Patti Smith

from the introduction ..This is what Patti Smith sang back in 1978 on ‘Rock’n’Roll Nigger’ (Easter). A personal manifesto, a rallying cry, a statement of love for the margins, the outcasts, the pariahs, her community. Where is she in 2015, 37 years later? With all the fame, and money, though less than other rock stars of the same generation. With official recognition, including by the French Government (she has been made ‘Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres’, along with Stevie Wonder, Bono, and Bob Dylan). With thirteen original albums ‘under the belt’, as male rock critics write with elegance. With her poetry regularly re-printed, her paintings and photographs on show in prestigious galleries around the world, an induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a National Book Award for her first prose work, Just Kids. Still outside?