Thursday, February 28, 2008 – Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY – WARSAW concert hall: Henry Rollins ‘Provoked’ World Tour: Sitting in his dressing room alone with his laptop and a converted toolbox for a suitcase, Henry Rollins, wasting no time, welcomed Road Recovery staff, teens and young adults to sit with him and talk about his life and theirs.
Growing up in the 1980’s in Washington, DC, Henry explained that aside from meeting his basic needs of food, shelter and a good high school education, his parents left it up to him to figure out the rest. A job at a local ice cream store filling cones and working the cash register made him realize what it was like being stuck earning minimum wage; doing the same task over and over for barely a few coins, DEAD END!
His passion was live music. He was inspired by bands on tour, for they were in motion, moving forward, doing what they loved. In 1983 Henry Rollins hit the road as Black Flag’s vocalist and he has not stopped since…musician, spoken word artist, author and actor, he continues at the age of 47, moving forward all over the planet.
Henry Rollins (second from right) full on during his Master Class exchange with Road Recovery’s teens & staff in his dressing room.
“Don’t get caught up in trying to figure out what you’re gonna be when you grow up, that’s impossible to answer at any young age. Just do something, anything that’s positive, don’t sit on your couch or blow things up, just do something and be open, even if you don’t know what you want to do, boredom leads to destruction AND [be mindful that] the distractions [in life] will kill you. If you go down that path, it’s a dead end.”
My mantra is: Resolve & Discipline & Tenacity. For resolve, I say each day “I’m not stopping; I keep trying, at something.”
“You can do it, when you come out of the womb, you’re equipped with all the right stuff. All you have to do is change your mind. You can do it in small steps. A setback is useful as a lesson. A triumph is useful as a lesson.”
“Success is doing what you want to do, on your own terms…and that takes Resolve, Discipline & Tenacity on an hourly basis.”
“Get around the idea that you’re ‘no good’. Get around the ‘snares & barbs’ [of American society]. Get INTO yourself, look at your own shit and you will achieve. Every time you get arrested, go to jail, get caught up in the drug scene, be institutionalized, the man wins. The man is the system that will control you and profit monetarily from incarcerating you. I get up each day and stick it to the man by taking care of myself and then going after things that need to be done. I channel my ‘civic’ anger by sticking it to the man each and every day”.
Henry Rollins is ‘stickin’ it to the man by donating his time and money to worthy charities and groups, by traveling to various countries to experience other cultures and by communicating through spoken word tours and music projects to be influenced by what he sees, experiences and learns from other people along his travels.
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1 comment:
This is lookin goodCongrats
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