Legendary punk singer turned writer, actor, and spoken word artist Henry Rollins, who rose to fame in the ’80s fronting Black Flag and later the Rollins Band, has called Nashville home for half a decade, and since his relocation to Music City, has intended to find a way to exhibit his vast collection of decades-spanning punk rock paraphernalia (at one point even buying- then later selling- a building with plans to turn it into a museum). Rollins will finally do just that this weekend, with a free, two-day exhibit at art gallery RADAR615 in Wedgewood-Houston, running Nov. 6 & 7 from 2-9 p.m. Featuring posters, photographs, memorabilia, and more, especially from the 1970s and ’80s DC punk and hardcore scene, Rollins’ personal collection is extensive and rare, and he’s clearly spent a lot of time and effort curating this collection for display, which he hopes to take on the road as a traveling exhibit in the future.
Rollins describes the project as:
Hello, Henry Rollins here. I wrote the following in an effort to somehow entice you to come to this event. An incredible amount of time, effort and expenditure has gone into this. I’ve either gotten it extremely right, or catastrophically wrong!
For many years, I’ve been fascinated with historical markers. Physical objects that still remain years after they were created, become irrefutable evidence of time and place. Memories fade and retelling of facts often leads to distortion. However, the genuine article remains unperturbed.
Cool Evidence exhibit—I’ve anthropomorphized Time. I think Time seeks to obliterate the past and make the future all but completely speculative in an effort to keep us in the present, where it can be the center of attention. This is why carbon-based artifacts turn to dust, and that which came before can completely disappear, unless there are those who choose to be careful and patient guardians of the past. They seek to slow down decay and keep the facts intact. While I don’t consider Time to be my enemy, I’d like to think it considers me a constant and persistent annoyance.
Humans are capable of the worst things the planet has ever endured. I try to focus on the truly great, epically inspired aspects of humanity. Everything in the Cool Evidence exhibit denotes a time and place, be it an event, or just the fraction of a second it takes for a camera to extract an image—forcing a testimony from Time that humans can be exceptional. There’s always an alternative to misery. The Cool Evidence exhibit is the proof.
On display will be things from the 70s-80s Washington DC music scene, tour posters and photos of Black Flag, the Damned, the Cramps, from Lux and Ivy’s personal collection, Iggy Pop, the Stooges and more.
Thanks for reading this,
Henry
Given Rollins’ esteem, which has endured not just for his musical legacy, but for a later career as a media personality, writer, activist, and actor in some prominent projects like Sons of Anarchy, this exhibit has already captured national attention, and is a must-see for any punk fan, or anyone interested in musical history more broadly. You only have two days to experience it; don’t miss out!
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