Patti Smith Introduces New Book ‘Bread of Angels’ at New York’s Town Hall

Patti Smith, photo by Ilya Savenok for Getty Images, Courtesy of Tibet House US

Patti Smith appeared at New York’s Town Hall last night for a special evening of words and music introducing her new memoir, Bread of Angels. On a day that marked a historic mayoral election, the birthday of her late friend Robert Mapplethorpe and the anniversary of the passing of her husband Fred “Sonic” Smith, the iconic artist and author made strong use of the charged atmosphere with a celebration of her memories.

“It’s a day of celebration and remembrance and knowing that I have the privilege of loving these two wonderful men,” Smith said, per Rolling Stone.

Bread of Angels is Smith’s third memoir, centering on scenes from her private life and years spent away from the stage. Her National Book Award-winning 2010 book Just Kids captured her youth in New York’s underground and relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and 2015’s M Train focused on her life since Horses, with a particular view to the losses she endured through those years. Bread of Angels promises to reach beyond haunting classics as her most intimate book to date, exploring her childhood in Philadelphia and New Jersey, her early adventures as a young creative in New York and her later move to Michigan to start a family with Fred “Sonic” Smith.

At Town Hall, Smith openly navigated the grief at the heart of her new work through expressions of gratitude for her family and her community and recollections of pivotal moments in her life. She looked back on the recording of Horses, the reasoning behind her unforgettable cover of “Because the Night,” the devotional and deeply personal inspiration for “Dancing Barefoot” – “This song has many levels,” she said, “but essentially it was a love song to Fred,” – and her path to writing again after enduring tremendous loss. 

“At times I mourn the worlds I knew,” Smith read from Bread of Angels in a particularly stirring moment. “The hopes of my generation, flowers in hair, dancing to the Dead, seeking a universal music, ‘the language of peace,’ as Jimi Hendrix would say.”

Interspersed between her readings and reflections, Smith treated the audience to intimate versions of some of her classics, joined at times by her daughter Jesse on piano and her longtime bandmates Tony Shanahan and Lenny Kaye. Through the program, she delivered treatments of “Ghost Dance,” “Dancing Barefoot,” “Because the Night” and “Peaceable Kingdom,” then led the crowd through a “Happy Birthday” sing-along dedicated to the late Mapplethorpe and a roaring, timely grand finale of “People Have The Power.”

Learn more about Bread of Angels here.