PATTI SMITH, LENNY KAYE, AND FRIENDS
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY
February 10, 2024

Audio Technica U853 binaural mics (4.7k mod) > Church Audio ugly battery box > Sony PCM-A10 > WAV (24/48) > Izotope RX 9 (de-click filter to reduce close clapping, spectral denoise filter to reduce hiss) > Sound Studio (light dynamic compression for stray transients) > WAV (16/44.1)

Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 Year of the Wood Dragon (reading and poem)
02 Elemental Prayer (poem)
03 Fire of Unknown Origin [Blue Oyster Cult]
04 Lightning Striking (Lenny Kaye reading)
05 World Book Night [Lenny Kaye]
06 Ghost Dance [Patti Smith]
07 I Love This Bar (false starts)
08 I Love This Bar [Toby Keith]
09 Year of the Monkey (Patti Smith reading)
10 One Too Many Mornings [Bob Dylan]
11 Lullaby [Bertolt Brecht]
12 Masters of War [Bob Dylan]
13 Nine [Patti Smith]
14 I Want to Hold Your Hand [The Beatles]
15 Dirty Water [The Standells]
16 Going Local [Lenny Kaye]
17 Puff, the Magic Dragon [Peter, Paul, and Mary]
18 Dancing Barefoot [Patti Smith]
19 People Have the Power [Patti Smith]
20 Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) [Kurt Weill]

Patti Smith: vocals, reading
Lenny Kaye: guitar, vocals, reading
Jackson Smith: guitar
James Mastro: guitar, mandolin
Tony Shanahan: bass, keyboard, vocals
Jay Dee Dougherty: drums
Jesse Paris Smith: reading, backing vocals
Michael Pitt: guitar on track 9

Advertised as "Year of the Wood Dragon: Words and Music by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye," this promised to be a weird one, and it lived up to the expectation: Opening with Patti and her daughter Jesse reading an introduction in celebration of the Chinese and Tibetan new years (plus an unscheduled conversation with Bowery Ballroom security), it led into a night of alternating readings and music, with Patti departing the stage several times while Lenny Kaye and Tony Shanahan led the band (augmented by guitar wizard James Mastro) in covers of a Nuggets classic and the late Toby Keith. There were also songs to mark Bertolt Brecht's birthday, the anniversary of Patti and Lenny's first performance, and the anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan, as well as the most unlikely Year of the Dragon tribute song imaginable. A lot of it was fairly shambolic, but it was all lots of fun; I can only hope they repeat this next year for the Year of the Snake, ideally with Patti singing "I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor."

Recorded from just left of center, about 20 feet back from the stage — everything always sounds great anywhere at the Bowery Ballroom, but this is my favorite sweet spot. Enjoy, do not sell, go see Patti if she shows up in your town even (especially) if it's for something weird!