Henry Rollins Spoken Word. Warsaw, Brooklyn, NYC. 2-27-08.
ED NOTE: We were off burninating the country side last night so Sarah’s nameless friend covered this gig.
With nearly 30 years of touring under his belt, both with his many bands as well as his spoken word performances, Henry Rollins remains as relevant as he was when we all first heard him scream the words to Rise Above. While he continually made light of his aging years, he’s now 47, his ideas are young and thought provoking.
Among his many stories; Taking a vacation—to Pakistan. Being in Pakistan while former Primie Minster Bhutto was assassinated. Feeling some fear for his life as an american, but realizing he was caught up on something larger than himself- a unified humanity searching for peace and understanding with one other.
So went most of the evening. Stories of his many travels. His constant search of understanding cultures both well known to him (Americans) as well as countries foreign to him.
Also mentioned quite often was his vulnerability. Something that I would say has changed over the years. The young Henry Rollins was menacing with his shirtless, sculpted body screaming/rallying against the injustices felt by punk-oriented youth. He now stands as an older wiser man- who has come full circle with his bitter- distancing-paranoid ways. He mentions often his suburu outback and the fact he sleeps alone with notebooks scattered over his bed.
His last story involved his traveling to Capetown in south Africa for a show he’s been waiting years to do. He’s filming a documentary about the trip and that seemed to have a greater affect on him than his doing the actual shows. He went to the poor areas and met young men and women dying of AIDS. Saw how there is reluctance to speak about the disease in the open. He met a few people who have begun to discuss in the open the disease. He was very moved by both a doctor he met as well as a politician who have begun to create open dialogue about the disease.
This is really ultimately what Rollins was about last night- dialogue. Each story was woven into one other with little side stories that ranged anywhere from hilarious to sad. But his main point was that through dialogue we learn something about each other. He encouraged people to go and see the world and experience different “cultures, sights and smells” and not forget that through dialogue we can learn about each other and how to better help one another to create a better existence.
Here’s some further reading at Brooklyn Vegan and Buzzgrinder…
Photo of Henry
Hair (neck) of the night (from Google)
