Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Henry Rollins Ain't Coming Here

Odd things set me in motion. For some reason, this morning it just seemed too much that Henry Rollins would be, like most touring artists, navigating around the state of West Virginia.

So, I sent him a note, pointing out that I noticed he was skipping West Virginia for his little spoken word tour.

I'm not even a huge Henry Rollins fan. I have one album, have read a handful of articles by him and probably only seen his "Liar" video twice, but his skipping my part of the world seemed too much to absorb right after the mines harvested a few more lives. It was just a little too much with the happy-go-lucky nuts of Westboro Baptist Church already packing for the weekend trip here --and odds are, they're already printing up signs about how God hates miners, how this is the fault of fags or more precisely, America's love affair with fags.

Who knew?

The attention to this most recent mining disaster reminded me of how little the rest of the country pays to West Virginia unless they can exploit us, turn us into a TV cooking show or a movie meant to confirm and conform to the worst expectations of people with basic cable.

It bothered me that Rollins couldn't be bothered to come here. It just did.

2 comments:

Spike Nesmith said...

I can't begin to figure out how tours are configured, but it might just be that there's not a suitable venue or that there's not significant enough interest.

Quick Rollins-related story. Sorta. Warning, there are swears: When my friend was on college, he noticed that one day, someone had carved "Rollinsband" on the desk he was sitting at.

Next day, someone had added "are shite" at the bottom, so that it read "Rollinsband are shite".

Next day, something else had been added - carved, angrily, into the desk, hard and in red pen. It said:

I AM HENRY ROLLINS AND I AM *NOT* SHITE, MOTHERFUCKER!!

...who knew? Henry Rollins went to college in west central Scotland.

larry's jealous again said...

two words: hot animal machine. hank never has to anything for me again after that album. freakin' life changing rock there.

but if he calls you again hit me up. maybe he can sign my "henrietta collins and the wifebeating childhaters" album....or not