"one can't be so hot he loses awareness of the ice"

WHY DON'T YOU DRAW THE COVER TO YOUR NEXT ALBUM?

..I find a photograph a stronger image. my drawings are conceived from a very fragile world.

WHAT DO YOU DO AFTER A CONCERT?

...we try to find a cool club, play w/ a new group...in London it was the Clash once. In Boston w/ DMZ we all did Raw Power and Riot on Sunset Strip. no club? we drift in our hotel.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT DISCO?

...discos are for the body not mind. but I don't mind.

HOW DID YOU GET HENDRIX'S GUITAR?

...I was blessed.

WHO IS WAYNE KRAMER?

...lead guitarist for the MC5. five years in prison for cocaine. 5 years in prison for being free.

WHAT ONE THING THAT YOU DON'T HAVE NOW WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE?

...airplay for Radio Ethiopia

WHERE DID YOU GO WHEN THE MACHINE FOG LIFTED AT THE L.A. FORUM BÖC CONCERT ON 11/13/76--OR WAS IT ONLY YOUR SPIRIT DANCING TO THE SIMPLE ROCK AND ROLL SONG?

...the cops grabbed me... I fought the law and the law won for 2 minutes. then the BÖC crew leaped down and rescued me. pulled me up on stage where I resumed dancing (let the girl) behind Allen Lanier's baby grand.

WHAT IS YOUR PAST/PRESENT RELATIONSHIP WITH TOM VERLAINE?

...he is my best friend.

WHAT DO YOU WEAR TO SLEEP IN, AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE POSITION?

...a cocoon, with my head in my hands.

WHAT'S AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW OF WHITE HORSES?

...angel ice.

HOW MUCH OF YOUR LIVE PRESENTATION IS SPONTANEOUS AS OPPOSED TO REHEARSED?

... we never rehearse. even when we're alone we play for pleasure and illumination. every moment is a now moment. rehearsing is for boy scouts.

WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF THE EYE PROBLEMS YOU HAD AS A CHIID, AND WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO CORRECT THEM?

...lazy eye muscle. one white eye. special training in clinic for blind, etc. red eye patch.

WHEN DOES THE SOUL ENTER THE EMBRYO, OR IS IT CALLED ON OUR FIRST CRY?

...it never left.

DO YOU AND ALLEN HAVE A SONG THAT YOU CONSIDER "YOUR SONG"?

..."Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys. l know it's corny. but first moments often are. delicate and sweet and filled w/ longing.

DO YOU EVER READ "PLAYGIRL" MAGAZINE? IF SO, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF IT?

...Playgirl should be watched, not heard.

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN RAT/ART?

..self-crucifixion.

DID YOU KNOW YOUR ELECTRIC FIDDLER WAS NOT WORKING AT YOUR CONCERT IN AKRON, OHIO?

...it's never worked.

IF YOU WANTED TO GET DRESSED UP, WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR?

...a black silk slip. a mink motorcycle jacket and diamond studs.

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU WENT OUT ON YOUR FIRST DATE?

...nineteen.

I WOULD LIKE SOME DAY TO GO TO PARIS--IS THERE ANY ONE SECTION THAT YOU WOULD SUGGEST, AND WHY?

...père la chaise cemetery. section 6, to visit Jim Morrison. the impressionist museum to see the painting Coin de la Table: Verlaine and Rimbaud.

''FREE MONEY" AND "PISSING IN A RIVER" SEEM TO HAVE A LINKING, PERS0NAL FEELING TO THEM. WERE THEY WRITTEN WITH SOMEONE SPECIAL IN MIND? IF SO, WHO?

.. they were both written for Allen.

DO YOU LIKE AMUSEMENT PARKS? IF SO, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RIDE?

...I like the rifle range, and the most maniac dangerous rides.

DO YOU SEE AN ANDROGYNOUS IDENTITY AS VITAL TO VALID ARTISTIC EXPRESSION?

...an artist has no identity. rather the desire to translate imagination into realization.

WHO IS EDIE SEDGEWICK, AND DID YOU EVER HAVE AN "AFFAIR" WITH HER?

...Edie Sedgewick was girl of the year in 1965. the inspiration of Blonde on Blonde. I had an affair w/ her image.

HAD ANY GOOD DREAMS LATELY?

...I am always dreaming. the bells were tolling. the earth was turning and a boy was aiming arrows at the sun.

DO YOU DEPEND HEAVILY ON DRUGS FOR CREATIVITY?

...I depend on my imagination. connection. subliminal abysmal. breaking thru the house of god/dog. drugs I use minimally, ritualistically. like an Alaskan shaman one can't be so hot he loses awareness of the ice.

DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?

... no. but I project into the future.

COULD YOU TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET A FAKE I.D. SO I CAN SEE YOUR GROUP AT CLUBS?

...try the windows of our dressing room.

DO YOU CRY VERY OFTEN, AND DO YOU KNOW WHY?

...yes. the tears just spurt from my eyes. sometimes when I'm alone. performing. dancing. like in Heatwave. sometimes I stare in space--tears all over my face. being human/animal.

ARE YOU THE JEALOUS TYPE AND, IF SO, WHAT MAKES YOU JEALOUS?

...yes. if girls try to mess with my boyfriend I shoot to kill.

WHAT PARTS OF YOUR BODY DO YOU LIKE THE MOST AND THE LEAST?

...I feel (when I'm not injured) completely integrated. don't want to separate my parts like a dazed chicken.

DID YOU REALLY LIVE ON THE SUBWAY WHEN YOU FIRST CAME TO NEW YORK CITY?

...yes. but I was happy. it was good for my train of thought.

HOW MUCH IS FOR REAL AND HOW MUCH IS MIND-FUCK?

...real is realative.

DOES THE POETRY YOU WRITE HAVE TO DO WITH EXPERIENCES IN YOUR LIFE? pp ...sometimes w/ my life. often w/ my death. usually in the space between: in the black tube.

PATTI, WHY ARE YOU SO INTO "VOGUE"?

...through the decades they have been the pioneers of photography as an art.

IS THAT ALLEN LANIER'S SHIRT YOU'RE WEARING ON THE COVER OF "HORSES"?

...I found it in a Salvation Army in the sixties before I met him. it does have his initials on it...the first two letters of ALIEN.

WHY DO YOU TEAR UP ROSES WHEN PEOPLE GIVE THEM TO YOU AS A COMPLIMENT?

...I once saw Mick Jagger throw rose petals in the air. it looked so beautiful. I never forgot it. so when I get roses...I send the petals in space ... hoping the light will grace them...hoping it will give you as much pleasure as the spectacle of the gesture once gave me.

DOES THE REAPER CHOOSE ONE AT A TIME, OR A TOTAL FIELD OR PLANE OF EXISTENCE?

...perhaps the reaper doesn't choose ... perhaps he receives.

DO YOU WRITE ANY OF THE MELODY TO YOUR SONGS?

...we often write the melodies together. Free Money was the first melody that totally filled me.

WHEN DID THE TRUTH GO UNDERGROUND?

...truth, freedom, art--in other words, Rock n Roll--does not belong to the underground but to the people.

WHY DO YOU THINK S0 MANY CRITICS ARE AGAINST YOU?

...because they're a bunch of old farts. afraid to celebrate life.

WHY DO YOU THINK RIMBAUD GAVE UP WRITING? (DO YOU AGREE THAT "A SEASON IN HELL" IS AN APOLOGY?)

...Rimbaud didn't give up anything. he transcended. he became a great horseman...a trader...a traveler...an explorer, always an explorer...he died babeling poetry... higher illumination...and never apologized for nothing.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR THREADS?

. ..from the people. almost everything I wear someone has thrown on the stage. or sent me. from all over the world. kid threads.

WHAT IS IT THAT DRAWS YOU TO ETHIOPIA?

...the Queen of Sheba.

WHEN WILL YOU BE LANDING?

...January 23 in Tampa, Florida.

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO REACH 30?

...sexy

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO AN ASPIRING ARTIST AND MUSICIAN?

...work hard. stay hungry.

HOW DID IT FEEL WHEN YOU WALKED ON STAGE AT THE ARAGON IN CHICAGO AND REALIZED THAT YOUR PARENTS USED TO DANCE THERE?

...it made me cry.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BRAND OF BEER AND CIGARETTES?

...Red Stripe (Jamaican), Kools.

HAVE YOU READ ANY BOOKS LATELY THAT YOU WERE PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED BY?

...The Queen of Sheba by J.C. Mardrus
100 Camels in a Courtyard by Paul Bowles
Mystical Poems of Rumi, translated by A.J. Arberry, Chicago University Press

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

...he's my trainer.

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF A FREAK AND A PUNK?

...when you define something you limit its possibilities.

DO YOU ENJOY TOURING?

...yes I love it. I love performing. the rhythm of the road and being with the group.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LOVE?

...not to think, to feel.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR RASTAFARI T-SHIRTS?

...at the bottom of a barrel in Negrille, Jamaica.

IS THERE A "GLORIA" IF YOUR LIFE OR HAS THERE EVER BEEN?

...my Glorias are the ones who dance at concerts ... rush the stage and incite, excite, and inspire me.

WHAT ALBUMS DO YOU LISTEN TO MOST OFTEN?

...Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix)
Radio Ethiopia (Patti Smith Group)
Low (David Bowie)
L.A. Woman (Doors)
dervish prayers

DO YOU EVER THINK OF SUICIDE?

...not anymore. not since I've been performing. I did when I was 17. when I was 22. it was hard back then...but the Rolling Stones kept me going. gave me hope.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU EVER BOUGHT?

...single: "The Girl Can' t Help It," Little Richard. album: Another Side of Bob Dylan.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A TREND SETTER (IN YOUR MUSIC AND OTHERWISE)?

...that's for you to decide. I work as hard as I can to be an inspiration to everyone on every level.

WHAT MAGAZINES OR NEWSPAPERS DO YOU READ REGULARLY?

I mostly read fanzines and stuff you guys send me. New Age. Sniffing Glue (England). White Stuff (England). Back Door Man. Iggy Pop Fan Club Gazette. (also Cinemabook and Rock News, France.) I like rock n roll magazines except I'm sick of seeing TV stars on the covers but I still buy a lot of them. Rock Scene, Hit Parader, Creem, but my favorite magazine is Italian Vogue.
ps...while we're on this subject ... why not drop Circus magazine a letter and remind them they're a rock n roll magazine not a glorified TV guide...