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Henry Rollins |
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The Downtown
Farmingdale, New York
04.06.04 |
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review by Greg Prato
The next time you complain that there aren't enough hours in the day to get things done, think of Henry Rollins — the guy never lets up. Whether it be recording or touring with the Rollins Band, acting in movies, running his book publishing/record company (2.13.61), or launching spoken word tours, Rollins' schedule is always stretched to the limit. With the Rollins Band off the road and a new book in the stores called Broken Summers (which documents a benefit album, Rise Above, and supporting tour that Rollins did for the "West Memphis Three"), the time was apparently right for Rollins to launch another spoken word tour. For those not familiar with his spoken word shows, it's basically Rollins standing on stage with nothing but a mic, ranting about whatever's on his mind at the time. But it's certainly not just stream of consciousness stuff; Rollins possesses quite a talent for storytelling and humor — equal parts Lenny Bruce and George Carlin.
Although doors were supposed to open at 7, some kind of a hold up prevented the long line outside from moving into the venue at a swift pace. A further delay ensued inside, though the crowd was treated to the sounds of a classic blues CD. Additionally, muted TV sets in the venue were tuned to VH-1, which amusingly showed earlier recorded interview clips of Rollins himself. The crowd, meanwhile, proved to be an eclectic mix of young, old, long hairs, punks, etc. Finally, soon after the clock struck 8:30, Rollins hit the stage, accepting roses from a female fan and apologizing for the delay by explaining that Ticketmaster was the culprit. Without any warning, then proceeded to embark on a wild and wooly three-hour monologue, without the aid of any notes and with barely a sip of water the entire night.
Amazingly, there was not a single pause throughout the entire performance; Rollins' brain appears to be on constant "full steam ahead" mode. In fact, sometimes his mind may move a bit too fast, as he rarely sticks to one story from beginning to end. Rollins often breaks off into other stories, but always manages to land on his feet and return back to his original point. As expected, Rollins had quite a bit of venom to unleash, touching on such sore spots as the aforementioned Ticketmaster, greedy major record labels, Lars Ulrich (why don't more people speak out about this fooler?), Justin Timberlake, George Bush, NASA's costly mission to Mars program, Geraldo Rivera, slam dancing jocks, and the recent overkill over Janet Jackson's "boob stunt." Throughout the performance, Rollins also used the PA system to his advantage, yelling (L-O-U-D) to make a point or create sound effects to add an edge to the story he was telling.
But not all of the evening was fury. Rollins also told an interesting story about a recent USO tour to Afghanistan, where he entertained some very appreciative troops. But Rollins reserved the funniest for last, telling a tale of the out-of-the-blue phone call he received last year from Ben Folds, who was producing an all-new music album for…William Shatner! Rollins wound up going to the studio, laying down vocals for a "duet" with Captain Kirk called "I Can't Get Behind That" (which includes the two trading barbs back and forth about things in life that aren't kosher), and was blown away when guitarist extraordinaire Adrian Belew showed up to lay down some parts. A friendship with Shatner ensued, which then led to another story about going to the actor's house in California to watch Monday Night Football. While there, Rollins spotted Ben Stiller, leading the two to wonder if they were now part of some strange cult.
Leaving the stage to a standing ovation, Rollins sure gave the crowd their money's worth. If you ever get the chance to check out a Rollins spoken word performance, don't hesitate — you're guaranteed a vast amount of entertaining and insightful storytelling.
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