Henry Rollins, Recountdown Tour Comes to New York City

A month or so ago, I was in Atlanta, Ga, preparing to fly home after spending September crashing at a friend's. As a sort of parting gift, he took me out one night to a local theatre in the arts district better known to the locals as 'Little Five Points." The Variety Playhouse, is a small venue, big enough to hold a few hundred, a very up-close-and-personal type of surrounding. This particular evening, my good friend Andrew and I were four rows back, smack in the center, waiting for the show to start. The room was fairly quiet with people reading programs and speaking amongst one another, or just sitting and staring off into space. Andrew had seen Rollins live, many times, but this was my first, and I wasn't exactly sure what to expect out of the evening.

Based on the title of the tour, I expected a good bit of political humor, mixed in with his usual anger and angst, but it's hard to describe what I pulled from the evening. If you blinked, you would've missed his entrance. The stage was dark one second and then there he was. The room suddenly lit into screaming and applause, and without missing a beat, he started by thanking the crowd. Then he quickly moved into politics. He stated the importance of your vote, cracked a few Bush jokes, said his piece on Palin and McCain. Then, he explained how in the last seven years our president has "become his travel agent. Whenever he rattles the sabers at some country too much, he books a ticket and goes to that country as soon as he can."

Rollins has been to amazing places, and experienced things that most people can't say they've done. He's in the middle of an ongoing social experiment, traveling the world, seeing the different cultures, and meeting people who rarely get credit form our stand point, in the over all scheme of things. Because of this desire to explore and learn, his passport looks pretty interesting, covered in stamps from countries that send up a red flag to the average American. Needless to say it can make air port visits a bit 'touchy feely'. But in the end, it makes a great story, so it's taken lightly in the over all. He explains about a lot of things he's done, and people he's met, with the subjects bouncing back and forth, and spinning off into new stories, but he always seems, in the end, to finish what he starts.

The mood on stage changes a lot as the subjects weave into new stories. You can see how passionate he is about everything he's done as he stands in one place in the center of the stage, not focusing on one face in particular, just looking off into the darkness of the room. And you can see the sweat dripping off the elbow of his left arm, which is holding the microphone to his face as he speaks, though he shows no other signs of perspiration. In the two and a half hour show, he's covered everything from third world countries to Van Halen concerts, The obnoxiousness of aging in todays world, and the over all anger that he has, that keeps him going.

Henry Rollins never stops. He doesn't want to. Days off make him restless and aggravated, so they only come along on rare occasions. Hearing about this man's life, music taste, opinions of the world around him, the places he's traveled, the people he's met, and the things he's doing to educate people, is too inspiring to put to words, really.

The show ended, He said goodnight and dropped the mic, the lights came on, and everyone began the fight to the door. But for those of us watching as he exited the stage, we got our own personal moment with the man, as he turned the corner at the back right of the stage, and gave us the finger. Anyone who knows anything about Rollins knows that this, coming from him, is not at all a bad thing.

After the show I wanted to stay. I wanted to attempt speaking to this man, as my brain was now swirling with thoughts and ideas, and I had a million questions to ask. I was tempted to wait and invite him for a cup of coffee, though I knew the chances of actually speaking to him were slim, and the chances of his accepting my invitation even slimmer. But as I walked outside I saw the crowd slowly gathering at the back of the theatre, and I didn't want to be THAT fan. You know, the one who has so much to say, but winds up lost for words and asking him to sign my chest? So we continued on with our evening, wound up meeting an awesome girl outside and spending the next four hours or so sitting inside Majestic (a local diner), and dancing outside in the parking lot to some music that so seemed to match the moment, talking about everything that this experience had stirred up in all of our minds.

I am now home in Kearny, NJ, just across the river from New York City, and preparing to see him live again this coming Thursday, October 30th, 2008. This time I'm bringing my father along for the ride, and I cannot wait to see what new stories come about, and if I can catch the new details in the old ones. I won't be as close to the stage this time, but I'll still be staring in awe of everything that radiates from him. If you're in the area I would definitely recommend coming out to the show. Tickets are on sale through ticketmaster.com, The show is at The Town Hall, one block up from Times Square. If you're not in the area, you can check his website (http://HenryRollins.com) for upcoming dates and venues.