Rollins looks forward to Eugene show
Henry Rollins will head to Eugene
on the heels of the February release
of his live At Luna Park’ DVD; he’ll
perform spoken word next week
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
Henry Rollins first came into the lime
light during the early 1980s when he was
chosen as the lead singer of the seminal Los
Angeles hardcore punk band Black Flag. Af
ter recording a half dozen studio albums,
the band broke up and Rollins went out on
his own to form the heavy-metal oriented
Rollins Band. During the 1990s he record
ed a number of albums with the new group,
and he also released several books and spo
ken word albums. He also made appear
ances in films such as "Lost Highway,"
"Heat" and "Johnny Mnemonic."
He will perform spoken word at the Mc
Donald Theatre on March 18.
Emerald: A DVD of your spoken word per
formances was recently released. How did that
come about?
Henry Rollins: That was recorded in 1999.
I did a couple months of this club in Los An
geles and we recorded a few nights of it. We
shelved the material, but last year we took a
look at it to see if it was any good. We had the
woman who shot it all make an edit of it and
my manager chopped out about a quarter of
that, and what was left became the "Live At
Luna Park" DVD.
Emerald: Spoken word has become a ma
jor aspect of your career. Are you moving away
from music entirely or finding a balance be
tween the two?
HR: I'm doing a lot of both. I tend to split
the year in half, half talking, half music. I've
done about 80 talking shows this year. I don't
know what I'll do musically. Maybe make a
record, but I don't know about touring.
Emerald: Does that mean working with the
Rollins Band?
HR: I have to decide what I'm going to do
musically this summer. I don't know if I'm go
ing to work with those guys or not.
Emerald: What can you tell me about the
spoken word performance? What kinds of
subjects do you cover?
HR: I usually tell stories from the previous
year, I also cover some current-event type stuff.
Emerald: Like what?
HR: Well, it's an election year and there is
the war in Iraq. Lots of stuff like that to talk
about. The president, you know, he's doing a
lot of speaking these days, which makes for
great material.
Emerald: 1 get the feeling you're not a big
fan of President Bush.
HR: Loving America and being pro-Ameri
can, I can't love Bush at the same time. They
seem to be the antithesis of each other.
Emerald: Is there a lot of politics in your
shows?
HR: There's some politics. It comes from
being an American. Everyone here is some
what hardwired to the political situation just
by the nature of living in this country.
Emerald: What about the personal aspect
of your show? What do you talk about?
HR: I did two world tours last year, saw a lot
of stuff and met some interesting people. So
the highlights and greatest hits of that will be
in the show.
Courtesy
Henry Rollins will be giving a spoken word performance at the McDonald Theatre March 18. The former Black
Flag frontman released “Live At Luna Park” in February, which was compiled from Los Angeles performances in
1999. He also performs in the Rollins Band and writes books.
Emerald: What kind of differences do you
see between touring for spoken word and tour
ing with a band? Any advantages or disadvan
Emerald: Are people receptive to what you
have to say?
HR: Yeah, sure. I do these tours all over the
iu gumg <11 n diuiic!
HR: There are no advan
tages or disadvantages —
they're just different. The
talking shows are harder
because there is no band to
hide behind when some
thing goes wrong. I mean,
the songs are the songs;
they don't change a great
deal. If it's just you on your
own then there's nothing
else but you and your wits.
And so of course, the pres
"Loving America and
being pro-American,
I can't love Bush at the
same time. They seem
to be the antithesis
of each other"
Henry Rollins
Musician/Spoken Word Artist
sure is on more man it
would be with a band, which is fine with me. I
enjoy the audience. But it's different than play
ing with a band and maybe a bit more taxing.
Emerald: Do you find that people still asso
ciate you more with music than spoken word?
HR: I don't know. It seems different with
every person I meet.
world and we draw the
crowds in pretty well.
Emerald: You were in
Eugene last year for a spo
ken word show. How did
that go?
HR: It went well. I used
to do Eugene a lot in the
1980s. I haven't been there
in awhile. When it came
up on the itinerary I was
happy to see it. I'm look
ing forward to the show,
that's for sure.
The McDonald Theatre is
located at 1010 Willamette St. Tickets for Henry
Rollins are $18.50 and are available at Tick
ets West outlets. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the
show begins at 8 p.m.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
MTV shows
distorted,
dignity-free
experience
Spring break might be one of the best vacations
ever invented. No school for an entire week. Never
theless, it has been distorted and commercialized.
Spring break is a chance for students to get away
from the educational establishment. It's a way to
break free from the monotonous schedule of
classes, and let loose after hours and hours of
homework However, it seems that spring breakers
are just substituting one institutionalized agenda
for another — the agenda of corporate television.
Helen Schumacher
Notes from the underground
Spring break programming is threatening to
min the tradition. The occasion has become syn
onymous with wet T-shirt contests, drunken
hookups and bad music. For an entire week every
year, MTV is overrun with dudes wearing Puka
shell necklaces shouting Kid Rock lyrics into
cameras (who am 1 kidding — these tools over
run the channel most days of the year). Even
without cable television, these images still plague
sodety through movies and advertisements.
Students need to rebel against this tyrannical
force and make up their own minds about how
to spend the free time. Part of the excitement is
exploring the possibilities for yourself. It's un
natural to have your whole vacation scripted on
a TelePrompTer.
What irks me the most about spring break pro
grams is the way they encourage the partidpants
to give up all dignity for two minutes on televi
sion. Especially troubling is how misogynistic
these shows are. The behavior is like something
from the Dark Ages. The only difference between
an episode of "Total Request Live" taped in Can
cun, Mexico, and an episode of "The Jerry Springer
Show" is that the people actually take the Cancun
footage seriously. Both are equally absurd.
There is so much pressure to ad a certain way
even though these pressures are completely unre
alistic. The action always seems to play out the
same way. A man, full of false machismo and
backed by a posse of his "bros," hoots and hollers
while impossibly proportioned women take off
their bikinis and make out with each other. Then,
this behavior is broadcast to middle- and high
schoolers, who will in three years time be com
pelled to ad even more audadously. At times, you
can physically see how uncomfortable these peo
ple are as they fulfill the party-animal stereotype.
It's ironic that while many of these partidpants
seem to think they're proving how cool they are,
what they're really doing is competing to see who
can embarrass themselves the most and ad with
the least amount of self-resped.
Contact the Pulse columnist
athelenschumacher@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
Musique Gourmet
Classical Music
Opera
Broadway
Filmscores
CD's
SACD'S
DVD'S
Open Noon - 5:20
Sundays Noon - 4:00
Closed Tuesdays
Behind Bradfords
Across from Library
0 942 Olive St.
| FREE PARKING
349-0461
fashion
at first
sight
131 E. 5th Ave (between Oak & Pearl) 687-2805 BUFFALOEXCHAN6E.COM
o
LUNA open Tuesday through Saturday at 4 pm
30th East Broadway [541) 434-LUIMA
Event info and more at www.lunajazz.com
LAURA KEMP &
ANNE WEISS
Next to Adam’s Place Restaurant 434-LUNA
Dinning Room open 5 pm to 9 prn weeknighls 10 pm weekends