I wanted to detail the Henry Rollins show, from the line till walking out but I honestly have such a vague memory of it. Weird. What I remember:
I barely made it back from Georgia in time to get ready. I had enough time to change clothes and throw some powder on my face so as to not look like an oil spill. That's right, I didn't shower. Anyway, I met up with Denise and we got there more than an hour before the doors opened. I am so glad we did because we were only 20 deep in the line at that point and about 10 minutes later the line wrapped around the building. Best timing. We basically talked about Margaret's wedding in June (or July, depending) and randomly squealed with anticipation. Finally the doors opened and we had our choice of seats. Though there was front row available, we sat three rows back to be perfectly in the center. The place was packed within minutes and for some reason the heat stayed on. Hot. Blah blah blah, hour of waiting for the show to actually start, we ate some nuts, drank some water, made fun of some people, etc etc. At 8 exactly (of course he would be that respectful and amazing), the show started. He ran out and pretty much started immediately. None of the awkward "How's everybody doing tonight?!? wooooooooo!!!!" junk. He recollected the last time he was in Asheville for a few second and got right to business. I was honestly not feeling well at this point because I do not do well with surreal situations. I was having a hard time processing the whole thing. I was to the point that I was talking myself out of either having a panic attack or passing out. I was shaking like a newborn tree for the first 10 minutes or so. I guess it is because when I first saw his spoken word, I was like "holy shit, this the the smartest person I have ever seen". So, to witness it in person was jarring. I had never really been into his music so I felt like a tool, looking at all of the people with Black Flag things to be signed. Aaaaanyway, I believe he started out talking about First Amendment protection, "the internets" as he called it, basically throwing out truth nuggets left and right. After a while I relaxed and could actually listen and process information. He talked about being on "Sons of Anarchy", being a judge on RuPaul's "Drag Race", his masturbatory habits ("creating a crime scene"), traveling the world, Thanksgiving with William Shatner, his views on football, kids, teenagers, his commencement speech at Sonoma, and tons of other stuff I seriously can't bring up in my brain to save my life. I was just amazed. I was also worried because the last time JT and I saw a show at the Orange Peel there was a serious heckler and the thought of someone making this an awkward situation....ugh. There was a woman in the front row that was double fisting beer all night. She got up several times and came back with 2 beers each time. She was by herself and obviously looking for a good time. She was an "above the head" clapper, a cat caller, and I am pretty sure she was trying to give ol' Henry the bedroom eyes because she was giving him that desperate "I will do some weird shit in the bedroom for you" look. Every time she came back, everyone would look at the person beside them and the look on their face said "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!". Her last trip was only one beer and a bottle of water. who are you kidding lady?? no one, that's who. Plus, nobody got out of their seats. I had to pee the last half but I would not dare leave. Actually, one woman left pretty early on. I think when he started talking about Sarah Palin squeezing her children to make baby oil to sell to Johnson and Johnson, she realized it was not the place for her. Long story short it was an amazing experience and I hope I get to see him again.
(even if you don't watch it, at least skip around a bit)
