Singer/artist/author/poet/counter-culture hero Patti Smith was in Houston last night for a night of reading, answering questions, and a few songs, presented by Voices Breaking Boundaries. Here are five surprises from the evening spent in the University of Houston's cramped Cullen Performance Hall:

1. Patti Smith drops her 'g's as frequently as Sarah Palin does. It's much more likable when Smith does it.

2. An audience member asked Smith to relate a story about a fan that touched her and how she feels about people seeing her as a hero. She told a sweet story about a concert in 1978 when she was "starting to get big," and her mother was at the show. After a particularly exhausting set, she was walking to the car with her mother when a fan approached, asking for an autograph. Her exhaustion got the best of her and she declined, but her mother stopped her and told her to give the fan an autograph and to never take the fans for granted.

She added that she was at a film festival last week where she saw "Bobby from Law & Order," (Vincent D'Onofrio) which left her dumbstruck. By way of explaining how much she relates to her own fans, she exclaimed, "Law & Order changed my life!" I feel a lot better about myself and those many soothing hours I've spent on the couch watching various iterations of Law & Order now that I know Patti Smith is doing the same thing.

3. Now, if you're in an audience to see one of your favorite people at a very large Q&A session, don't embarrass yourself in front of all of those hundreds of people. Because then you'll be like this one guy who got up to the mic, told Patti Smith how much he loved her and how far back his history with her went, explained that he loved her philosophy on life (which puzzled her), then asked for an autograph. Fail, dude. Big fail. Everyone in the audience groaned. Smith, true to her word, signed his disc, because she's classy.

Rather, be like the super-cute androgynous kid with the Justin Bieber hair who wanted to know what it was like working with Annie Leibovitz because "she seems rad."

4. I'm not surprised when the famous and interesting come to Houston and want to see the Rothko Chapel. I don't quite understand what the big deal is, but it's the exact kind of place I would expect Patti Smith to want to see as an artist and person with a much more spiritual bent than myself. When she ended the night by adding her visit to the Rothko into a song, some old bat behind us whispered, "She gets it!" Oh, please. She gets it more than you get it, you old bat.

5. The few songs that she sang -- Wing, Because The Night (with audience participation), My Blakean Year, Grateful -- knocked me down. Her voice was rich and ageless. I'd never seen her perform live before, so those few tunes will have to last me until I get an opportunity to see a proper concert.

Smith was just lovely last night. Funny, gentle, friendly. Thanks to VBB for bringing her to town.