Our punk rock icons are aging. Mike Watt now looks more like a retiring shop teacher than a rocking member of the double bass group Dos, and the recent surprise guest on NPR’s quiz show, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me was not a senator with presidential aspirations, it was the Black Flag frontman turned Grammy-winning-spoken-word-artist Henry Rollins.
By now, his famous band logo tattoo of four black lines has blended together into a disheveled rhombus -- most likely with stray, graying hairs peeking out of its cracks -- but Rollins keeps right on rollin’. How can he not? Our current presidential administration has spoon fed him seven years of delicious spoken word fodder – and he’s too smart to turn down a gift like that. He’s packed clubs and theaters, hosted radio and television shows, and, yes, he has also written for and sung in some of the biggest-named bands in the history of punk/hardcore. So why is he coming to South Florida? Not sure. Maybe you should ask him this evening at 8 p.m. during his second of a two-night stint at The Theater (854 Conniston Rd., West Palm Beach). Tickets cost $28.50 and (oddly enough) can be purchased through corporate giant, Ticketmaster. Visit www.ticketmaster.com. --Jamie Laughlin