angela bennett's Open Salon Blog

Henry Rollins Collective - Project Completion!

Thu, 26 May 2011 10:05:00 -0400

If you were intrigued by posts of 2010 about the Henry Rollins project you can read each individual story as they are posted now on itsnotjustpieinthesky.com my new home still under development but up and running.

It was amazing to me that while my life changed radically and unexpectedly diminishing any time for creative and inspiring projects this little project grew legs thanks to those who contributed! Their stories are no less inspiring than the fearless and well documented journey of Henry himself.

Any little thing we can collectively do to inspire others to live more freely and authentically is a good day in the revolution against oppression.

Hope to see you around itsnotjustpieinthesky.com.

Peace & Love,

Angela.

Henry Rollins Thanks to Hank Project

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:01:16 -0500

PRESS RELEASE – JAN 31/10

Project of Love From the Friends & Fans of Henry Rollins

Thanks to Hank

WANTED: Personal stories from the friends & fans, a.k.a, ‘fanatics’, of Henry Rollins. If Henry Rollins has moved you, inspired you to reach higher, helped you in some way, or just makes your life better by way of knowing he is out there, living art and inspiration, and you are willing to share your story in a future publication of Fanatic Stories of Thanks to Hank, please send your story! The target goal is to complete the project by February of 2011, Henry’s 50th birthday. All potential proceeds will go to the charity of Henry’s choice. Fanatic and novice writer, Angela Bennett, commented on the project, “Henry has made such a profound contribution to the lives of many thousands, perhaps even millions of people around the world. He is an inspiration to so many people regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic class. This is an opportunity for fanatics to share their stories with, and thank Henry.” During the first month of this project, fans and media are responding from across the world; from 15 year olds to 50 year olds, from the U.S. to Australia. It’s one thing to be a fan of a band, or an actor, but often it’s about more than that when it comes to Henry. Henry moves people, he is a catalyst in people’s lives. There’s a quote from The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, by Lewis Hyde, that captures Henry well, “…the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us."

People can contact Angela Bennett with stories, or artwork, at bennettangela@rogers.com, through the Facebook Group, Henry Rollins – Thanks to Hank Project, or http://open.salon.com/blog/angelalala. Angela does not work for, or represent Henry Rollins, other than being one of many grateful fanatics in the global neighbourhood.

Love & Freedom

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:01:24 -0500

The Fanatic Transformation, Part 3 of 3….I don’t know what comes next.

I have great respect for people who have had to find the courage to come out entirely for who they are, many of them after decades of oppression and self-sacrifice. I admire true individuals, who by their very nature, must live in contradiction to the masses. Their victories, the practice of love and freedom for self, often confused by the majority, the well meaning and martyred guardians of society. They are quiet soldiers, who bring a gift to us. “… the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us", (The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, Lewis Hyde). I would never have won my own fight for love & freedom if it were not for the gifts of my comrades in the revolution, whose stories and word I believed in, that made it possible for me to conceive of a freedom and self-respect that I could not yet imagine for myself. I was crippled by fear, self-loathing the cancer of my soul, addictions once my friend now my oppressor, and an exit plan that would end in death.

We are an eclectic mass across the world; revolutionaries who have responded to the calling of our souls, free of self-loathing, filled with love for self, freedom from bondage. When we think it is time to settle into a comfortable, albeit less inspiring phase of life, we are called to return to the revolution, invited quietly through the call of a comrade who appears quietly when we are ready for the next advance. The first time I saw Henry, heard him speak, watched him move, read his work, I knew he was a revolutionary. I was called to return to fight against the self-sacrifice that had returned to my life through complacency. Through reading and listening to a sliver of his massive body of work, I’ve been ‘in school’ reading voraciously some of the books Henry respects, listening to a new universe of music, and have stepped up my commitments to creative expression and entrepreneurial life. While this is a beautiful and unexpected gift, the greatest inspiration has been his story of self-respect and love through honoring his need for freedom. As I read about Henry’s journey across the global neighborhood, I was moved by his candor as he wrote about his need for freedom and solitude. A lone wolf, his favorite times alone in villages and cities across the world, walking their streets at night, returning to his room alone, music and writing the only lovers waiting for his return. His anguish documented in his journals, a masterpiece in human struggle and evolution. A profound sense of connection occurred yet he is a stranger I’d never met. A man with a gorgeous soul, a warrior leading the revolution for those of us who recognized him. I wrote to Henry. I tried to sound sane and keep it brief. A few notes about his comments on love and freedom in A Preferred Blur, Reflections, Inspections And Travel In All Directions 2007, and more recently to let him know if he had no objections I would like to write about him. He is kind and understands inspiration.

Stories of revolutionaries like Henry appear in the most unlikely times and places. I was moved on the 1st day of 2010 right here at OS by fellow revolutionaries, Hear Me Roar, and Sirenita Lake, my latest heroines in the war against self-sacrifice. Hear Me Roar’s story of love for herself in her article, I Changed Sex and Died, a profound story of the worst in our fellow humans, and a heroine so brave in her fight against oppression, I will remember her story, and inspiration, always. Sirenita Lake’s delightful repost of Why I Hate Monogamy , a brilliant commentary on the possibilities of love that most individuals will never have the courage to explore.

Stay open. If you need a revolutionary they will come. Spread the word. The revolution is alive and well right here at OS. Thanks for reading this.

Copy Press Release December 30, 2009

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:12:54 -0500

Project of Love from the Fans of Henry Rollins

WANTED: Personal stories from the fans, a.k.a, ‘fanatics’, of Henry Rollins.

If Henry Rollins has moved you, inspired you to reach higher, helped you in some way, or just makes your life better by way of knowing he is out there, living art and inspiration, and you are willing to share your story in a future publication of Fanatic Stories of Thanks to Hank, please send your story!

The target goal is to complete the project by February of 2011, Henry’s 50th birthday.   All potential proceeds will go to the charity of Henry’s choice.

Fanatic and novice writer, Angela Bennett, commented on the project today, “Henry has made such a profound contribution to the lives of many thousands, perhaps even millions of people around the world. He is an inspiration to so many people regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic class. This is an opportunity for fanatics to share their stories with, and thank Henry.

During the first week of this project, some really moving stories have come in from across North America, from 16 year olds to 50 year olds, in response to an early post on the internet. It’s one thing to be a fan of a band, or an actor, but often it’s about more than that when it comes to Henry.   Henry moves people, he is a catalyst in people’s lives. There’s a quote from The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, by Lewis Hyde, that captures Henry well, “…the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us."

Fanatics can contact Angela Bennett with questions & stories at bennettangela@rogers.com, or on Facebook (the Angela Bennett with the pic of Henry), or at http://open.salon.com/blog/angelalala. Angela does not work for, or represent Henry Rollins, other than being one of many grateful fanatics in the global neighbourhood.

The Fanatic Transformation

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:12:38 -0500

#2 of 3, or 4

Published Weekly on Sunday

There has not been much in my life that has become of great significance that was ever planned. In my limited experience, the great lessons, sometimes the most painful, are those experiences that have made me more, not less. I have never planned to meet the next person I will love, the next great friend, or the next great inspiration.   Sure, I stay open. I am an idealist who thrives on inspiration and self-actualization, and I’m sure that helps me surf the wave of uncertainty with excitement and intrigue. Out of nowhere amazing people enter my life. When I have a strong response to someone, I have learned by now, it is because there is something significant that I will learn about me (not always pleasant), or something that I am to share with them, either way, a gift that I am yet to realize. I’m always excited when this happens. It doesn’t happen often.     During the total sum of my 48 years, there have been a very small handful of people who have had a profound impact upon my development.   Henry Rollins is one of those people. I knew almost immediately upon my accidental stumble upon him a few months ago, that this was a man that for some as yet unknown reason was going to have some remains-to-be-seen significant impact upon my evolution. I was wrong. He is having a profound impact. Life changing. While it is starting to make some sense to me, I am yet to realize the entire lesson. While my brain is quick to try to identify it, I can’t. All I can do is move through it quietly and trust what seems to be a beautiful lesson in love in the most universal sense of the word.

Angela’s Definition, Henry Rollins

“American hardcore punk rock icon of the 8o’s. Author, publisher, comedian, human rights activist, spoken word master, ‘musicophile’ (fanatic collector of music), person who struggles with periodic depression, advocate for those fighting for, injured and sometimes abandoned, by their government, a quiet leader, and lover of our time. Henry refers to his fans as fanatics. The first man to ever cause me to utter the words, “he speaks my heart”. A kind man with great heart.

Wikipedia Definition, Fanatic

  “…The behavior of a fan with overwhelming enthusiasm for a given subject is differentiated from the behavior of a fanatic by the fanatic's violation of prevailing social norms. Though the fan's behavior may be judged as odd or eccentric, it does not violate such norms.[2] A fanatic differs from a crank, in that a crank is defined as a person who holds a position or opinion which is so far from the norm as to appear ludicrous and/or provably wrong, such as a belief in widespread alien abduction. In contrast, the subject of the fanatic's obsession may be "normal", such as an interest in religion or politics, except that the scale of the person's involvement, devotion, or obsession with the activity or cause is abnormal or disproportionate.”

Admitting to myself that I am a fanatic causes me to ask serious questions as to the state of my mental health. I have never been a fanatic before. It is a new experience.   Most of the time I love new experiences but about this one, there are times I’m not so sure.   My idealist personality loves inspiration, which seems to be about the biggest benefit to becoming a fanatic. Indeed it is as frightening as it is inspiring.    Before becoming a fanatic myself I held fanatics, especially those that graduated to stalking, in a category with other well-misunderstood states of mind. Worried that I might be losing it, I brushed up on my reading about the various forms of fanaticism and stalking behavior.   If any of you readers out there have ever wondered if you have early onset Alzheimers because you worry that about how forgetful you’ve become, and have gone on to check out the symptoms, you know the kind of concern for yourself that I’m talking about. If Wikipedia’s definition of fanatic sets out some possible criterion with which to diagnose myself, I am absolutely, certifiably fanatic. I look forward to Henry’s Sunday global dispatches, (see henryrollins.com), I have made a tiny dent in reading a little of the massive body of work he has published, have read several great books he has referenced in his own writing, listen to his genius weekly music broadcast on kcrw.com, purchased tickets for his next Toronto performance in March, and 2 out of 3 of my writing projects are about or in some way related to Henry. I guess that meets the Wikipedia guideline of “…activity…abnormal or disproportionate” well enough for me.

I imagine my fanatic disease progressed, flying to some crevice of the world where Henry is walking the streets solo at night, a living, dreaming, young Eugene Gant, of Tom Wolfe’s Of Time and River. (Henry’s published journals about such travels provide a nearly three dimensional peak into the experience of the man from all corners of his mind and the planet.) The thing is, nothing frightens Henry, least of all me. Henry’s courage is without limits.   He is not afraid of death. He is ready to die, serving out his time until then, the best way he can. Affairs in order. Dreams lived.   He can walk calmly, and with interest, into a crowd of political unrest, in a country where jails and torture are more common than coca-colas, with a large group of angry looking men who hold hand-made weapons, mayhem possible at any moment. He travels to endless barely civilized global neighborhoods where rats and malaria cause him only some minor aggravations. Still, fearless of death, weapons, rats and malaria, these fairly heroic qualities pale to me in comparison to what he has written about his experiences with love, and freedom. I could copy quotes but you will find real inspiration, for those of you that are hardcore idealists and inspiration junkies, between the covers of one of his many published journals, A Preferred Blur Reflections, Inspections, And Travel In All Directions 2007.

There is no accounting for the next human that will be a catalyst to the next place on our journey. Perhaps they come dressed in the female form, romantic loves, or a mentor in the form of a wiser soul than yours. In this case the human catalyst is Henry.    So what is the lesson I am learning? What is the gift that Henry has passed unwittingly over to me? Love and Freedom.

Love and Freedom and the Fanatic Transformation Finale must wait until next Sunday night. It will be a challenging little piece for me to write given it is about all that matters to my very core. See you next Sunday!

LOOKING FOR STORIES ABOUT HENRY! If you have been moved, influenced, inspired, somehow impacted by Henry Rollins, I am working on a separate project, which will become a compilation of Henry Rollins Fanatics’ own stories. If you, or perhaps someone you know, might be interested in contributing to the project, please drop me a note here or at bennettangela@rogers.com.

(Ok, I can’t resist. If you haven’t listened to last night’s kcrw.com Henry Rollins broadcast, go onto the site and play it now! http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/hr)

Thanks for reading this. (I copy this last line from Henry, he always thanks fanatics for reading his dispatches, but I love it and mean it.)