FAITHFULL.(Brief Article)

Marianne Faithfull--singer, songwriter, memoirist, occasional film actress, occasional stage actress, and all-around legend--was in town the other day to do a little shopping and catch up with friends before heading off on a short tour (which ends at Irving Plaza this week) to promote her latest album, "Kissin Time." Faithfull regards touring as a necessity. "It's not as if they play my stuff on the radio," she said with an easy, cigarette-husky laugh.

Running her fingers through her blond-white hair, which she wears short now, and then lighting a cigarette--the first of many--Faithfull stepped out of the dark lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, on West Twenty-third Street, where she was staying. She was dressed in signature Marianne Faithfull gear (black tailored jacket, black jeans, black flats) and was carrying a big black Chanel bag. "I never used to stay at the Chelsea," she said as she made her way to the bar at El Quixote. She found a stool and went on, "I never stayed at the Chelsea because of all the drugs, when I was trying to get off drugs. It was much too Sid and Nancy. I never saw the film. I lived the film. But it's brighter there now, less heavy, lighter." She tapped her cigarette against the rim of an ashtray and took a sip of fizzy water. "Hotels are all right if you have a home, which I don't. My beautiful two-story flat in Ireland--they're chopping it up into four flats. My cork floors! ...