The Rubin Museum of Art’s  Brainwave series pairs neuroscientists with artists and visionaries from multiple disciplines for lively discussions about how our minds work and how we perceive the world.

Have you ever wondered how people become high strung?  Here is your chance to find out: The Rubin Museum of Art invited the lead guitarist of the Patti Smith Band, Lenny Kaye, and the acclaimed neuroscientist, Joseph E. LeDoux, to its stage on April 19^th.   Both men are musicians and while they talked about stress and stage fright, LeDoux also got a chance to jam on stage with his guitar hero.  This lively session finished up the 2010 Brainwave season.

 Bot Mots

On connecting with Patti:  I can really disconnect my rational brain.  One of the things that most connected me, to Patti Smith, as a poet or as an artist is that I can ride her waves. I can feel her energy.

—Lenny Kaye

On riding and dreaming:  I had a motto, especially when I was learning how to ride a motorcycle, it was ‘never let fear get in the way of your dream.’ 

—Lenny Kate

On speed and focus:  You know when you are going around a curve on a motorcycle at eighty miles an hour, you have to focus, but you can’t focus to the point where you are aware that you are on, essentially, a motor going around a curve.

—Lenny Kaye