With great sadness I learned that Michelle Bachmann is out of the race. First Herman Cain, now Michelle. Gone are the comical weekly debates. Gone are the assinine statements and misabuse of the English language. Gone are the "Gotcha" questions and funny mis-facts. Gone are the outrageous claims of this crazy but harmless candidate. Now we are winnowing down the pack to just the serious and boring candidates. This has been a fun season of Republican "eat your young" implosion, and I will relish it for a long time. So goodbye Michelle, and Rick, and Herman. You mad a great summer replacement show, but now it's over.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Henry Rollins - Occupants
Early 80's punk was like a tornado. It sucked up everything in its vortex. Some people were destroyed. Others were picked up where they stood and spit out, lives forever changed, in a radically different spot. Take the journey of Mike Watt, Bob Mould, Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, myself. Henry was sucked into THE vortex. Black Flag. He entered the crucible as a suburban punk like so many of us and was spit out of the beast a full- blown Renaissance Man. Author, writer, photojournalist, humorist, punk. His new book is entitled Occupants, and it is a photo journey across the world with fascinating essays in amongst the pictures. One man's take of this insane world, trying to search for humanity, and seeking an understanding of the people, beyond culture, politics, geography. Henry finds interesting people and places,striking out at the inhumanity and finding the common chord that ties the people together as what we are: fellow occupants of planet earth.
It is tempting for me to see Henry as the Black Flag Henry. Prowling the stage like a dangerous animal. "My War!" Henry of the shirtless, black shorts, vicious early days. "Standing here like a loaded gun, waiting to go off..." The cacophony that was Black Flag stays seared forever in my brain.
Fast forward to the modern Henry. He is an articulate spokesman for we aging punks. We still have the fire, the passion. Passed on to the next generation and those to follow.
Check out Occupants by Henry Rollins. Buy it, borrow it from your library or shoplift it at the Barnes and Noble. Just don't download it on a Kindle. That wouldn't be very punk.
It is tempting for me to see Henry as the Black Flag Henry. Prowling the stage like a dangerous animal. "My War!" Henry of the shirtless, black shorts, vicious early days. "Standing here like a loaded gun, waiting to go off..." The cacophony that was Black Flag stays seared forever in my brain.
Fast forward to the modern Henry. He is an articulate spokesman for we aging punks. We still have the fire, the passion. Passed on to the next generation and those to follow.
Check out Occupants by Henry Rollins. Buy it, borrow it from your library or shoplift it at the Barnes and Noble. Just don't download it on a Kindle. That wouldn't be very punk.
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