Author: Patti Smith
Narrator: Patti Smith
Unabridged: 3 hr 49 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 09/24/2019
From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year.
Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey." For Smith--inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing--the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.
Riveting, elegant, often humorous, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.
“After you've done all the work and prepared as much as you can, what the hell, you might as well go out and have a good time.” – Benny Goodman Sprightly swing music spills across the dimly lit club. The grayish curtai...
BeatlesTalk traces the historic odyssey of the Fab Four, beginning in England, 1963 with the conquest of their own country, leading to a successful invasion of America. Topics include their haircuts and how they named the group, comments on their pe...
Buddy Baker was Disney music. Mostly known as the composer of the Haunted Mansion song and score, he was also a composer of films (Wicked Woman, The Fox and the Hound), television shows (the original Mickey Mouse Club), and numerous theme park attra...
If you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection. Two-time Grammy winning rap artist, Lecrae, learned this lesson through more than his share of adversity—childhood abuse, drugs and alcoholism, a stint in rehab...
The life of Franz Liszt was as daring and spectacular as his music. Famed throughout Europe as the greatest pianist of the nineteenth century, he was one of the most original and prophetic composers who ever lived. Beautiful in youth, glowering in a...
In this book, Joey will take you on his journey to becoming a professional DJ and music producer. You will read about his experiences in the music industry, the challenges along the way and the story about him ending his music career after his burno...
For decades, Steven Curtis Chapman's music and message have brought hope and inspiration to millions around the world. Now, for the first time, Steven openly shares the experiences that have shaped him, his faith, and his music in a life that ha...
It's no secret that Beethoven went deaf, that Mozart had constant money problems, and that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote musicals. But what were these peopleand other famous musiciansreally like? What did they eat? What did they wear? How did they spen...
The Way Of The Zen Cowboy is a collection of 35 short stories from Grammy-winning musician, writer, and ethnomusicologist Barrett Martin. These stories are based on his personal experiences around the world, as well as wisdom stories heard from Indi...