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CAMDEN_TOWN

                                              February 28, 2006

A quote from the book "Patti Smith" (1999) 
by Victor Bockris and Roberta Bayley,

About a Patti Smith performance
in Philadelphia in 1995:

  The Electric Factory had been in existence in one
  form or another for almost thirty years, and consists
  of one rectangular space resembling a small airplane
  hanger.  There, Patti stepped onstage wearing an
  oversized Unabomber jacket, her head engulfed by the
  hood -- the only way anyone could tell that it was
  her was from the sound of her voice and her unique
  use of language.  She read the crowd perfectly from
  the moment she took the stage.  "I've been taking
  a look at your city," she began, in measured tones
  with just the right edge of terror in them.  "Went
  over to the museum and saw the Brancusi show,"
  she continued slowly, settling the crowd down and
  setting it up perfectly, describing the exhibition
  in great detail.  Then she sailed across the
  Schuylkil River, taking the crowd to nearby Camden,
  where, she reminded them, they could pay their
  respects to Walt Whitman, whose house has been
  restored.  At this point, some joker yelled out,
  "It ain't safe in Camden!"

  "Then move there," Patti countered, "and make it safe."
  With that, she yanked off the hood, slammed her face
  into the microphone, and crashed into "Horses" ...

           -- p.274 
              Simon & Schuster


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