Just Kids – A Memoir by Patti Smith

I grew up on classical music and progressive rock. I also grew up in 1990s Venezuela, where musical cliques were so closed-off in their own lanes, it was almost considered treason to listen, or even to admit to like, anything that was considered to be outside the approved bands within the genre.  While in later years these cliques began to open up to a more general appreciation of all that could be considered “rock,” I grew up never listening or learning anything about entire genres, from pop, to soul, to hip hop, all the way to punk

Bill Cunningham New York: He Who Seeks Beauty, Will Find It

Bill Cunningham New York

Once again, my wonderfully geeky brother has come to my cultural rescue. He told me I absolutely had to watch this documentary about this old guy, a photographer, who lived in New York: “It’s about fashion, and art, and New York. Watch it, you will love it, you will cry.”  That’s how he sold it to me, although he didn’t need to. He only had to say “art” and “fashion” and he knew I would already be all over it.