The rock musician and poet, cast here as the recipient of Bob's live demonstration of the McLuhanite "aside." Bob narrates several encounters — in Europe, and at a 2004 gallery where a question about William Burroughs made her back off — culminating in a wordless 2008 bookstore gesture he offers as "the meeting as a message." New to it — start with dialogue 27.
Across the dialogues
Enters as the target of a live McLuhanite "aside" — Bob's model of the medium-as-message gesture, tested on the rock musician in a New York bookstore
Bob enacts the McLuhanite "aside" on Patti Smith — approaching her in a bookstore without greeting, he "gave the meeting as a message," told her she "was anybody or nobody," and she vanished within seconds; the anecdote is his proof that the medium-as-message can be done, not just read.
"I basically gave the meeting as a message."
An earlier 2004 gallery encounter — Bob's "probing question" about Burroughs drew Smith's guarded "he was my friend, I don't know if I should be talking to you," and she "backed off."
"I talked to her about William Burroughs."
Connections
Bob recounts several encounters with Smith in Europe and New York, culminating in a 2008 bookstore "aside."
In a 2004 gallery exchange Smith deflected Bob's question about Burroughs — "he was my friend, I don't know if I should be talking to you."