Sitting at Wimmer's Place, Bein' Just Kids

Book Gang wrapped up our reading of Just Kids by Patti Smith on June 27th with a rock 'n roll ladies night at the posh pad of Wimmer. Her deluxe velvetty wrap-around brown sofa and backdrop of Smith's Horses record (authentically played on vinyl, nice touch!) provided the perfect conversation pit to revisit Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe's young days of romance in Washington Sq. Park, as residents of the Chelsea Hotel, and young lovers, artists and misfits in the 1970s New York City/Greenwich Village/Chelsea scene.

Many of us readers took note that Smith sure drops a lot of names when it comes to painting the Chelsea Hotel scene: Grace Slick and the other members of Jefferson Airplace swishing through the lobby, Patti running Bob Dylan and Bobby Neuwirth and befriending them, sharing a poem she wrote for Janis Joplin WITH Janis Jopin (the original Pearl)...

And then she and Robert sharing times there in the back of Max's Kansas were always the Warhol Factory crew that Mapplethorpe tried so hard to rub elbows with. Did we fault him for being so fame-hungry? No. We figured out that everybody back then was. Even Smith admits that they both fed off one another's passions for fame. Artists were simply who they were, and they both wanted the world to recognize their art.

The greatest catch of the book was Smith and Mapplethorpe's back-and-forth, undying love and respect for one another. Even after Mapplethorpe came out and Patti Smith moved on to other lovers, they remained true friends, muses for one another and deeply entwined twin-souls. She talks about the time that they moved from the Chelsea to a much larger, two-room studio loft space. The walls were white and sparse and the windows gi-normous. Robert took the bigger room in the back for his studio, and she took the smaller front room, where her eclectic, sporadic, artist mess quickly erupted and she had trouble working. She writes of sitting on the floor, trying to set up her typewriter on a crate in front of her, and getting frustrated because she could not work in her own mess. Robert was just a wall away, and his meticulous, orderly enclave provided her respite from her own crazy, messy den. She came to him, wrapped in a sheet after they'd been separated for a little while by other lovers and psychic space, and he said to her, simply, "Patti, what took you so long?"

This book is full of enchanting memories, gorgeous moving confessions, remembered moments of old New York, and the true lure of carefree youth, raw talent, and all kinds of promise and possibility. It gripped onto our hearts like velcro and would not let go, all the way through the very end, and the quiet, peaceful goodbye that Smith faced, alone in her kitchen, with one simple phone call.

Second Part Blind Assassin, skipped. On to "Just Kids"

Just Kids, by Patti Smith - the rock 'n' roll biography about Smith's fantastic lifelong friendship and love with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Next meeting: Monday, June 27th, Wimmer's  7 PM

First Half of The Blind Assassin

Book gang had a small, but lively meeting March 26th in the fabulous yard of Ms. Larah P. Larah, being the ever-gracious hostess, made a themed hors d'oerves tray of canapes, some with fresh cucumbers and spread on wheat bread, some with tasty peppers and hummus.

With most members of Book Gang only part-way through the book, the meeting talk was of general themes and some of the various threads of mystery which Ms. Atwood has woven through the pages. Particularly distressing (ahem, maybe a bit annoying) is the funky sci-fi side-story which surfaces frequently throughout the book. Is this some metaphor for Laura and Iris? And parable about love affairs of their time? Or is this side-story serving some alternate purpose in the book? Read on, dear Gangstas, because only time, and chapters, will tell...

Also discussed was the bizarre personality of young Miss Laura Chase and whether or not she might suffer some mental illness or personality disorder. The Gang also went back through some timeline stuff, to confirm that yes, Laura was age 25 when she plunged her car over that bridge. And we also talked about gender roles and how stringent they were back in the days before WWII (and some of us maybe paused to wonder, Have we come a long way, baby? Maybe? Maybe not.)

Book Gang will meet again to discuss the second half of this alluring, multi-dimensional, generation-shifting book on April 26th at 7 pm, back at the same spot, Ms. Pawlawski's enchanting backyard. Bring your crystal ware and Xanady genie costumes!

Successful 1st Meeting, and Plans for March

Greetings, Gangsters,

Jenna here, reporting on our successful first meeting at Lara Plecas' place. We met Sat., Feb 19th, and even though not everyone finished the book (no shame, ladies! I know I picked a slow one!), we had a great talk about Sufis, spinning dervishes, various rare bird species and a special dedication to The Phoenix.
On Ms. Pawlowski's recommendation, we'll be diving into the divine Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. Next meeting to be March 26, at Larah's place.  Rumor has it there will be 1940s-themed cocktails, dresses and hors d'oeuvres. Yay!

Arizona One Book 2011

The official selection for one book Arizona this year is :

Hopi Summer: Letters from Ethel to Maud by Carolyn O’Bagy Davis

Visit http://www.onebookaz.org/ for more information, or how to nominate books and/or vote for next year.

Welcome to Book Gang AZ; This ain't no Oprah's Angel Club!

Welcome to Book Gang AZ.


Book Gang is something me and some radical Brooklyn friends started 3 years ago (can you believe it kept going??) to pretty fun success. My hope for Book Gang AZ is that we can round up some equally awesome, book-luvin' people here in the PHX area to commit to meeting every month and talkin' books. 

For the first meeting, please read The Conference of the Birds by Farid Ud-Din Attar. We will meet Sat. 19 at Lara's abode. Bring a copy of the book and come ready to drink & discuss!

There's no theme for Book Gang; the sky is the limit. We could read a work of non-fiction one month, and the next month a book of poetry. We could dig deep into the classics and the next time we meet, select something from the New York Times Book Review. The books could be odd, obscure, or could come from the bestsellers list. What we read is entirely up to the members of Book Gang.


Book Gang is very democratic, especially about scheduling. I picked the first book to get the ball moving.
I can explain everything at the first meeting.


In the future, we will always vote on meeting dates and times, to try to make sure everything is as fair to all members as possible.


Please use our Gmail account to communicate and post meetings and interesting readings around the Valley on the calendar. Use this blogspace to post member meeting picts and meeting postmortems.


Thanks, dudes. Looking forward to seeing you at our launch meeting! - Jenna