June 25, 1997

Webster's Dictionary defines the term Renaissance as "a rebirth, a period of intellectual revival." The reason I equate this term to Henry Rollins actually started in 1993 on the streets of the East Village. A friend and I were hanging out in the Vill' when Henry Rollins walked by. Even from that brief meeting, the man's energy was apparent.

Since that time I had seen one show of his at some gross overblown conglomerate like lalapooloser and one spoken word tour (any of which I HIGHLY recommend). So when the chance came to see Mr. Rollins at the Embassy on Wednesday, June 18th for the tour of his new release of "Come in and Burn," I could not resist.

I arrived as the opening act was breaking down - perfect (they're always too damn loud anyway), though I wish I could have seen them. Some guy bumped into me trying to do the ten finger "Beer Carry," apologized and said "Rollins is pissed off on this album, eh?" We all made our way (typically) into one another's personal space with amazing speed and no precision as the lights dropped. For a build-up, some piped in phonic-related speech patterns confused the heavily teen-oriented crowd.

The lights came up and the no-frills, all-energy band of bass player Melvin Gibbs, drummer Sim Cain, guitarist Chris Haskett and vocalist-actor-poet-personality-publisher-writer- (award winning) spoken word speaker Henry Rollins calmly walked on the stage and proceeded to kick the crowd in the brain!

"On My Way to the Cage" threw the crow into a swirling melee of angst youth and flying bodies. And after Rollins exclaimed that he's played in Florida for over 16 years and has "never, never gotten tired of it," he broke into the song "Divine" which pushed the envelope like Chuck Yeager. I traversed my way into the back of the mob scene to get a less sweaty view of the program.

As for the Embassy, it was a great venue for the show - intimate in size (every spot a good one), yet the space at hand was designed well for a lot of people.

As for the show, well Henry and the Rollins Band never ceases to amaze me. With the age as a building ally for them, they have found a niche and exploited it with intelligence and social outcries that few bands would even dare to touch. As for Rollins himself, I recommend his books (especially Bang and Art to Choke Hearts) and spoken word tours; they're not for the faint of heart but worth the price for the open mind.

Justice Mitchell Loves: Art & Photography, Mom & Dad, Eileen, Friends, Music, and Film. Hates: Dan Leeds and his army of satanic, homophobic, undead girl scouts. Other Articles I've Written