new jersey

One fateful evening in a kitchen in Brooklyn in the winter of 2008, I stood leaning on a window, freezing air seeping into the sweaty room. A woman emerged from the bathroom wearing a modest black dress with a white collar. In the smallest voice, she said, "We're Screaming Females and we're from New Jersey." My eyes lit up.

(Lyrics here)

In the world of rock'n'roll, there are stars and there are poets, virtuosos and punks, heroes and losers and fallen idols. And then there is Patti Smith.