Patti Smith Thrills Zagreb Before Concert

The musician touched on Obama, pop and photography at her Zagreb press conference. She has assembled the play list for her show.

The term “grandmother of punk” is a synonym for one of the greatest rock singers, artist and activist Patti Smith. This peculiar lady held a press conference in Zagreb on Sunday in the eve of her performance in the Croatian capital.

A large crowd in the small hall was not without cause. The fabulous singer will perform in Croatia for the first time. The organisers have previously invited her five times to Zagreb.

Just before the press conference started, a stampede of photographers surrounded Patti Smith. She decided to pull a prank and picked up her old school Polaroid, snipping away.

It is a well-known fact that Patti loves photography and she never lets her camera down. She will cross over to digital photography when Polaroids die, she said.

Money was not the motive behind music

Answering questions, she looked back on pop music. According to her, everyone is doing music today, in their rooms and garages and they are making money. But, money was never her motive.

Patti said that the 1960s yielded many bands and musicians, but only a few were remembered, like Hendrix, Lennon and Dylan. The same thing will happen to today`s musicians.

The artists said she was keeping an eye on new, young bands. She particularly liked a Serbian band which she saw live at this year`s Exit festival in Novi Sad when she performed this Saturday. However, she could not remember the band`s name. She frequently visits bands on their MySpace accounts if they leave a message on her wall and likes listening to their music, because she is an explorer.

She briefly addressed the death of her brother and husband. They both died in 1994.

Patti, who loves to writing and reading poetry (particularly French Parnassian movement and symbolists) revealed that her partner Tom Verlaine did not change his surname after meeting her, but before, which she took as a sign of “fate and chance”.

Reporters helped her with the play list

Patti Smith asked the gathered reporters if they had any music requests, i.e. if hey wanted to hear certain songs at the show, and she penned down a few titles. Interestingly enough, Patti has the habit of asking the crowd what they would like to hear just before her show. It has been disclosed that Patti will sing at least one of her new songs, as well as many classics from her workshop at the concert on Monday at the Tvornica club.

Obama is not a black president, he is a man

There was talk of politics as well. Smith said that Obama (whom she supported at the presidential election) has a few bad decisions and that he is not a black president in her opinion, but a man.

For actual changes, the important thing is to know how the world works. Americans need to have patience, Patti believes.

Apart from cracking many jokes, she sang two songs at the press conference. She performed the second one, “Grateful” with guitar player Lenny Kaye. Much to the media representative`s delight, she recited one of her poems and was awarded with thundering applause.