Patti Smith has shared that she is not concerned about New York City’s future as a musical hub when the COVID-19 pandemic passes.
In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Patti said she has no fear about Big Apple performance venues coming back – saying other parts of the world have far larger problems.
“I mean, we’re worried about what’s going to happen but you look at places in East Africa where there’s billions of locusts,” she offered, telling the publication: “They have the biggest epidemic of locusts, where all of their crops are gone.”
Smith added: “In Yemen, children are dying every day from starvation. We have what is happening in terms of climate change.”
She concluded New York’s plight is minor by contrast: “So I’m not fixated on what’s going to happen in New York City.”
Gushing over her hometown, Smith said: “I’ve been all over the world and I still think it’s one of the most diverse cities. I’ll always love New York City.”
The punk rocker has been forced to postpone her latest world tour until next year and said the performance hiatus is hitting her hard.
“Because I’ll be going into my 74th year, it was possibly going to be one of my last such vigorous tours, so I spent a lot of time on it – developing a mindset toward public life, collaboration, travel,” she detailed.
Smith recounted that as she was ‘mentally and physically prepared’ for travel and media attention, abruptly switching to solitude was a shock for her.
“Having to go from the extroverted life of a performer to the introverted life of a writer was a challenge because I wasn’t prepared for it,” she confessed.
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