Patti At the Getty

[PB&M <braeniac>]

Hey Gang,

A day later, a fuller review of the show. Now that Patti's appeared in
Vogue magazine, a fashion review to start. Patti was dressed in a
fetching ensemble featuring a long, black, shiny, faintly oriental
shirt-jacket over a white, untucked button down blouse. Rounding out
the wardrobe were grayish jeans rolled at the cuff and black work
boots. She had a red and cream colored scarf tucked in at the wrist.
Her hair had that just rolled out of bed look that all the
fashionistas strive for.

My wife, daughter and myself were first in line. We got there at 5:30
for a 7:30 show. We met Seachel in line just behind us. Nice to meet
you! You'd think that after standing in line for 2 hours we'd have
gotten right up front, but we were not rewarded for our long wait. We
watched in dismay as wave upon wave of "press" and "VIPs" were ushered
in ahead of us. Definitely the downside of an "art event". We managed
to get center seats about half way back on the lower level. We were
seated with the self-impressed connoisseurs de arte. What a bunch of
stiffs. They didn't get Patti at all. Polite applause greeted her
poems and songs from down front, while the more raucous cheering was
heard from the back. It was really not a typical Patti crowd by a huge
margin.

Patti started off with her son Jackson seated next to her. She read a
subdued version of Piss Factory to open. She followed this with 2 more
poems- Notebook and Dog Dream. The crowd chuckled at her faint Dylan
impression on the latter. Next she read Oath, which contains the
opening lines from Gloria. Jackson sat passively, with a wry smile on
his face during the readings. He's a very tall young man who very much
resembles his Dad, but with Patti's sparkle about him. He and Patti
had a really playful warm interaction over the course of the show.

The first song was Come Back Little Sheba with Patti on guitar. It
seemed like she sang it in a register that was too high and had to
push the upper range of her voice to hit the high parts. She stopped
in the middle, called it take two and continued on. She and Jackson
then did a nice version of Grateful. She joked that they had rehearsed
in the bathroom of their hotel. They were quite ragged, but it lent a
folksy charm to the evening. She mentioned that it was the first time
that she and Jackson had performed together without the band. It added
to the specialness of the show. They kept hunting for little scraps of
paper with chord changes and lyrics, often making a routine of
swapping bits of paper. Patti remarked that she comes from 7
generations of disorganized people. It sure looked that way. I loved
the affectionate banter between Jackson and his Mom.

Next, Patti read the Blake poem Little Lamb and did the usual segue
into Boy Cried Wolf. It was a loose version, as Jackson didn't really
seem to know the song very well. It was the first strong singing of
Patti for the night though. She did some nice wolf calls at the end.
Then Jackson played a couple of instrumental guitar pieces which had
elements of ragtime and country shuffle, with a little Arlo Guthrie
thrown in. He said thanks for Merle and Travis after he finished.

Patti then talked about seeing the Lotte Lenya record on the cover of
Dylan's Bringin It All Back home record and becoming interested in
Weill and Brecht as a result. She said that she had gotten a part in a
production of Threepenny Opera, but had to turn it down because she
had to go tour for the Horses LP instead. She then said she was going
to try something in honor of the occasion and that since she was at a
museum "if I do it really bad I'll just call it art." She walked off
stage briefly and returned with her outer shirt tied around her waist
holding one of those wide dust mops used for sweeping hallways and did
a spoken version of Pirate Jenny. This was absolutely remarkable and
was one of the major highlight of the night. She would've been great
off Broadway. Then she joked that they were going to do the hit single
for Mahagonny and did Moon Of Alabama with Jackson. This was Patti at
her best and she really won the crowd over, even the stuffed shirts
down front. People were actually clapping along. Another classic Patti
performance moment. This was priceless. She then talked about living
at the Chelsea Hotel at the same time as Harry Smith and joked about
them sharing the same last name. She said that Smiths were descendants
of Cain and remembered how she used to tell people that Harry was her
Dad. He'd be in the middle of a big negotiation with someone for
support funds and Patti would come bounding in saying that Daddy
forgot to pick her up at work. Harry would retort that he was
celibate, a homosexual and barren! "I'm not her father" he'd
exasperatedly bellow. She said she loved to sit at his feet and read
him her latest poems. She then read a poem written about Harry for the
occasion which included the line Lord of the Heart. It was a moving
tribute to a brilliant man. She and Jackson then did a hushed version
of Lost In the Stars. Patti sounded so fragile during the song. It was
exquisite. She blew a kiss to Harry and walked off with her son. The
crowd applauded and I yelled out "come back Patti!" I couldn't help
myself. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered Jackson and Mom back
to the stage. She remarked that they weren't sure if they were going
to get called back.

For the encore they did Dancing Barefoot and it featured Patti's most
Assured and strong singing of the night. She had the crowd clapping
along and really had them on her side. She could have easily kept
going, but the show ended here. The lights came up and the crowd made
a hasty exit. My daughter Mollie, my wife Beth and I went down to the
front in the hopes that Patti would come out to chat. Some other fans
were gathered also waiting for Patti. I saw Thomas Crow, who is the
Director of the Getty Research Institute take some of Patti's records
and books backstage for one of the "VIPs". He then started to walk by
us and we asked if Patti was going to come out. He said that she
wouldn't and I told him that I had a copy of Patti's first album with
me that I was hoping she'd sign. He took it form me and came back a
few minutes later. Patti had signed it "To Phil  getty 31. may 2002"
and drew a cross underneath. It was great to get it signed though we
were all disappointed that she wouldn't come out.

My wife, daughter and I went out to grab a late bite to eat and Mollie
(she's 10 years old) showed me pictures she had drawn of Patti during
the performance. She said that Patti looked like the kind of person
that you could go to Disneyland with and have the time of your life. I
couldn't agree more.

SOMEBODY.....WHERE'S THE
TAPE??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phil