Last night, I finished reading Patti Smith’s absolutely wonderful book Just Kids, the story of her relationship with the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe that began on the streets of New York City in 1967. I found it to be a deeply personal, and moving memoir, and a fascinating document of the Manhattan avant-garde art/music scene that emerged around the Chelsea Hotel, Max’s Kansas City, and the Bowery in the 1970s. Beautifully-written, Just Kids is a love letter to Mappelthorpe and also a loving tribute to what a friendship can be. After I closed the book, I immediately found this intense video of Smith and her band performing “Horses/Hey Joe” in 1976. “Just Kids” by Patti Smith
