Bob's Home Library
Summary:
It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and
riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led
two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.
Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert
Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward
photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed
the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and
eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City,
where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair
set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community
of the famous and infamous—the influential artists of the
day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened
awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and
sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu,
two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy,
romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual
dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another
during the hungry years. Just Kids begins as a love story and
ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during
the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its
hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two
young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.
Tags: [CNTY:USA, ZDC:RWZJ, ZDC:YWSJ]