Patti Smith DREAM OF LIFE on PBS

On December 30th , Patti Smith's 63rd Birthday, the documentary DREAM OF LIFE will be making its on-air broadcast premeire as part of the PBS series POV.

Check your local listings to confirm and for rebroadcast times. Meanwhile, today's NY Times has a feature article on the upcoming Patti Smith celebration (including her annual end-of-year concerts at the Bowery Ballroom and a new gallery exhibit (with director Steven Seibring) in the new year.

A Legend as Muse: Patti Smith Fills Role, The New York Times, December 20, 2009

Jonathan Demme directs for theater

Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense) will be directing his first play in NYC this spring:

Apr 7-May 23, 2010
Family Week
by Beth Henley

A year after the death of her son, Claire checks into a recovery center in the desert, searching for a way to cope. When her mother, daughter and sister arrive to participate in "family week," long-dormant traumas collide with recent tragedies in surprisingly comical, shocking and deeply moving ways. United in this family struggle, the women rage and reach out in an effort to reconcile their love with the way things are. Making his theatrical debut, Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) collaborates with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) on a new version of this bitterly funny play. Acclaimed actresses Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) and Sarah Jones (Tony Award-winner for Bridge and Tunnel) will join the cast.


"With Jonathan Demme in charge, there’s a guarantee of taste and skill.” -New Yorker

For more information, go to MCC Theater

Baaba Maal completes promo tour at Joe's Pub

Baaba Maal completed a whirlwind visit to the US (Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York), culminating in a sold-out show at Joe's Pub on Saturday October 17th. Billed as IN CONVERSATION WITH BAABA MAAL, the show featured a dialogue between Baaba and MTV's Bill Flanagan, followed by a short acoustic set by Baaba and guitarist Barry Reynolds. Other shows included the UCLA campus and the Chicago Cultural Center, plus live radio appearances on World Cafe and WNYC Soundcheck. [Photos by Kevin Yatarola]

Look for Baaba's return in April for a full tour with band!

Talking Heads STOP MAKING SENSE on BLU RAY TODAY!!!

Get Your Copy Today!

Stop Making Sense Blu-Ray featured in LA Times: 'Pop & Hiss'

Read the full entry here

Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diaries – the title may be an ironic echo of Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries; who knows? – is a deceptively straightforward book, an impressionistic glimpse of some of the cities that Byrne has explored on his pushbike. As anyone familiar with David Byrne's oeuvre might expect, it is not really a book about cycling per se, more a book in which cycling is, if you'll pardon the pun, the cog for Byrne's thoughts about architecture, music, art, travel, politics, religion, kitsch, decay and – a recurring theme – our "quality of life". [cont'd]
source: The Guardian UK

Look for it in bookstores near you!

I Salute You Brother

Jim Carroll - poet & punk icon - died on Friday, leaving behind classic songs ("People Who Died", "Catholic Boy") and a rich written legacy, including the classic novel "The Basketball Diaries".

You can read his obituary from The New York Times.

Patti Smith reminiscence about her friend Jim Carroll in an exclusive interview on the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer. . .listen online here.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 10-19 2009

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 10-19) will show 271 feature films and 64 short subjects, most of them premieres, at more than a dozen theaters and multiplexes all over the city.

One Program in Yonge and Dundas Square is the free TIFF Live in Concert series, featuring a terrific batch of music-related films including “The Harder They Come,” “Don’t Look Back,” “The Last Waltz,” “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man,” “Monterey Pop,” “Woodstock,” “Stop Making Sense,” and more...

source: morningsun.net