Saw Patti Smith yesterday.

I saw Patti Smith yesterday; she was in town to speak at the main public library branch about her new memoir of her and Robert Mapplethorpe being young in New York.

I like Patti Smith - she is talented, honest, down-to-earth, and real.

But, since I had lined up before the library opened at the side entrance with a lot of people (it was the first line I saw), I almost didn't get in...

At least 1200 people showed up, and the auditorium only sat 300, and after waiting in line inside forever, I went up to the front (the people next to me held my place) to do some recon, and found out that they handed out yellow tickets to everyone coming in the main entrance, and they had been snatched up!

So, me and a few folks I had been near in line went up farther near the auditorium entrance, and when a (white) lady with a badge passed, I asked her what was happening, and when she said that all the tickets had been distributed and you had to come early, very nicely that we did come early, but we saw people at the side entrance and waited there.

"Well, you guys wait here," she was like, "And if some people from the press don't show up, I may have tickets to give you."

As it turned out, she did have two tix, so me and another guy of the four of us who were standing around got to go in! Though, it was open seating (even for the press), but it was relatively intimate auditorium, so our seats were great.

What struck me, though, is what the lady said when she gave us tickets - that when she came in to work at 11:30pm, she saw all the people lined up and she knew that her entire day would be people yelling at her.

"And so when I can, I reward the people who are nice to me," she was like.

After the talk (and Patti Smith also sang a few songs), I went upstairs and I had the two tix (which also let you get in line for booksigning, they were numbered), and I looked for the 2 other people who had stood around with us but didn't get in, but I couldn't find them. There was another line of people with books waiting around in line for them to get signed (maybe Patti Smith was going to do a few after she got done with the books of the people in the auditorium?), so I looked at the line and looked for nice people. There was one light-skinned, slightly overweight (black) woman in her early 30s with a nice face, and since everyone in the auditorium was pretty much white, I went up to her and asked her if they had numbers to get in or what.

"We're in line, so go back there," she was like.

At that, I turned my shoulder to her and gave the tickets to two older (white) women who were sitting on the floor and reading quietly, so they could go downstairs and not have to wait around all day.

I'm going to send a thank-you card to the woman who gave me the ticket, also, in care of the library branch.