I think I'm in love with Patti Smith

There is something so raw about her, her delivery, her percussive voice and the building into song.  It's not that she is showing us her emotion, but showing just RAW emotion.  It's not from her, but through her.  She said somewhere once that performing in front of people, whether it's 50 at CBGBs or 50,000 in a stadium is exactly the same in intention, but you just send your energy in different ways and receiving from the audience in different ways.  She also talks about the feeling of this power.  Somehow, watching this, you can sense this power. 

I used to emcee a Jazz Poetry night here in HK, once a month at different venues.  Only once in 8 months did things click that I felt something close to what Patti is talking about.  It was when I did Bad Boy, a poem written by Paul Ulrich.  I asked the keyboard guy to give me a percussive pounding rock beat, someone picked up my djembe drum and started a cool under beat.  I started the poem in mono-tone, repeating words over and over and built it into something a bit more like rap. It was a moment, reading, when everything worked, I forgot I was me, I became just the words.  There were about 80 people there, and when it was finished, it felt amazing.  I was asked to do Bad Boy again, every month from then on, but it was never the same as the first.  And I felt, just a bit, a glimmer of what it is that Patti talks about. 

One day, I'll start up Jazz Poetry again, but maybe will make it more like Rock Poetry and maybe be brave enough to read my own works. 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3coSfks4rQ