{"id":27929,"date":"2023-08-16T12:58:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T19:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27929"},"modified":"2023-08-16T14:07:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T21:07:47","slug":"live-shots-patti-smith-howls-at-stern-grove-and-a-festive-crowd-howls-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/16\/live-shots-patti-smith-howls-at-stern-grove-and-a-festive-crowd-howls-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Shots: Patti Smith \u2018Howl\u2019s at Stern Grove (and a festive crowd howls back)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Patti Smith at Stern Grove, August 13. All photos by Jon Bauer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music<\/a>Live Shots<\/a> Live Shots: Patti Smith ‘Howl’s at Stern Grove (and…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rock legend read Allen Ginsberg and launched into career favorites for an ecstatic crowd at the packed park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By JON BAUER AND PATTY RIEK<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUGUST 14, 2023 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the sun shining and dragonflies zipping around, colorful parasols, face-painted kids, and festive libations dotted the meadows and hills for the penultimate summer 2023 Stern Grove show on Sunday, August 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patti Smith<\/a>\u2014poet, musician, keen observer\u2014opened her show acknowledging the trials and tribulations of the crowd members who arrived early. Next, wishing City Lights Bookstore<\/a> a happy 70th birthday as a purveyor of \u201cspiritual food,\u201d she read \u201cSunflower Sutra<\/a>\u201d from Allen Ginsberg\u2019s Howl and Other Poems<\/a>. Smith\u2019s choice of Ginsberg\u2019s words reminded us that, \u201cWe\u2019re not our skin of grime, we\u2019re not dread bleak dusty imageless locomotives, we\u2019re golden sunflowers inside.\u201d In the poem, Ginsberg stands to \u201cdeliver [his] sermon to [his] soul, and Jack\u2019s [Kerouac] soul too, and anyone who\u2019ll listen.\u201d Similarly, Smith\u2019s show illustrated the power of poetry and music to speak truth and offer hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first song of the set was \u201cWaiting Underground,\u201d interspersed with a riff on Ginsberg\u2019s \u201cHowl<\/a>.\u201d Sunday\u2019s iteration acknowledged the desperation of today: \u201chope\u2026\/Down the drain of your humankind\u201d and the \u201cbest minds\u201d of a generation both wracked by loss. Even with \u201ceverything exploding,\u201d Smith reminded us, \u201cwe can build it back again\u201d with poetry, empathy, electric guitar and a Marshall amp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her longtime band of Lenny Kaye<\/a> and her son Jackson Smith on guitar, Tony Shanahan<\/a> on bass, and Jay Dee Dauherty<\/a> on drums, Smith saluted workers, told stories, and sometimes played acoustic guitar. The capacity crowd were thrilled to hear \u201cMy Blakean Year\u201d \u201cSummer Cannibals,\u201d \u201cI Had too Much to Dream (Last Night),\u201d \u201cNine\u201d and, of course, \u201cBecause the Night,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an afternoon of stories. Kaye shared a long-ago San Francisco experience involving a Grateful Dead concert before launching into his rendition of \u201cThe Golden Road.\u201d After this song, looking across the grove, Smith said the people assembled to hear her were like, \u201ca million flowers moving through the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing \u201cBeneath the Southern Cross,\u201d Smith explained that the song is both one of remembrance of so many we have lost recently, and a song of life. Song (and by extension, all art) remains a \u201cliving aspect\u201d of the artist in her eyes, and to whit, her work and references seemed both historical and timely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early arrivals had San Francisco DJ Allyson Baker<\/a> to thank for an eclectic set to match the varied crowd. Opening for Smith, Bob Mould<\/a> (a Castro resident who says he doesn\u2019t listen to \u201cpeople who hate on the city,\u201d) offered his \u201cstand and deliver\u201d style performance with only vocals and electric guitar. Working through H\u00fcsker D\u00fc favorites like \u201cI Apologize\u201d and his own pieces such as \u201cNext Generation\u201d and \u201cVoices in My Head,\u201d Mould\u2019s crunchy guitar sound filled the grove. Just before closing his set, Mould told his own Patti Smith story of waiting for the legend to sign his record as a young man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just one of the afternoon\u2019s tales that exemplify how even in the wide world, our paths continue to cross and intersect. \u2014words by Patty Riek<\/em>, photos by Jon Bauer<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patti Smith at Stern Grove, August 13. All photos by Jon Bauer MusicLive Shots Live Shots: Patti Smith ‘Howl’s at Stern Grove (and… The rock legend read Allen Ginsberg and launched into career favorites for an ecstatic crowd at the packed park. By JON BAUER AND PATTY RIEK AUGUST 14,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[947],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27929"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27950,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929\/revisions\/27950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}