Before the Chop III by Henry Rollins

Author:Henry Rollins
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781880985977
Publisher: 2.13.61
Published: 2017-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

LA WEEKLY #252

11-19-15

Europe (If You like It So Much, why don’t you . . .)

For the last few days, I have been stationed in Antwerp, Belgium, working on the promotion of a film called Guttererdämmerung. We are here for a few more days and then the production, which is easily over 30 people plus gear, will move to London where we will stage a multimedia rollout for press and invitees.

I was in the production space for hours today. Even though I’ve been working on Guttererdämmerung as an actor and screenplay writer for years, it was amazing to see it happening as it was intended: the film on the big screen with a live rock band behind it, playing to cues and intermittently, me in front of the screen, doing scenes live as the film version plays behind me. The visual, combined with the volume of the music (the riff from Black Sabbath’s song Black Sabbath being pounded out by the band, featuring members of Iggy Pop’s new line up), is pretty incredible. This is what we will be bringing to festival stages all over the world next year. It’s pretty damn exciting.

Belgium is an interesting place, what I have seen of it over the decades. The first time I was here for a show was in 1987. My bandmates and I played a club in Kortrijk called the Limelight. The audience was belligerent but still great.

As I started doing more shows here, I started noticing something about Belgian nightlife. They drink beer like it was invented only hours before and they have only one night to get all of it consumed. Groups of men walk crookedly down sidewalks and just yell, often not even forming words, just letting their inner Belgian out, I guess. I really have no idea why they carry on this way but I arrived on a Saturday and as I had predicted, they were out there roaring at the night. I walked amongst them, enjoying the cold air and staying out of their way as they howled and spat. There is a group of older men in the Groenplaats, a large city square, who always seem to be out there, yelling at nothing but seeing them holding bottles of wine, gives them a certain bit of sophistication. Yes, I know they’re just public drunks, but they’re also by definition, genuine winos. It almost sounds like a job.

In juxtaposition, early Sunday morning, the streets (some reeking of urine, no really) are filled with children on bikes, elderly couples out for walks and the cafes full of people in winter coats, enjoying their coffee outside. Many stores are closed and all over the city, you can hear church bells. For several moments at a time, it’s like walking through some Jimmy Stewart G-rated dream of perfect morality and manners.

Maybe this is what America will be like when it becomes great again? I think for some Americans, Belgium would be a bit sleepy. Not enough violence and aggression to get all the plugs firing.

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