Somehow, I stumbled upon his spoken word CDs, which led to me seeking out the rest of them because, at fifteen years old, an overhyper dude spewing razor sharp opinions about music, politics and the overall excitement of life is enough to give you a direction worth following.
This ties in to something Rollins -- who spoke a mile a minute for three full hours last night at Liberty Hall -- touched on towards the end of the evening. The last hour of Rollins' spoken-word performance consisted of a "how I got here tonight" bit, in which Rollins detailed a few months he spent travelling to some of the most dangerous (or at least un-tourist-friendly places) in the world to fill a three month gap from the ending of his stint on the FX show, "Sons of Anarchy," and the beginning of one of his epic, 200+ date spoken-word tours.
In the bit he related, Rollins is staying with a family in Sri Lanka and talking to their fifteen year-old son. Naturally, like any teenager, the kid's obsessed with music, but has no real way of getting it. Rollins whips a portable hard drive out of his bag and unloads the good stuff on the kid's computer. At dinner that night, the kid emerges from his room grinning ear to ear. When Rollins ask if he liked the music, the kid simply yells, "THE STOOGES." One of Rollins' grand ideas is that all of the world's problems could be solved through a mutual appreciation of music. Of course, it's pretty much wishful thinking -- but, really, Rollins' wishful thinking is what you get for a solid three hours.
Rollins appeared to be hyper-caffeinated, and wanted to condense about seven hours worth of material into three. There's just not enough time, and as Rollins put it, "I am single handedly trying to make time explode." It's not that he's an impatient person; it's just that he's of the ilk that have about a million things they want to do and only a finite amount of time to do it.
Topics for this evening's performance included detectives, Afghanistan (and the futility of war, there since no country has ever really succeeded in taking over Afghanistan). Why no one will really say how much damage the oil spill is causing for fear of losing ad money and pissing off corporations. Visiting South Africa and his admiration for its constitution. A high school in Mississippi's cancellation of a high school prom because a girl wanted to bring another girl to the dance. Gay cavemen. George W. Bush's trouble with polysyllables and his thought process at speech time (Rollins compared it to a desolate wasteland full of scorched earth with a bunch of lambs let loose without a shepherd). Virtual flame-throwers. Playing a neo-nazi on the TV show "Sons of Anarchy" and doing his own stunts. Writing a graduation speech for Sonoma College based on everything every graduate should know before going out into the world. And, of course, the aforementioned post "Sons of Anarchy," pre-tour trip to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Mali, and a couple of other places.
That was three hours worth of talking, and it was a fucking blast.
Somehow, Rollins manages to preach to the choir without every making it seem futile. It's kind of like left wing punditry, without actually being a pundit. It's more about spreading good ideas and positive thinking. Well, as positive as sticking one's middle finger in a corrupt dictator's face can be, which Rollins said he did to Burma's Than Shwe after giving a little history lesson about Shwe is starving his people to death. Rollins likes history, and he likes to share all the weird shit that gets overlooked. It's not really a lecture --more like a one-way conversation. It's not really stand up comedy, but you will laugh until your guts hurt. It's not really a sermon, but you walk away from the venue inspired to keep up the good fight when the world and the country seem to have gone absolutely insane.
Rollins isn't a prophet; he's just a self-proclaimed "aging alternative icon." This was my third time seeing him speak, and he's got just as much energy as he's always had despite having gone completely gray. It's apparent that Rollins has no plans to stop anytime soon -- or ever, for that matter.
"Real life sucks for me," he said in defense of his touring lifestyle, bemoaning the twenty days he had to stay at his "utilitarian hovel" in Los Angeles. So, if you missed Wednesday night's show, you needn't worry. Henry will surely be back twenty more times before his heart explodes via caffeine or he drops dead from exhaustion: whichever comes first.
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