Lawrence.com

Punk diva Patti Smith came 20 minutes late - with R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe in tow - and eventually made her way to a designated seat to the right of writer-artist William S. Burroughs.

Tuesday afternoon's press conference to hype the "Nova Convention Revisited" concert that night at the Lied Center was well under way and Burroughs was answering a question about censorship and the dangers involved in saying exactly what one believes.

"You take responsibility for what you say," the 82-year-old survivor of the Beat Generation said.

It didn't take Smith long to acclimate herself to the environment and inject her irreverent sense of humor into the conversation.

Reporter: "How has Burroughs influenced your work?"

Smith: "William's influence on me has been to be more considerate of others, and dress well. But no, really, influences are so internalized; it's hard to talk about.

"I guess William and I connect especially in that we both had scarlet fever as children. So there's a subtext of scarlet fever victims who are infiltrating our culture with their work."

Reporter: "What can we expect from tonight's show?"

Smith: "It might be determined by the food we eat."

Although Smith loves the limelight, Burroughs was by far the star of the hour-long question-and-answer fest.

Burroughs - dressed in a dapper brown suit, carrying a cane and accompanied by poet/AIDS activist John Giorno - spoke in a gravely voice too soft at times to be audible. A microphone was eventually set up so reporters could hear his responses.

Burroughs was flanked on the right by Smith; former Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry, who nibbled on veggies; and Harry's writing partner Chris Stein, who fiddled with what looked like a sequencer. To Burrough's left were composer Philip Glass, poet Ed Sanders, Smith's guitarist Lenny Kaye, Stipe and Giorno. All are longtime friends of Burroughs and made the trek to Lawrence pay homage to him en masse.

Performance artist Laurie Anderson, who performed with Burroughs at the original Nova Convention in 1978, would join the performers later at the concert.

"I met William Burroughs in 1965. ... This is a great occasion to do readings around William," Glass said. "William has been an inspiring person, a creative person, and, whether you know it or not, it takes courage to be a creative person in America.

"It's not like in Europe, where they set you (artists) up on a pedestal. It's a very daunting environment for an artist here. Here, if you're set up on a pedestal, they knock you down."

Burroughs said an artist sees something that no one else has seen before and records it.

"You will never see sunflowers the same way after seeing Van Gogh's sunflowers," he said.