"It will be good coming back to Milwaukee, the hometown of my old friend Kevn Kinney," guitarist Lenny Kaye says in anticipation of Patti Smith and her band’s show on March 9 at the Milwaukee Theatre. "During one of the trips, I remember (going to) a great bookstore. Patti and I love going to used bookstores on the road."
There used to be a great bookstore called Renaissance Books Downtown, I suggest; that might be the one he was thinking of.
"Uh-oh!," Kaye says. "You said ‘used to be’."
When I tell him about the location inside Mitchell Airport, he seems relieved.
"We had some great shows (in Milwaukee) so many years ago and are happy to be bringing our ideals and sensibilities back. We are calling it the ‘Midwest Dance Party,’" says Kaye.
Singer Patti Smith – "the godmother of punk rock" – along with Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty will perform the entire 1975-released "Horses" album on Thursday night.
"‘Horses’ captures who we were from September 1975 going into October 1975," says Kaye.
Part of the album’s magic lies in the choices of producer John Cale. After his ground-breaking work with the Velvet Underground, Cale produced The Stooges, Nico and The Modern Lovers, and released a stream of albums that continues to this day.
"John Cale added a few musical suggestions," says Daugherty, possibly alluding to the double tracking of Smith’s vocals at key points during "Land" – the song where Smith deftly connects beat poetry with the eternal groove of New Orleans, name-checking French symbolist poets and obscure rhythm and blues tunes in one perfect blur.
"He created a psychological atmosphere, perhaps deliberately adversarial, that may have helped us cohere as a band," Daugherty says.
However, at one point Daugherty recalls getting fed up with Cale, who was stopping takes, and saying to the producer, "Let us finish this please!"
"To his credit, Cale was just trying to make us a better band," says Daugherty.
And on Thursday, 40 years later, the band will play "Horses" once again.
The Patti Smith Band performs Thursday, March 9 at 8 p.m. at the Milwaukee Theatre.
