HENRY ROLLINS: The Long March Tour (2012)

[Johann]

The Dominion-Chalmers church in Ottawa was the church of the REAL DEAL for 3 hours last night.

Punk Icon Henry Rollins gave us a spoken word concert just shy of 3 hours, and it was Divine. (pardon the pun)
The range of topics he touched on were awe-inspiring and he never took even so much as a pause or sip of water. Afterwards a woman was asking me if he was a reptile, because he never stopped to take a sip of Aqua. I said for pasts shows I've seen he's had water, so I don't know.
I made a new facebook friend yesterday- the wife of the merch table guy. She waited with me and some others to meet Henry after and get stuff signed. (He signed my Rise Above WM3 CD sleeve- BITCHIN')

Henry basically told the audience that the future is ours. He's been to the mountaintop, and now he's going down the other side, in a taboggan that is headed straight for a grave. Age was a theme in his show, as well as Time, because we don't know how much time we have, and time will kill all of us, one way or another. How you choose to spend that precious time is paramount. He said you could get hit by lightning tomorrow, so don't think in terms of lifespan (78 for men, 82 for women is the norm) because you go at anytime, anywhere, for any reason.
So make the most of your time.
I learned that his father was a racist, the kind who would have had a Rush Limbaugh bumper sticker on his car.
He mentioned Washington D.C. and the conditions he grew up in, going to concerts with his buddy Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat Legend!), concerts like Led Zep, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent (before he started saying fucked-up shit between songs at shows).
He said punk rock was the way out. To try to make the powers that be see something else, something more righteous than they were.
He said Joey Ramone told him in no uncertain terms that being weird was MORE THAN OK.
He mentioned New York City, and how crazy some shows were there, like when a really really fat guy stage dived and the audience parted like the red sea and the fat fuck landed on top of a girl and she lost her right eyeball because of the impact- how sick and fucked up is that?
He told us adventures with the Cramps, the Damned, Black Flag stories (one he told was in GET IN THE VAN- the one about Chuck ramming him with his bass and knocking him over after he complained that there was only one guy in the club to play to. Chuck read Henry the riot act, and Henry never EVER forgot it. You play like it's the last show on earth, no people or not!)

He spoke of the USA, his country, which is in serious decline. He told us to watch the U.S., watch how they are ruining their way of life, and how you have to just SURVIVE America now: don't get high, don't go to jail, don't piss anybody off, don't get sued, etc...
The system is so irrevocably broken that it's beyond pathetic he said.
He spoke of the letters he gets, and relayed some intense ones he gets sometimes. Like the woman who got raped by a friend while her husband was in Afghanistan. (He told her to RUN to the police and not to tell her hubby until he got home- it was horrible story).
He also mentioned when a traveller USED TO be able to walk the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan, now that country is off-limits.
When George W. Bush listed his 3 main threats to America's freedom, Henry said to himself that he had to go there and see for himself.
So he went to Iran. He went to Iraq. And he went to North Korea. It took him forever to get a visa to go to North Korea, but he eventually got it. It was a BIG DAY when Heidi the Demon told him his visa came through.
The stories he told while in North Korea- wow. Horrible food (tasted like ass, everything- at all times) bowing down to statues and buying flowers to lay at the giant statues' feet, paying every single person for every single thing you do, paying respects to Kim il Sun, whose waxen body is on full display in a mausoleum. Henry wanted to nudge his guide after bowing and say HE WINKED AT ME, MAN!!!
He said it was surreal.

TBC...

[Johann]

Henry also made quite clear that he is in fear of police. He said he doesn't hate them, he's just afraid of them.
He goes to his favorite burrito joint in L.A. and sometimes cops are sitting there, saying "Mr. Rollins! Come sit with us!"
He just tells them point blank: "I'll shake your hand, but I do not trust you. I am in fear of you".
He asked if any cops were in the house, and nobody raised their hand.

He relayed to us his travels in Tibet, which were heartbreaking. He told us of an old woman he talked to, asking if the Dalai-lama will ever return to Tibet. The woman shook her head, "NO, we have many sads, many sads". Their sadness is PLURAL in Tibet.
Henry said that China will destroy what's left of Tibet by the end of this century- maybe even by 2050.
And he said he has no idea what to do about it. The Chinese people are OK, he said. It's the Chinese government that is fucked.
He said he's met many chinese people- he was in Beijing last year- and they are quite friendly, normal people. He has no problem with regular Chinese people- it's strictly the government that is the problem.

He also told us an amazing story of when he was in Port-au-Prince Haiti recently.
He asked his cab driver to take him to the tent cities. The driver totally balked at that, laughing at Henry- "I know something you don't about the tent cities. You do not want to go there."
Henry insisted.
So the cab stops outside one tent city.
Henry walks right in, and is immediately surrounded by black dudes who want to know what the fuck he is doing there.
He offers his hand to shake- that broke the ice. They get to talking through the cabbie, who is the interpreter.
Henry asks what they want to have the most in the tent city. They answer "Soccer balls" and "soap".
Henry looks at his cabbie and says "Let's go".
He tells the tent city guys that he will be back in a few hours.
He bought all the soccer balls he could get his hands on and all of the 8 cent bars of soap he could get.
He did that every single day FOR A WEEK. He said he was like Santa Claus there.
Those tent cities have young girls lined up at tents to service men for $1.25 a pop. They get a dollar, their pimps get a quarter.
STD's are rampant. The smell of human feces is everywhere- it sounded horrifying.


Henry is a very conscious man, who is seeking knowledge about the world with a vengeance. And he shares it with us.
How Awesome is he?
You cannot calculate it. We need armies of men like him to change the world. We need switched on MEN to step up and deliver.
Until we do, the world will swirl downward.

He mentioned country music singers and how they age so gracefully: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson ("He went from a red ponytail to a white ponytail! You respect him even more!") Merle Haggard (the LINES on Merle's face are a map of the WORLD!).
Punk rockers do not age well, he said.
That guitar you used to play down by your nuts is now resting on your gut, bouncing around when you do your "moves".
"This one was for Maggie Thatcher!"
"This was written for Reagan! Fuck the system!"
He said it's kinda embarrassing. He said he wondered hard if he would be that kind of punk in his later years and tries to avoid looking like a man hanging onto his glorious past to make the man he is today seem relevant.
He mentioned Canadian punk Legends D.O.A. and how they were the only punk band that could handle the type of tours Black Flag did, and match them ferocity for ferocity. He mused about sleeping on Joe Shithead's floor in Vancouver while Joe went out driving his cab to make some money to eat the next day.

Henry also is funny as fuck. People had tears streaming down their faces at some of the shit he said.
He says he's not that funny, but that is a damn lie.
The bit about how no man on the planet goes into a record store and buys a Sting record, plunks it down on the counter and righteously shouts:
"STING. That's what I'm talking about. Fuckin' STING!"

TBC...

[Johann]

Henry told us of his first visit and show in the Yukon Territory for this tour- the man sure gets around. Love it.

He also mentioned the racism and hatred that exists online for President Obama. He said he is always amazed at how ignorant Amercians can be- and the internet gives you some GLOWING examples. It's stunning how people refer to the President. He is YOUR President!
America will always crumble from within, he said.
Lincoln said that foreign invaders will never be America's problem. It will be citizens and government that will be the threat.
Bang-On.
Words to remember...

He mentioned Ottawa as the first Canadian city that Black Flag ever played- in 1982.
He talked about being knocked out at a Flag show and Greg Ginn waving at him to do the next song on the setlist!
BLACK FLAG NEVER STOP!
We creepy crawl balls to the WALL!

It's always an Honor to see Henry in person, and I keep in touch with him through e-mails.
He really is grounded and listens to his fans, as long as you aren't some depressed emo-fan writing him a 6-page letter about how he and Ian Curtis UNDERSTAND him..LOL..what story that was. Henry wrote him back barking mad like a drill sergeant: WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?
The kid "GOT BACK" to him like a week later, saying: "I always knew you were an asshole". PRICELESS.

He also mentioned Neil Young and Tom Waits, and how they always have a fresh record that is well worth checking out.
He said Tom Waits bought him lunch in L.A. last time he was there.
Cool. Very Cool.

What can I say?
Henry Rollins inspires me and he inspires many others.
Buy his records and buy his books. He does nothing but LIFT YOU UP.

LIKE AN IRON FIST PUNCHING THROUGH A BLUE SKY.