Rock icon 'provokes' campus

Henry Rollins, celebrated musician and spoken word performer, will be featured in a spoken word performance of storytelling and opinionated material, entitled Henry Rollins Provoked, on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall."I have been speaking in front of audiences without a band since 1983," Rollins said in an e-mail. "It's a different way to get things across. I like to tell the story."

Rollins fronted the rock group Black Flag before starting his own band, the Rollins Band, in 1986. He has also appeared in several feature films including "The Chase," "Johnny Mnemonic," "Bad Boyz II" and "Jackass The Movie," as well as such television shows as Comedy Central's "State of the Union: Undressed," "The Drew Carey Show" and TLC's "Full Metal Challenge."

Rollins, born Henry Lawrence Garfield, owns his own publishing and record company, 2.13.61, named after his birthday, to release his music albums, spoken word albums and books, as well as works by other artists, according to IMDb.com.

Rollins has released several spoken word albums throughout his career such as "Think Tank" and the "Talk is Cheap" series,and wrote several books including the "Black Coffee Blues" trilogy and his autobiography "Get in the Van."

According to the United Service Organizations (USO) Web site, Rollins has also been involved with the USO Tour, performing for troops overseas.

Daniel Sims, a pre-graduate student from Chattanooga, said he is a fan of Rollins' spoken word material, and is looking forward to the performance.

He said Rollins' spoken word performances are very thought provoking, fiery and humorous.

"He is a very passionate and intelligent man," Sims said.

Rollins said, "I have been doing a lot of traveling in the last several months, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, etc. All these trips have been very informative...I am going to tell you where I went, what I saw and how I feel about it."

According to Rollins' January Myspace newsletter, his Pakistan trip was a memorable experience.

"When I was in Dubai talking to some people who work for the U.S. Government, they told me Pakistan is a country I should stay out of," Rollins said. "So.I decided that I had to go."

Rollins said he went there with no agenda and just happened to be in Islamabad, Pakistan the day Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, was killed.

"The day after she had been killed I walked around the Blue Section where all the shops are," he said.

"I had just been there the day before, meeting people and taking it all in, but on this day the scene was quite different: tires were burning in the street, men were crying loudly, people were protesting and the police, dressed in riot gear, watched from the sidelines," Rollins said.

Rollins is returning from touring in South Africa just before the UTC performance.

Tickets for the performance are $20 at the door or can be purchased through tickettracks.com. Tickets are also available at the Fine Arts Center box office at 425-4269.