Back in 2005, I finally had the opportunity to meet Henry Rollins. About eight of us went to see his Spoken Word show at the UofM, and unlike past years, I decided to stick around after the show. Since I drove that night, my friend were forced to wait with me…and there were about 30 other people who also had the same idea.
As soon as he left his dressing room, some guy who I recognized from past shows walked right up to him and asked if he had time to talk and sign things. Rollins just threw down his bag and said “Sure, I’m not going anywhere!” Upon hearing that, all of us who were scattered all over the place lined up single file and awaited our turn to meet him. It seemed like everyone who went up there to have their picture taken with them was having problems with their camera. They’d give their cameras to total strangers and expect them to know how to use them…
I saw the error there, so I grabbed one of my friends who claimed that photography was an interest of his. I figured I’d make this go as smoothly as possible, since my idol had taken time after a three hour show to meet all of us. I finally get to the front of the line, and I went right up to him, shook his hand, and asked him to sign the DVD I purchased off of his website a year earlier. I went on about how I’ve been reading his books for years, and how I loved his music in Rollins Band, etc. He took the DVD shook his head and said, “You poor bastard, you deserve an award!” and handed it back to me as we posed for a photo…and it didn’t work…my camera guy couldn’t get my camera to work….finally Rollins just says “How fucking hard is it to work a camera?” This was it, he was getting mad, and I had to put in my two cents. I was like, here’s my chance to say something funny! Think Mark! Think! Oh wait, I got it: “Ten thousand dollars spent on a university education and they don’t teach you how to use a camera?” Okay, so it wasn’t that funny, but I got the picture, shook his hand and told him what a pleasure it was to meet him and was on my way. He was extremely polite considering how he just finished a three hour show, and to meet thirty-some people who couldn’t work their cameras when I’m pretty sure he wanted nothing more than to get back on his bus and get some rest on his way to the next town.
I’ve also emailed him twice, and both times he replied within 24 hours. Hell, the first time he replied in less than three minutes. I was nervous about emailing him. I didn’t expect a reply, and as soon as I hit send, I was filled with regret. I started thinking, “Why did I go and do that? He must have better things to do than reply to fanboy emails….” Then the notification popped up on my screen telling me I had a reply. My jaw just hit the fucking floor. He is out there doing spoken word shows, recording songs, doing movies, a tv show, and running his own business, yet he still has time to reply to my little emails? Let’s just say that kept me smiling for over a week.
I was going to meet him again when he was in town this past March, but it was so cold outside and I was dealing with a case of food poisoning, so we decided to just take off. It would have been nice to meet him again. Perhaps next time.
