When the Rollins Band performs, frontman and namesake Henry Rollins generally swaps onstage patter for brutal musical statements. But when Hank leaves the band at home for his annual spoken-word tour, you can't shut the guy up. With topics free-ranging from Spinal Tappish road tales to gone-awry romances and even the frightening contents of his morning breakfast, Rollins covers everything under the kitchen sink. Then he covers it again. Generally these stream-of-soliloquy marathons last well into the two-hours-plus range, but the time flies by in a heartbeat. Rollins has to be one of the most articulate people ever to bench-press 500 pounds. He's also funny as hell. Whereas prose purveyors such as Jello Biafra stick to leftist poli-sci, Rollins is smart enough to keep the laughs coming. And though his way with words has recently made Rollins a popular cable-TV act, he's a seasoned veteran of the verse who's been perfecting the art of storytelling since his Black Flag days.
