While many may know her from stints in television shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ray Donovan,” “Big Sky,” “Law & Order” and several others, actress Brooke Smith is invariably *BEST* known for her memorable portrayal of star-crossed Catherine Martin, the hapless senator’s daughter who is repeatedly posited to put the lotion in the basket lest she get the hose again in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 classic, “The Silence of the Lambs.” For better or worse, it was a breakout role that she will probably never entirely shake.
But beyond her acting, there’s a side to Brooke Smith many may not know. Now in her early 50’s, Brooke grew up in the suburbs of New York City, but became deeply ensconced in the nascent New York Hardcore scene of the early 1980s, hanging out with bands like Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law, the Cro-Mags and Cause For Alarm. I wrote about her back in 2011, when her photos of the Lower East Side punk community came to light, and they were and remain a real revlation. As an added bonus, Brooke was also, for a time, the roommate of the late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley (it was Brooke who first introduced him to the music of Bad Brains, whose “I Against I” he’d later cover). Back when the Earth was young, I posted an MP3 of that recording to a music discussion board in the wake of Buckley’s passing and bizarrely got in a really heated email exchange with the late singer’s mother, but that’s another story.
In any case, Brooke was recently a guest on Turned Out a Punk, the podcast of Fucked Up lead singer Damian Abraham I’ve mentioned before. Brooke is quick with some great anecdotes about the CBGB matinee scene and so much more. Plus, she’s got a book coming out about the whole thing. If you’re a fan of of this stuff as I am, it’s well worth your time. Check it out here.
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