Music Has the Power

- That Senate hearing on "enhancing the racing industry" scheduled for today has been canceled. The Public Hearing will be rescheduled for a date, time and location to be announced.

- We saw Patti Smith last night at Webster Hall. It was a free concert sponsored by France Inter, a public radio network which broadcast the show live back to its home country (where the Head Chef and I will once again be visiting this fall - in fact, in just a few weeks - and this time for the Arc as well!).

The show was billed as being in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of you-know-what. And as such, I went into it thinking that it might be a somewhat somber affair. And though Patti surely had her reflective moments (which is one way of putting them!), that impression was wrong. And why actually, should it have been any more somber than, say, the Concert for New York which took place a few weeks after the events. Or the Built to Spill show that the we attended at Irving Plaza on Sept 21, 2001 as the cloud of fear was still fully engulfing the city.

Because after all, music is life-affirming. All forms of it I suppose but, especially to me, the power and raw emotion of good rock music (as opposed to commercial wimpy pop and the fake generic so-called 'punk' so prevalent today) is enough to send me away to some other consciousness distinct from the tribulations of the real world, and to look ahead with optimism and confidence instead of fear. So, though songs like People Have the Power and Because the Night may have taken on added poignancy on this occasion, the music of Patti Smith, with her band in absolute top-notch rockin' form, was a perfect tribute and commemoration, not of the events of 9/11/2001 itself, but of the spirit of the city, and the city of the spirit and resiliency that has risen from the ashes of that day. And, thankfully, I'm now officially done with this anniversary. "I remember on September 12, 2001," Patti Smith said last night, "I was filled with hope about how we could help make the world a better place. We haven't done a very good job." Then she smiled broadly and added: "But, there's always tomorrow." Indeed.


Patti Smith au Webster Hall by franceinter