Patti Smith, Action Jackson, Melrose Pace and Other Local Heroes
Lets start with the Patti Smith movie at the historic Lincoln theatre. It was a somber and intimate portrait of eleven years in the life of Patti and especially reflective in the wake of many tragedies that have befallen her. If you missed it you can look forward to it next year on PBS and later on DVD. I sure hope they don't use it for a pledge drive. It did seem that during the Q&A that followed both Patti and film maker Steven Sebring didn't sem to take it seriously although her live performance with son Jackson was a delight.
For those of you who e-mailed and wondered why Patti was so rude to me I'm not exactly sure. It could have been her jet lagged state or perhaps insecurity over appearing in a new medium such as film. But whatever the reason I took it in stride. And as rude as Patti was her son Jackson at age 24 was a veritible delight as well as an incredible up and coming guitar player. Jackson is the son of Patti and the late Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5. He grew up in Detroit with Patti and his dad when his dad was still alive but later attended high school in New York City.
I heard Patti in an interview about a year ago exclaim that Jackson's favorite guitar player and chief influence other than his dad is Danny Gatton. So when I met Jackson I was gung ho to ask him about it. It turns out it's true and he was very excited to talk about Danny and had questions for people who knew him. His favorite aspect of Danny's career was the Red Neck Jazz group and Jackson especially likes the Live at the Cellar Door album which is available on CD. Jackson also seemed to like the loose groove of the Fat Boys as well.
Jackson and I also started talking about DC's other legendary guitar heroes and we touched on everybody from Link Wray to Roy Buchannan and even Roy Clark. It seems that Jackson heard a lot of DC guitar players while working in a record store in New York and even has a friend who is currently playing bass with Bethesda's Robert Gordon. And at 24 Jackson is listening to a lot of country and finger picking styles. Who knows one day soon he may be a force to be reckoned with. By the way I sat with Jackson while the movie was screened and he was lauging hysterically at the footage of him as a child. You could see him grow up right on screen.
As long as we're on the subject on local people I had a chance to talk to Carol Mendelsohn the other day. Who is she you ask? She is the executive producer of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as well as co-creator of CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. Before that she spent five years as executive producer of Melrose Place. But the interesting thing about Carol is her degree from GW Law School and the fact that she spent a good deal of her earlier life working as a K Street lawyer and living on Capitol Hill. She says that when she started pitching TV pilot ideas to the receptionist at the law firm she knew she had to move on. From there she moved to the West Coast and underwent a drastic career and lifestyle change. You see there really is hope for all of us.l
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