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“Dream of Life” salutes Smith

Posted Dec 30, 2009 by Clarisa Gerlach

Updated Dec 30, 2009 at 03:42 PM

“Patti Smith: Dream of Life,” the 2008 documentary of the poet-rock singer, airs at 9 tonight on WEDU.

The film, being shown as part of PBS’ “POV” series, was shot over a period of 11 years by photographer Steven Sebring. It won a Sundance Film Festival Award for Excellence in Cinematography, and the New York Times praised Sebring for creating “a structure for the film in which past and present seem to flow effortlessly and ceaselessly into each other.”

Smith, who narrates the film, came to rock ‘n’ roll through poetry in the early ‘70s, adding first guitarist Lenny Kaye, then pianist Richard Sohl to her poetry readings before finally forming a full-fledged band with guitarist Ivan Kral and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty. The group, with Bruce Brody replacing Sohl in 1978, recorded four albums, beginning with 1975’s “Horses.”

She has worked with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and playwright Sam Shepard as well as Bruce Springsteen, with whom she wrote her Top 20 hit, 1978’s “Because the Night.” She befriended Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Gregory Corso. Her poetry and songs link the free-form expression of the Beats to the aggression of punk rock.

Smith also is a visual artist who has exhibited silkscreens, drawings and photographs.