Wed. Feb. 21

The last time I saw Patti Smith on stage was at CBGB, fall of 2006, as the fabled Bowery punk club was making its last stand. She and her band waved goodbye, by digging deep into their catalog and paying tribute to the Ramones - the band most identified with CB's rise - with a great medley. (She also played the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer," which caused the Dead Boys bassist Jeff Magnum, who I was chatting with, to sniff "too slow.") But Patti and her guys gave CB's a fitting farewell. Now, she's doing a spoken-word gig at the new Institute of Contemporary Art Wednesday February 21 at 6:30 p.m. Smith, of course, is a writer and poet as well as a singer-songwriter, and her mind is a wonderful thing to sample. This, despite the fact that her one-time punk comrade Richard Hell deems her "unsufferable" - or so he told Legs McNeil in a recent Spin. Let's say this: Smith doesn't back down from controversy and she likes her time in the spotlight. But it's not just self-aggrandizing babble up there. Smith, wife of the late Sonics guitarist Fred Smith, is truly spiritual and positive-minded. She's able to unearth that positivity in a manner that is not simple-minded or Pollyanna-ish. She really inspires those feelings in others, despite all the crap that's around. I know she did that in me when we talked after 9/11. She was somehow able to find hope and redemption not long after the planes crashed. I don't know what her ICA talk at its "What New" lecture series is about; she may not know either. I can almost guarantee you'll be enlightened and entertained. You'll laugh a little, too. She's serious, but funny, too. Tickets are $25. Here's the rub: They are sold out. This means you must find a dear friend who bought two and hasn't yet decided whom to take.

100 Northern Ave., 617-478-3100 icaboston.org