All he needs is one mic

As part of his "Shock & Awe My Ass" tour, Henry Rollins will tell stories and opine about Bush

By CHHUN SUN

Henry Rollins refers to himself as an angry man. His voice becomes aggressive and loud when he talks about something he believes in. But looking at Rollins in this one-dimensional context prevents seeing another side of him.

His voice gets low and soft when he recalls witnessing the murder of his best friend.

On a regular day in the early 1990s, Rollins was walking with his friend to their rented house in Venice, Calif. This typical walk on this average day changed in seconds.

Two men jumped out from a nearby bush and told them they were being robbed. Four shots followed. Two missed Rollins. The other two hit his friend and killed him.

“I wasn’t living in a dream world before,” Rollins said in a phone interview from his office in Los Angeles. “It just kind of stripped away any fear that I had. It was a difficult and surreal moment in my life and it has helped me become the way I am now.

“When shots are fired at you, everything else is all gravy.”

About 15 years later, his life and career is like that — all gravy. And all busy.

He has appeared in numerous movies, fronted the rock band Black Flag, wrote books, spoke on radio shows, hosted shows on MTV, and the list goes on.

Today, the 44-year-old still writes books. He also hosts a television show on The Independent Film Channel called “Henry’s Film Corner,” does numerous United Services Organizations events, fronts the Rollins Band and, again, the list goes on.

But the one thing he’s most comfortable with is being on stage, something he’s been doing for 23 years.

For his “Shock & Awe My Ass” spoken word college tour, which stops at Fresno State on Tuesday, he’s on stage; it’s just him, his rawness, his tattoo-decorated body, his stories, a microphone, a stool and his words. No rock band. No fancy props. No music. No bright lights.

Besides making college stops, Rollins is relentlessly working about six days a week.

“I work steadily, not frenziedly,” said Rollins, noting that he uses his weekends to either write or listen to his rare-music collection. “I don’t do much else. I have no family, no wife, no hobby. I just go out and bang away at it. I can’t even tell you how the roses smell like.”

But work is not always work. He finds great pleasure in visiting troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. His visits prove that he cares about his country, even though he doesn’t hide his opposition toward President Bush and his administration.

A heated passion ignites inside Rollins when a conversation steers in the direction of Bush or the war in Iraq. He goes through a diatribe of disgust. He points out what he sees wrong about Bush, such as the president’s opposition toward homosexuality, his lack of charisma in public speaking, his take on morality over science and, of course, the list goes on.

“But don’t think I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Rollins said. “I’m not your racist, I’m not the homophobic guy. I’m direct and I’m an angry person. I don’t sit around doing nothing. I keep up with current events, read big books, and I go out and support the troops and contribute to organizations. I’m in Iraq. I’m with the troops.

“So if anybody wants to argue with me, let’s go there.”

He’s more than just angry, however; he’s concerned. And all his passion and all his concerns and all his stories accumulate one night at time. Then Henry, at age 44, moves on to whatever he has to do next.

“I like being in front of students,” Rollins said. “They spend a lot of time in class, so why not spend two hours per lifetime with me and hear something they can learn from, something they can debate over when they’re walking back to their dorms or wherever.”