by Michael Hill

After recently celebrating his 50th birthday, the maturing, former heavy rock front man is showing no signs of slowing down or mellowing out. He is not "aging gracefully," he is turning up the volume and raging full on.

Rollins first came to prominence in 1981 as the fourth singer of the seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag. After a brief tour of duty fronting State or Alert in his hometown of Washington, DC, he relocated to Southern California to join Black Flag. Rollins toured extensively and appeared on several recordings until the band broke up in 1986. He was back on the road the following year in 1987 with the Rollins Band which garnered modest commercial success during the 90's with "Liar" and "Low Self Opinion." After three lineups, the band parted ways in 2006.

During the Black Flag years, Rollins founded the 2.13.61 Publishing Company, basically a P.O. Box, where he published a series of folded and stapled self-publications. Ultimately, the roster would expand to include Nick Cave, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and Glen E. Friedman among others. Additionally, he has acted in films such as David Lynch's "Lost Highway", "Feast" and "Heat"(where he shared a scene with Al Pacino) as well as appearances on television as a part of the cast of "Sons of Anarchy" and on his own IFC talk show.

These days, Rollins is mostly known for his unique brand of spoken word performance. Though, often times humorous, I hesitate to call it stand-up comedy; it exists in region where Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks and Friedrich Nietzsche converge. It's part political commentary, part travelogue, part story telling session delivered with a high intensity pace the delivers the goods without fail. I've been witnessing these performances since the late 80's when the audience consisted of a handful of punk rockers congregating at some out-of-the way hole in the wall in a bad neighborhood. I caught one of his sold out dates at Joe's Pub in New York City, a nice place with reserved seating, food and a well-stocked bar.

Henry was kind enough to set aside some time in his schedule to talk to us. Read our chat below....

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Ron Asheton (the Stooges) @ Baltimore Virgin Fest 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald "Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this morning, police said.

Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967. His personal assistant contacted police late Monday night after being unable to reach Asheton for days, Detective Bill Stanford said.

Officers went to the home on Highlake Avenue at around midnight and discovered Asheton's body on a living-room couch. He appeared to have been dead for at least several days, Stanford said. [Ann Arbor News]

Continue reading "Ron Asheton, RIP (the Stooges)"