the words, "Love Rastafarians and Live."

Much of her material was from her Arista album "Horses." She scored with "Redondo Beach," the story of a suicide on a lesbian | beach, "Kimberly," "Break It Up," a tribute to Jim Morrison, and "Land," about Jimi Hendrix.

A highlight was "Gloria," her version of the old Them classic. The concert wound up with John Cale joining her four-man group onstage. Cale produced her album and was an early member of the Velvet Underground.

One of the strongest points of the show was her group: Ivan Kral on guitar, Lenny Kaye on lead guitar, Jay Dee Daugerty on drums and Richard Sohl on piano. They were superb.

The only drawback of the show, which continues tonight, was Patti's attempts at stand-up humor. She doesn't have quite enough confidence in herself in that area.

Patti was more herself when she pranced around the stage talking to the audience, drink-

ing a glass of milk and even spitting on stage.. The crowd roared at her remark, "This is it. This is the best rock 'n' roll city in America." She answered one fan by saying, "When I'm 75, I'll still love the Stones. But age has nothing to do with rock."

Kicking off the show with fine singing was Tom Rapp, formerly with Pearls Before Swine.