Unca Hank

Listening: Fred's Mix
Reading: the Fire Mountain Gems Catalogue

It's about 4 years ago now that I became aware of Henry Rollins...I'd been vaguely tuned in to him, since he's always popping up where you least expect him (Indy 500 anyone?), but I really wasn't familiar with any of his work...I don't remember exactly how I came across him...Maybe from the WM3 album? I have a memory like swiss cheese, so I really have no idea...

I'd heard of Black Flag, of course, but back in high school, way out in the wasteland of the Toronto suburbs, my friends and I were more into The Cure and The Smiths and escaping the confines of boarding school for the weekends than any serious music...After high school, I was more interested in self-medicating with various legal and illegal substances, and making up for lost time after 5 years in various all-female environments...*grins and winks*

Rollins came across my radar, and though it sounds melodramatic, I haven't been the same since...It's almost like a door was opened to the things I used to love, and how I used to be before I let the world bash me up a bit...I loved music when I was a kid, listening to all kinds of different genres, and playing it as well...My dad has quite eclectic tastes, though a bit circumscribed; I got Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller and (especially) Edith Piaf from him, and for that I am grateful...

I forgot how much I loved music, and even before the Rollins radio show started, I went back to the stuff I used to listen to, and found new stuff I'd completely missed...I always loved alternative music (before there was such a term), but me and my little aspiring punkette friends were so focused on England that I completely missed the whole LA scene...The Mission UK, some Clash, Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode, all the New Wave/New Romantic stuff that I don't really listen to now except when I feel the need to wallow in some memories...*grin* Gods, I completely forgot about Images in Vogue...Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! The Cult, a little bit of Bauhaus and Joy Division, the Sex Pistols...Anything that was kind of obnoxious and made us 'weird' to our parents and the other kids, but nothing really sunk in with me...

The first time I heard Minor Threat, it hit me 'like a thousand of brick'...Black Flag was so fierce I had to get as much of their music as I could possibly get my grubby paws on...Can you believe I fucking missed hardcore? I was around, I just didn't know! The Germs, the Teen Idles, Husker Du...Gods, I love the Dead Kennedys, I really, really do...And the 'softer' stuff, which just slays you anyway, like the Minutemen and X...

It's like I came home one day, and my whole family was there, and they knew me inside and out, and understood...

Rollins did that for me...Music just came flying in...I've loved Billy Bragg since the first time I heard him singing about politics and love, and I found the Carter Family from some TV special, and was totally blown away by Mother Maybelle's guitarwork...And I've been a ska devotee since a friend let me copy her Specials tape about a million years ago...Bob Marley, the Aquabats, Butthole Surfers, the Ramones, Dancehall Crashers, Die Cheerleader, Eek-A-Mouse, Fugazi, Generation X, The Stooges, Jane's Addiction, Black Sabbath, The Knitters, Lee Scratch Perry, The Misfits, Operation Ivy, Phil Ochs, The Riffs, The Toasters...

Rollins Band.

I'm often not a very nice person...I know I'm prickly, and hard to get along with...I know that...

There's a woman I work with...I refer to her in this Blog as 'Dum-dum', so that probably would give you an insight into how I often feel about her...Her cubicle is covered with doilies and ceramic frogs; basically we have nothing in common...Except art...She makes jewellery that is quite different from mine, very delicate, and sparkly, and beautiful...Some time ago, I was trying to work on my issues with this person, because I knew that it was my issue, and not really very much to do with her at all, and I had just bought the Rollins live album 'The Only Way To Know For Sure'...This is his riff from 'Thinking Cap'...

Think about it--This is a big city, covered with people--All kinds of people come through Chicago--Thousands and thousands, millions and millions--But there's one small subset of people who found their way into this place tonight--I like that--Because that means we definitely have something in common--And we've got something going--You might not know the boy or girl, man or woman next to you--But you know you've got soul--If you didn't you wouldn't be in here--So you know we've got a thing with you--And you've got a thing with us--So every day look around, do what you can to make it cool for someone you don't know somewhere else--And that's when we stop living like pigs and start living like human beings--You wanna talk about culture--You wanna talk about high civilization--A high-minded culture is literate--A high-minded civilization does not kill its own--A high-minded mind does not seek to oppress or step on anyone else's expression--I know you know, and I know you're just like me--You've been stepped on all the time--You've wanted to say something but someone takes your words and chops them up and puts them at your feet--And you go back into your room feeling half the size you were when you left it in the morning--I feel like that all the time--And sometimes my fuse gets mighty short--And sometimes I stop seeing what I should see--And sometimes I get out of the high-mindedness and I get real low--And then when I come to I see the mistakes I've made and I curse myself--Because I realize that's not it--That's not rock and roll--That's not what the Ramones taught me...

The bold sections? That's where Henry might as well have said 'Ms E?' and pointed directly at me at the end of the sentence...

Am I really saying that Henry Rollins is teaching me to be a better person? Oh gods...