{"id":485027,"date":"2019-04-24T08:33:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T14:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=825410"},"modified":"2019-04-24T08:33:20","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T14:33:20","slug":"patti-smith-dignifies-the-dodo-at-earthfest-performs-rare-acoustic-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/patti-smith-dignifies-the-dodo-at-earthfest-performs-rare-acoustic-set\/","title":{"rendered":"Patti Smith Dignifies the Dodo at \u2018Earthfest,\u2019 Performs Rare Acoustic Set"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon co-founded the nonprofit Pathway to Paris<\/a> five years ago after the People\u2019s Climate March in New York City in 2014. Their mission, combating global climate change and helping cities reach their carbon reduction goals, is spread through eclectic showcases featuring global music, poetry readings and scientific talks by environmentalists such as Bill McKibben. They\u2019re often held at tony establishments like Carnegie Hall. After five years, Smith and Foon wondered: Could this ever work for kids?<\/p>\n

This month \u2014 which is both Earth<\/a> and Poetry month \u2014 seemed an auspicious time to test the waters. At the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Smith and Foon launched Pathway\u2019s inaugural Earthfest. It was free and seated, i.e. a welcome respite for families and kids taking a breather from ogling prehistoric bones and navigating wide marble hallways.<\/p>\n

Performances included Michael Stipe<\/a> with Andy LeMaster, Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas and percussionist Nacho Arimany, Montreal-based pianist-singer Patrick Watson with Mishka Stein on bass and acoustic guitar. And two poems written by the influential filmmaker and curator Jonas Mekas, who died in January<\/a>, were read (one of them by Stipe).<\/p>\n

Doing double-duty as piano accompaniment and MC, Jesse Paris Smith segmented the performances with audience participation using flower-shaped solar lamps made by the Little Sun Foundation to educate children about renewable energy. The lamps are also sent to areas around the world that have lost electricity due to natural disasters. Smith led the room four times in the \u201cLittle Sun Sunrise,\u201d an exercise meant to instill unity and a feeling of joyful purpose \u2013 it looked and felt like when a dark stadium lights up with swaying iPhones.<\/p>\n