"I just think this whole idea of changing words and books because they make one uncomfortable or taking the rape scenes out of the 'Metamorphoses' — this is, to me, it’s not just dangerous. You start there, and where do you finish?" - Patti Smith talks about historical context of works of art in The Active Voice podcast. She also shares a few thoughts on cancel culture: "I’m always optimistic. I just refuse to be pessimistic. Pessimism breeds nothing. A pessimistic person does not create anything. A pessimistic person does not envision anything. It’s not that I feel pessimistic. I just feel that people are moving too quickly via social media, not examining everything in a cubistic way, not examining all the facets of things, not trying to understand how certain things fit in the context of the history that happened or when they happened."

An interesting conversation with Patti Smith in the Guardian. She isn't really optimistic about the current times: “It’s a terrible epidemic in the 21st century, and it got magnified in the period that Trump was elected and it’s really gone viral. These are the most complex times, partly because of social media and misinformation. Everything becomes a political question. People wouldn’t even get vaccines or wear masks because it became a political stance … and then they get sick and really regret that they didn’t take the time or it didn’t open their mind to the situation. I don’t know what the answer is, except that we just have to fight for what is right”. Still, she loves being alive now: "I’ve lived so many lives, and they were all good. I can look back and see what I’ve gained, how I’ve evolved. Whether it was sorrowful times or turbulent times, they all formed me. So what’s my favourite period? Right now. I’m alive”.

American media are looking into clues about future performances after watching Patti Smith perform at the Brooklyn Museum Beaux-Arts. Rolling Stone was there with other 50-ish people: "We’ve forgotten how to have a good time with each other. It’s going to take time to figure out what makes sense for each individual, how to enjoy being alive together again. But this was a start". Smith's show was a part of NY PopsUp, a series of over 300 performances spread across the state and five boroughs over 100 days. Pitchfork saw it as a move forward: "If NY PopsUp is meant to initiate the baby steps needed to inch our way back to a normal and robust music scene, it seemed like a productive rehearsal for both audience and performer".

Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Cat Power, Rebecca Foon, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Harper, Rain Phoenix and The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture are slated to play Pathway to Paris’s 50th Anniversary Earth Day Festival on Sunday. Pathway will be livestreamed online via the organization’s Instagram page, on Sunday, April 26th (4 p.m. Haiti time, 9 p.m. Lagos time, 10 a.m. Monday Kiribati time).

Patti Smith is being awarded the 2020 PEN Literary Service Award, given to authors who write about “the human condition”. “She has testified to the transformative power of literature in her own life, and used her stardom to encourage reading and writing in the legions who revere her” - PEN President Jennifer Egan said in a statement, adding she "set an example of badass female artistry, coupled with deeply principled humanity". Previous recipients include Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, and Bob Woodward.

van Král - the composer, producer, and guitarist who composed many songs with Patti Smith, most notably 'Dancing Barefoot' - has died aged 71. Král also performed on and wrote for Smith’s debut album 'Horses' (1975), 'Radio Ethiopia' (1976), 'Easter' (1978), and the live album 'Exodus' (1994), recorded in the ’70s. Král also wrote songs performed by Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Eastern Bloc, and others. In 1976, Král released a documentary of the local New York punk scene titled 'The Blank Generation' - featuring footage of Blondie, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Talking Heads, Ramones, Wayne County, and more. Král released a string of solo albums over 26 years.

"Happy birthday/ to Greta, who stood today/ as every Friday, refusing/ to be neutral” - Patti Smith wrote in a birthday Insta-message to environmentalist activist Greta Thunberg. Read the poem in full below.

Artists and songwriters that have been nominated for induction to the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame 2020 include Outkast, the Neptunes, Eurythmics, R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Isley Brothers, Vince Gill, Journey, Beach Boys’ Mike Love, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Steve Miller, Motown legend William "Mickey" Stevenson, songwriting duo L. Russell Brown and Irwin Levine, and […]

A total of 439 songwriters have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame since 1970, and of these, 31 are women. That's just 7% or every 15th honoree. This year's list of nominees, announced Nov. 5, includes six women. Three are nominated on their own - Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, and Patti Smith, and […]

Year of the Monkey is a new memoir by Patti Smith, where dreams mix with reality and shows the singer and poet "most at ease when... close to death", as PopMatters put it (a good part of the book is about Sam Shepard). So, worth a read? - "It is satisfying to catch-up with her […]