Citizen Rollins

 Henry Rollins took a moment from his gallivanting around the world to touch down and spend some quality time at SLO Brew in San Luis Obispo, sharing his observations, pithy and otherwise, doing his standard two hour plus, no break, no water, barely blinking spiel to a house of diehards who eagerly lapped up the wit and wisdom of Citizen Rollins.

The evening swung between hilarious and heartbreaking, Rollins riffing off an Abraham Lincoln speech to lightly touch on the current election, bemoaning the loss of entertainment value as certain candidates are shed from the process, extolling the wonder of Austin, Texas, Planned Parenthood, and Tom Waits and Omelettes...
The second act, as it were, worked off of letters he's received, The Joy Of Turning 50, what a badass Dolly Parton is, and life in the van, before turning to the final stage, and the highlight of the evening: his most recent travels to North Korea and Haiti.  His travels are always a good reminder of the universal currency of humanity-no matter whom the leaders of a particular country are, there is joy to be found among the people.
And so ended another peek into the endlessly fascinating world of Henry Rollins.

If you want to keep up with Henry, he is still doing his radio show, having migrated from the late 103.1 FM to his current home of KCRW.
If you've never had the please of live inundation in Mr. Rollins vision, here's a taste:

...Our Henry

Henry Rollins
Soho Santa Barbara
09 June 2010





World traveler, self described troublemaker, and all around bon vivant Henry Rollins made his return to the stage at Soho. Can he really be 49? Sigh...To say the least, he wears it very well. He started the evening with some local observations before launching into The Riff, his patented take on what currently is going down...

Tonight's version ran though 'Touring Canada At The Same Time As Ann Coulter', 'Henry's Personal Relationship With The US Constitution', then segued into the de riguer travelectomy in which Henry is let loose on the world at large...Tonight, it was Spotlight on South Africa!, the highlight of which had Henry breaking down South Africa's Constitution for us...














Bringing it back home, he touched on the Mississippi prom that was cancelled because (Gasp!) two girls wanted to Go, Together. (Duh..Dun....) He went on to work in a story of high school homophobia from his own days, and it's here where he really shines, weaving in the light and the dark in looking at this rollercoaster called life.

What I would declare the high water mark of the eve was his journey to Sonoma St, where he was the Commencement Speaker. (True Story, and i'll let your imaginations take it from there...)
Finishing off, it was a one/two media punch of his adventures as a character on season two of 'Sons of Anarchy', and a spot as a judge for Rupaul's tv show!














Never ceases to amaze how quick a few hours passes in his company, but as the physical reminder kicked in, he made a point of thanking our collective asses for putting up with him...

I'm sure the comparison would horrify him, but he works the same observational turf as most stand up comedians, and that's precisely where it ends. For starters, he is actually funny, and his line can be traced back to Mark Twain, ignoring all the Seinfeld clones so prevalent today.
He's our generation's Lenny Bruce, but his smack is work, and he keeps on working...