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Rollins Lends Voice to Cradle
By Will Kimmey
Arts S Diversions Editor
Henry Rollins captures the essence
of a true Renaissance man.
Since 1984, he has produced nine
records, published 11 books, fronted
and toured with
both Black Flag
and The Rollins
Band, played
roles in eight films
and done voice
overs for Ford
Motor Company
advertisments.
Henry Rollins
Spoken Word
Sunday
Cat's Cradle
sl2
These diverse undertakings allow
Rollins the opportunity to travel to new
places and meet new people he never
imagined, he said.
“One should get out and do stuff
while you still have sap in your bones,”
he said. “There are a lot of ways to go
through life in a mediocre (or) standard
way. The way I see it, you only get one
shot”
Even with all of these projects,
Rollins maintains another hobby in a
less traditional genre in the entertain
ment world: spoken word.
Rollins has released nine spoken
word discs this decade; his most recent
effort, Think Tank, hit stores Sept. 22.
Rollins said he found the realm of spo
ken word “very difficult,” yet still enjoy
able.
“It’s a fun way of expressing your
self,” he said.
Rollins cherishes the opportunity to
serve as a storyteller and to communi
cate without being constrained by a
backing band, he said. In doing this, he
can avoid repetition of choruses and
verses that come with singing and does
n’t have to battle with the amps to be
heard, he said.
With spoken word, Rollins said he
felt more of a connection to the audi
ence.
“There’s more direct communica
tion - I am talking to you,” he said.
Rollins strives not to stick to a certain
image and not to be pigeonholed as
one type of act. He said he liked to be
himself on stage, skirting the phony
image other performers often hold.
“It’s safe to be one image, but that
doesn’t interest me,” he said. It’s more
honest not to.
“Musicians have a (phony) image
and ride behind it,” he said. “It’s hilar
ious. If Rob Zombie went out (on stage)
without make-up and all his Rob
Zombie stuff, people would be let
down.”
Instead, Rollins favors the style of
Bob Dylan. “He just shows up in his T
shirt and jeans and plays,” he said.
Rollins, a 17-year veteran of the
entertainment industry, realizes that
like Dylan, he too serves as an influen
tial figure in the entertainment field.
But rather than'be content with the
indirect influence he exerts on audi
ences through music, film and print,
Rollins said he enjoyed the medium of
spoken word because he could make
the audience think while entertaining it.
“I’m at an age now where when I go
to colleges, I am older than everyone in
the crowd except maybe the custodi
an,” he said. “There’s something I can
say that will be good food for thought...
something for them to argue about on
the way home. Even if they think, ‘man,
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Henry Rollins wears many hats: singer, writer, publisher and actor.
He will give a spoken word performance at Cat's Cradle on Sunday.
that’s bullshit,’ I still made them think.”
College students need to do more
thinking, Rollins said. He said educa
tion was wasted on a lot of students
who were “narcoleptic, and not cata
tonic, but just so laid back.” He cannot
understand why 20-year-olds with bod
ies so full of energy could have such lit
tle motivation.
“Some of the dumbest people I’ve
met are college students,” he said.
“Sometimes they are the most compla
cent, lethargic people I meet”
When Henry Rollins takes the Cat’s
Diversions Music
Cradle stage for a spoken word perfor
mance on Sunday he said he hoped to
see a packed house. Maybe even some
of those lethargic college students will
cough up the sl2 and show up.
“It’s either me or your dorm room,”
he said. “It’s either me or not me. I
don’t come to Chapel Hill that often. I
am definitely worth two hours of your
life. “If not, I’ll be lonely.”
The Diversions Editors can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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Spencer's Blues Explode on Stage
If anyone was ever a rock god, Jon
Spencer is. Strutting across the stage in
tight black pants and a half-open shirt at
Cat’s Cradle, he played as if possessed
by manic, oversexed demons.
New York City’s Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion,
composed of
the dynamic
Spencer, gui
tar prodigy
Judah Bauer
and drum
whiz Russell
Stains, con
tinued their
ASHLEY
ATKINSON
Concert Review
Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion
Cat s Cradle
fffi
tradition of blues-influenced rock with
the recent release Acme.
A California band, Countdown,
opened the show with a set notable only
for the singer’s ability to drink a bottle of
beer and simultaneously play the guitar.
Things kicked into gear when
Countdown introduced someone they
called, “The only black man in South
Dakota.” An impeccably dressed, 60-ish
Playing It Cool, Ice Rouses Audience
Cat’s Cradle witnessed a capacity
crowd Saturday night, but the audience
wasn’t teeming with frenzied anticipa
tion for the performance of some buzz
worthy underground heroes.
No, the sell-out draw was none other
than a world
wide joke
punchline -
one-hit won
der poster
boy Vanilla
Ice. Funniest
of all, almost
JOSH LOVE
Concert Review
Vanilla Ice
Cat's Cradle
ffff
no one went home disappointed.
Vanilla Ice embodies the did-we-real
ly-used-to-listen-to-that icon that VHl’s
Behind the Music was invented to for
givingly portray. Nonetheless, he refus
es to allow his blip on pop culture’s
radar to mercifully vanish.
Instead, Vanilla reconfigured himself
as a hardcore skate-rocker for the
release of the critically-mocked Hard to
Swallow. He then embarked on a nation
wide tour that seemed tailormade to
Chapel Hill s Sankofa Pleases Crowd
Sankofa knows how to throw a party.
The band brought DJs, emcees and
poets from the Triangle together to sup
port Lyricist Lounge at Local 506 on
Saturday.
With the club packed, the night
began with a
DJ spin-off
that featured
great local tal
ent. Four at a
time, DJs cut,
mixed and
scratched
TOM PAIL
Concert Review
Sankofa
Local 506
iff
some of the hottest beats around.
Before the emcee competition,
Sankofa gave the audience a taste of its
brand of funk- and jazz-inspired hip hop
by performing a tribute to the Tar Heel
state entitled “North Cack.”
The emcee competition featured
man, Andre Williams, swaggered
onstage and proceeded to seduce the
audience with a sexually explicit blend
of rock and soul. Williams, famous for
his R&B work in the ’sos and ’6os,
served as Acmi s executive producer.
When the Blues Explosion took the
stage, the sexual energy simply oozed.
With shiny shirts on all three band
members, their sweat dripping after
mere minutes and the innate sexuality of
their down-and-dirty rock, you couldn’t
really blame the girls dancing provoca
tively in front of the stage.
Stains appeared unenergetic, almost
on the verge of passing out, but still
managed to keep the pace. Bauer, hid
ing behind a mask of shaggy hair,
remained coolly detached. Only occa
sionally did he punctuate his frenetic
guitarwork with jumps or side shuffles.
Spencer, meanwhile, wailed on gui
tar, leaping, howling, falling to his knees,
pretending to taunt the theremin and
striking all the classic rock-star postures.
In their hour and 15 minute set, the
afford every smartass in America the
opportunity to deliver their own pithy
disses directly to the Iceman.
But when the former Robert Van
Winkle brought his comedy routine to
the Cradle, snickering soon gave way to
rock ‘n roll raucousness. Knowing well
that getting laid and smoking blunts are
subject matter that transcend any former
teen-idol status, Vanilla thoughtfully
populated his interchangeable songs
with repeated references to both.
After Vanilla had adequately
informed the ladies of the culinary
delights found in his “vanilla ice cream,”
the Iceman began his self-described
“trip to the old school” with a medley of
To the Extreme favorites.
That was merely a prelude to the
showstopper “Too Cold,” better known
as “Ice Ice Baby” with power chords.
Leading the audience in a fist-pump
ing version of everyone’s fifth-grade mix
tape favorite, Vanilla sadly omitted the '
classic second verse (featuring such
gems as “girls were hot wearin’ less than
promising amateurs with the gift of gab
and local groups tharmcluded Tyfti
Dynasty, Crimson Guard and
Somebody Manifest.
The crowd had the final word on
who rocked the mic and who didn’t.
The crowd became more vocal as the
show went progressed.
After the club’s microphones had
been given a thorough workout,
Sankofa took the stage to record the live
tracks for the next CD. Among the
songs they recorded were “Wanna Be
Down,” “Get Hype,” “Burgundy Mist,”
“Feel The Vibe” and “Invisible Man.”
Sankofa’s beats and hooks sounded
like the Beastie Boys’jazzier instrumen
tal songs. Cream MC’s style are remi
niscent of early Outkast. DJ Pez, who
The diploma you
can wear.
DATE: January 20-22,1999
TIME: 10:30am-3:30pm
PLACE: Johnny T-Shirt: “The Carolina Store”
Thursday, January 21, 1999
bassless Blues Explosion wailed their
way through almost half of Acmi s songs.
Songs from Now I Got Worry dominated
the rest of the set, mixed in with a few
tunes from earlier releases.
If you came to rock, then you proba
bly got what you paid for. If you came to
be a rock, as much of the audience
seemed to be doing, you might not have
had such a good time.
Yet this apathy can’t be blamed on
the audience’s too-hip-to-dance mental
ity. Despite the energy and excellent
sound of the show, the performers did
not connect with the audience. Spencer
seemed too cool, too unresponsive.
Regardless, the Blues Explosion is,
simply, a bad-ass band. They’ve got the
talent, the brooding good looks and the
attitude. Maybe they have a little too
much attitude, but if you just submit
yourself to Spencer and his rock whims,
it’s still a heck of a show.
The Diversions Editors can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
bikinis/Rockman lovers driving
Lamborghinis”), but still cooked emcees
“like a pound of bacon” as though the
last eight years never happened.
Unsurprisingly, many flocked for the
exits as soon as Vanilla finished killing
their brains like a poisonous mushroom.
Those that remained were treated to
the equivalent of a really live house
party that just happened to be emceed
by the man responsible for the biggest
selling rap album of all time.
Vanilla Ice made no attempt to stress
his legitimacy and never referred to
himself as an artist. Far from pleading
that he was “for real this time,” Vanilla
seemed to know that a simple chant of
“Chapel Hill baby” goes a lot farther
than any blind stab at credibility.
The crowd needed some cool tunes,
and not just any would suffice. They
couldn’t get Ice Cube. Thankfully, they
got Vanilla Ice.
The Diversions Editors can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
has gained exposure in Chapel Hill’s
clubs, rounds out the Sankofa team with
dead-on mixing.
As Sankofa laid down the funk,
everybody started dancing, grooving
and shouting, which was obviously what
the crowd wanted.
To top off a great night, the band con
vinced Local 506’s management to
amend their usually strict 21-and-over
policy and admit anyone over 18 with
the'appropriate stamp on their hand.
With a solid instrumental section.
Cream MC’s unquestionable emcee
skills and a great DJ, a Sankofa party is
a sure bet to make your booty shake.
The Diversions Editor can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
REWKBDVOJBACHEVEMENT
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