Thanksgiving 3am Weird Patti Smith Dream

I woke up at 3am and had to write some notes down to remember this bizarre dream and I am sorry if this offers too much insight into my unconscious for new friends.

Scene 1: Cut to kitchen table here in the Hudson Valley where Tony Shanahan & Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Band along with Shlomo Lipetz who has worked with me at City Winery since inception and curates with me the Carnegie Hall series, and myself are discussing Lou Reed’s song “Take A Walk on the Wild Side.” For some reason, they were asking me why I never got Lou to do one of our annual tributes and I was explaining that he didn’t like the sound at Carnegie, and would only consider doing it at the Beacon (a room he really liked). But that was complicated because of his agent among other things. (Yes, in reality it never happened and I really regret it).

Scene 2: This got juxtaposed into my asking Tony & Lenny if I could sing back up and was practicing hard “and the colored girls go Doo, Do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo, Doo, Do-doo, do-doo, do-do-do” etc. We were all singing it, I never got on key, but since I was the producer, I was thinking I would be in the back anyway…..

Scene 3: Cut to a beautiful modern venue that was sorta of Carnegie Hall but also City Winery. It was sleek bleached wood on the floor, walls, and ceiling, very sleek and clean, elegant interior with red velvet seats. The stage was in the middle, I don’t think it was 2802 seats like Carnegie. I started to walk towards a stage door where I was stopped, not talking, but the security would not let me pass to matter what….I tried to explain who I was, I was important to the show, to no avail……

Scene 4: I am somehow now side stage, where I usually am during the shows, and Patti Smith is on the stage, the room is packed and everyone is jamming. The song is finished and some more artists start joining on stage. Yes, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Stipe were the two I was focused on, but then a small group of well-dressed fancy patrons tried following them on the stage and it was my job to stop them. They were the money, but I couldn’t let them on the stage. It was a delicate balance between alienating them and accommodating their needs-- they were the people we needed to support the show. It was a serious dilemma, I was vexed and I woke up.

I am trying to understand the anxiety here, as my only real worries this morning is overcooking or undercooking the Turkey. I need to go clean out the smoker and get the coals going for the 6-hour cook, but I see no symbols of that expressed in the dream. We announced our first group of artists this week which got scooped by Rolling Stone Magazine and tickets are flying. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/patti-smith-tribute-concert-lineup-1235152138/

So, no issues there. Work, well, that is always a challenge with 1500 employees and shows happening in 8 states every night. Who knows. But nevertheless, while the family is all sleeping, I am still humming this morning:

“Little Joe never once gave it away, Everyone had to pay and pay, A hustle here and hustle there, New York City is the place where they said “Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side” and I said, “Hey Joe, take a walk on the wild side.” Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll.