Every so often, fortune arrives in the shape of a long-awaited memoir from an artist whose work has already shaped the contours of our inner world. It’s one thing to encounter their art, but entirely another to glimpse the hidden rooms from which that art first emerged. To learn the artist’s story is to add a new layer of depth to their creations, to trace the faint thread back to its point of origin.
Recently, Patti Smith, Annie Lennox and Cameron Crowe have each offered such gifts: autobiographical works that open the door a little wider into their lives and creative spirits. What follows is a brief introduction to each.
Bread of Angels by Patti Smith
Patti Smith’s newest memoir, Bread of Angels, is an incredibly detailed portrait of her life, spanning from her first remembrances of movement to the passing of her loved ones. Sometimes chronological in time and sometimes chronological in feeling, we learn about her family’s history: her grandmother kept daily diaries, and her spinet, of great interest to Patti, was left to her father. Patti takes us through her school-girl years in the beginning of the book: constant sickness, Communion, her first book of poetry, all with an artful eye. Through her descriptions, we sense how Patti has evolved throughout time. She does a fantastic job blending an account of events with the impact of these events. While memoirs are often crafted to produce a succinct character, you get the sense that Patti Smith is Patti. Her embodiment of her artistry is felt throughout the pages.
Annie Lennox: Retrospective by Annie Lennox
The cover of Annie Lennox’s retrospective is a portrait of her with an orange buzzcut, smoky eyes, and red lips. She wears a tie pulled to her throat. The retrospective begins with old photographs of her family, some that even pre-date Annie’s life. In her note to the reader, she mentions the untraditional path her life took compared to the other women in her family, who fulfilled roles of cooking and cleaning. Annie honors their legacy. Flipping the pages, we go decade by decade in photographs, sometimes equipped with poetry, reflections or fun facts. Apart from her musical talent, we see her artistic expression in fabulous clothing, makeup and camera poses. In one picture, she is sitting in a fuchsia tutu, hair still orange, holding a clear mask that is pointed towards her face, as if it did in fact belong to another person looking at her. Some of her beauty looks include blue-lined lips, high-arched brows, and of course, her signature pale-skinned makeup. Annie poses sometimes with utter seriousness and other times with play—she wears a pig’s nose in one photograph and a bear suit in another. We even see a black and white, bare-faced portrait of her in more recent years with smile lines and creases on her forehead. Annie’s retrospective is a beautiful book and an art piece itself.
The Uncool by Cameron Crowe
In Cameron Crowe’s memoir, The Uncool, he takes us with him as he becomes a regular backstage at the most popular rock n’ roll concerts. What is most distinct about Crowe’s career is the age that he began: his first article was published in Rolling Stone at 15 years old. Crowe battled expectations to become a lawyer from his mom, but as Crowe chronologizes the start of his career, the speed of assignments he was able to take on show a little bit of destiny at work. Throughout the memoir, Crowe brings us to the sought-after world of the “backstage.” We hear dressing-room conversations between the Eagles on their debut tour and get an intimate sense of the legends of Bruce Springsteen and Kris Kristofferson. Crowe’s writing does what every fan desires most: to know their icon, not just for their music, but for their mannerisms and presence off stage. He has an ability to sit back in his writing and let his subject shine through.
