Conversation: Patti Smith Reflects on the Life of Her Friend, Jim Carroll

Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker who wrote “The Basketball Diaries,” died Friday at age 60 from a heart attack. In the 1970s, Carroll was a beloved fixture of the burgeoning New York art scene, where he mixed with artists such as Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith. It was Smith who first encouraged Carroll to blend his poetry with rock ‘n’ roll, bringing him on stage to perform his work with her band. He went on to form the Jim Carroll Band. I talked to Patti Smith about her friend Jim Carroll by phone earlier Monday: