Pop This! Patti Smith’s M Train

Podcast: Pop This!

The pop culture savants are bowled over with emotion as they crack the spine of Patti Smith’s latest book about ‘grief, coffee and travel’ in their first-ever book club episode

M Train is the latest book by poet, musician, composer, artist, icon Patti Smith

Featuring Lisa Christiansen and Andrea Warner. Produced by Andrea Gin.

A sampling of what you might hear in Episode 12: Patti Smith’s M Train

First Book Club.

My tote bags are like my children.

The texture of the paper is so great.

Patti Smith is the coolest woman ever. Often called the godmother of punk rock… She has known everyone who is cool in the history of the world.

She never had a hit until 1983’s Because the Night

When you see her, you wanted to be her.

I’ve always romanticized New York City so everything Patti Smith has ever written has resonated with me.

Her life feels like fantasy.

M Train reads like a journal or a diary.

It’s very different from Just Kids, this is a lot more subdued. Her life is smaller and she’s lost people she loves. So it’s a very different Patti Smith.

She’s quite a loner.

I didn’t know this would be about three things: Grief, Coffee and Travel. And writing. Writing is the overall umbrella that brings these things together.

This is everything I ever wanted when I was 16.

Her obsession with crime procedurals really speaks to me.

We have this expression called “guilty pleasures” which is stupid. Why not call it a pleasure?

I do have one complaint: Page 23, underneath the picture with Fred, she uses the word “Chinaman.” She seems like a progressive woman, and I would like to see the end of racial slurs.

I cried reading it. Several times.

I didn’t think anybody but the Gilmore Girls could make me love coffee more.