Henry Rollins: The Column! Memphis on My Mind

By Henry Rollins Thu., Mar. 22 2012 at 3:33 AM

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.]

Sitting on the tour bus, the Bon Jovi Mobile-Def Leppard Express (no offense to either corporations), here in Knoxville, Tenn. It is a beautiful early spring afternoon. On the turntable (yes, we actually have one on board) is a Lol Coxhill 10" called The Inimitable. We have just listened to Coxhill's version of the Rodgers & Hart composition Spring Is Here. Road manager Ward found this about an hour ago at a local store for a mere five bucks. We are now listening to a Paul Bley album called Turns that features John Gilmore of Sun Ra Arkestra fame on saxophone. We do our best to keep things eclectic, lest our ears become rusty.

The clocks have moved forward and spring has definitely been sprung upon us. I often listen to music seasonally, as some records and bands seem to be right for different temperatures and daylight cycles.

It was a great winter of listening. I went deep into Klaus Schulze, Conrad Schnitzler, Neu!, early Kraftwerk, Joy Division's second album, Closer (because I often don't play it enough) and other artists that are, to me, cold-weather music.

With the weather warming up, I feel a lot of Japanese music coming on. Acid Mothers Temple, Keiji Haino, Takashi Mizutani, Flower Travellin' Band, Speed and Glue & Shinki will be in rotation as the days grow longer and the nights more eventful.

I sit slightly north and very east of Memphis, home of Sun Studios and one of if not the most well-known launch pad for rock & roll. Much has been said and written about this very small and no-frills studio. Elvis, Roy O, Jerry Lee, Mr. Cash and Ike Turner all turned in sessions in this room that altered the course of music and culture as we know it. It's a great tour to take if you are ever in the area.

After 6 p.m. or so, Sun closes to tourists and serves as a fully functional studio. In the '90s, I was visiting Sun one day before a show; the owners gave me their card and suggested that at some point I come in and put some music onto tape. I knew I was going to take them up on that proposition.

Tags:

Henry Rollins, Hot Buttered Soul, Isaac Hayes, Memphis

We Recommend

Kennedy Kits

Henry, if you, with the type of personality we've come to know and love, were black in Memphis in the 50s and 60s, and you were told which pool you could swim in, what would you do?

Jennie Vasquez

That's a great question but my guess is that he would have to do what everyone else had to do, just take it. The ramifications of doing anything different were quite frightful I'm sure.

Last week's article along with this one and recent current events leave me confused and frustrated as to just where we stand as a nation in terms of race relations. I think we think we've come along way and we have but in some ways haven't.

I know I have a long way to go. Yesterday as I was getting ready to take my picture wearing a hoodie for facebook on the million hoodie page to show support for Trayvon Martin, I took a good look in the mirror. I asked myself if I would judge based on a look and the answer wasn't pretty. I did just that last week at a cemetery when I almost didn't get out of the car because the way some people of my own ethnicity looked. I thought they looked gangy based on what they were wearing and their tattoos. Well I did get out of the car and ended up having a great conversation with them about their memorial tattoos and all the family members they had buried there. Boy did I get schooled on judging that day. I felt like crap when I got back in the car for thinking what I did. Nothing sucked more than when I looked in the mirror and realized that the change and tolerance that needs to happen has to start with me.

Paul Sivertsen

Don't beat yourself up too much over premature judgments, Jennie. With so much social conditioning happening all around us, be it explicit, implicit or friggin' subliminal, it can be difficult to keep a clear, logical perspective. I'm actually pretty lucky working where I work 'cause the dress code is pretty loose and they're accepting of tattoos and piercings.

The HR director has said that until he finds some correlation between body modification and poor work performance, he doesn't feel it's worth much consideration as far as whether or not to hire people. That's something I've been waiting to hear from someone like him for well over 15 years.

It's true that all change has to start within us to truly be effective. As far as a long way to go, well, I'm skeptical of some people's ability to change. Change will happen, though, whether they like it or not. I suppose they'll either be intractably ignorant to their grave, or they'll get worn down, tired of hearing their own rambling nonsense, and entertain a bit of progressive thought.

Anyway, I love that Isaac Hayes quote. I whole-heartedly agree. And my hat's off to Henry for doing what he does. He's talked about the respect he has for his audience, how he feels it necessary to earn their attention; I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's many times over earned my devoted Fanaticism.

Paul S.

Jennie Vasquez

What you said about hearing hearing their own rambling nonsense and entertaining a bit of progressive thought describes me perfectly as I've grown older. I've had to get out of my own way to move forward.