Legends of Rock: Henry Rollins

This past Friday I saw former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins perform his spoken word show at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. (Royal Oak, MI)

I’m a huge fan of Black Flag’s music and my favorite album that I still listen to is Damaged. (’81) Songs like “Rise Above,” “Depression” and “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” are gems. I also listened to the Rollins Band which he fronted during the 90s, I loved the music video to “Liar” which was off their ’94 album Weight.

Aside from being a musician, Rollins is also a writer, activist, actor, publisher and radio host. (to list a few of his titles) He is certainly a well-rounded guy that I have been a fan of since I was a teen.

His spoken word shows involve a raw-in-your-face direct account of him sharing his views, travels, and experiences. This past show did not disappoint with his latest stories about Lemmy from Motorhead, travels to Cuba and Haiti, past work with National Geographic, current work with the History Channel and his friday nights at Starbucks where he sits writing his 1,500 words among an atmosphere of screen writers and biker gear heads.

Also, once on stage Rollins goes non-stop for over two hours without even a water break. He gets pretty intense and passionate and I think it’s cool.  As Rollins likes to put it, he considers himself a work slut not a workaholic.

During this recent spoken word show, I loved when he stated:

“Rock ‘n’ roll will not die not as long as I am here and you are here. It’s not going to happen…not on our watch!”

I appreciate Rollin’s for being honest and sending a message to live without fear, to do good and look for good in the world, to step outside your comfort zone and most important be yourself no matter what anyone thinks of you.

At one point during his show he talked about how he enjoyed taking on jobs that he is not qualified for and how he is doesn’t worry about it because he figures if he screws it up it would be pretty funny. I laughed when he said this because I take myself way too seriously and somehow coming from him the advice to not take yourself seriously but take your work seriously just hit home.  Thank you Mr. Rollins for that much-needed inspiration.

You can keep up with Rollins on his official website, http://henryrollins.com. He also has a bunch of video clips through vimeo on his site.

Below is a link shared from his website that gives you a good impression of what his spoken word shows are like.

Tags: black flag, Henry Rollins, henry rollins history channel, henry rollins national geographic, henry rollins royal oak show, henry rollins spoken word, henry rollins writing, rollins band