Smile, You're Traveling: Black Coffee Blues Part 3

By Henry Rollins

Smile, You're Traveling is the third installment in the Black Coffee Blues series of books (which include Black Coffee Blues and Do I Come Here Often?). This time around Rollins reports from show tours and frequent flier financed travel during 1997 and 1998. Whether being terrified by roving gangs of baboons in Kenya or haggling with immigration officials over visa charges in Madagascar, Rollins finds a way to make his unique experiences universal. Says our weather beaten scribe of his journeys, "Some of it was cool, some of it was a pain in the ass, or maybe that was just me."

• Language: English
• Publisher: 2.13.61
• Release date: May 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781880985915

Henry Rollins

Originally from Washington DC, Henry Rollins fronted the Los Angeles-based punk band Black Flag and is well-known for his hard-hitting writing, music, and acting.

Book preview

001

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

1997

1998 - PART ONE

1998 - PART TWO

APPENDIX

OTHER BOOKS FROM 2.13.61:

Copyright Page

001

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THANK YOU: CAROL BUA FOR HER LONG HOURS PUT IN ON THIS BOOK’S BEHALF, EUGENE GANT, ALL OF YOU FOR CHECKING THIS OUT AND MITCH BURY OF ADAMS MASS.

JOE COLE

4.10.61-12.19.91

1997

11-24-97 LA CA: 0213 hrs. Sitting at my desk, a couple of days away from what could be a great adventure. I came back from tour on November 03. I was burnt from the shows and the year in general. Management called and informed me that I had collected 550 thousand frequent flier miles over the year and suggested I take a trip somewhere.

I booked a trip, which I will now detail.

A couple of months ago I interviewed Ozzy Osbourne for a video press kit to promote his best of The Ozzman Cometh at Sony. As always, it was cool to hang out with the man. After the interview was done, his wife and manager, Sharon told me that the original line up of Black Sabbath were reuniting for two shows in their home town of Birmingham, England on December 4th and 5th. I told her that I would be there without fail. There was no way I was going to miss that. Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy all on one stage? I was already there.

I called Sharon last week and asked her who was documenting this legendary event and if she didn’t have anyone, could I do it? She gave me the green light. I managed to get permission to hang out at band practice for a couple of days to check that out.

I leave in a couple of days to go to London. I go from there to Monmouth, Wales for a couple of days to check out Sabbath practice and then down Birmingham, UK to the Birmingham NEC for two days of pre-production and the gigs. I will be interviewing the band and anyone else Sharon wants me to. I will be coordinating all the other video crews who will be there to cover the event. I will be busy but it will be a blast. After that, I fly from London to Nairobi Kenya and from there out to a camp site in Massai country to check out the animals and the locals. From there, I go to Madagascar to check out the Indian Ocean and see what it’s like there. From there I will stop over in Johannesburg and then back to LA via London. Should be intense.

The other day, I went to a travel doctor and he briefed me on all the things that I have to look out for and shot me full of vaccines. He said some intense stuff. I should be out of the range of Ebola, always good to be out of the way of that stuff. So much shit in Africa can kill you.

I have wanted to go to Africa for years. I have wanted to go to a Maasai village since I saw pictures of them in National Geographic as a kid. This will be intense as hell. SABBATH!!!

How unbelievably cool is this going to be. It’s only my favorite bass player and drummer of all time. I have been playing Sabbath nonstop for the last few days, getting psyched for the trip. Black Sabbath and Africa. This is going to be so cool.

I never get tired of listening to Sabbath. It’s timeless music. I remember listening to the Paranoid album in the back of the school bus in the mid-seventies. Ozzy’s voice didn’t sound like the other bands of the day. He sounded like some guy off the street. They felt more real than other bands at the time.

11-27-97 Monmouth Wales: Got into Heathrow a while ago and then got a ride here.

I am now in my little room in this little town and it’s cool. I discovered that I left my itinerary in LA on my desk most likely and don’t know what to do about that for the time being as it is a holiday back there.

11-28-97 Monmouth Wales: It’s a little past midnight. One of those Hellraiser films is on the television, I have the sound off. It’s really bad but it keeps the room alive. I have the typical jet lagged depression I always get. I wish I had stayed awake more but I needed the sleep. I am looking forward to getting into the Sabbath thing.

In my daydream I see myself as a decorated road veteran of many tours and many intense records who now has stepped aside to let others take their turn up there. Isn’t that hilarious? On the other hand there’s the guy who never really comes back all the way who writes all kinds of tripped out shit from different places all over the world and gets off living in fucked up rooms all over the place and no one really knows him all that well. I think that one works for me better.

I am where I should be right now. It is early. I am alone and Thin Lizzy is on the headphones. I am in a small room in the middle of nowhere chasing one of my dreams. I think that is about as good as it gets for a guy like me.

11-29-97 Monmouth Wales: Yesterday will definitely go down in the annals of my life as one great day.

I got picked up by Ozzy’s assistant, Tony, and we went over to the studio where the band has been living and working. It’s the place they have written and recorded on and off for years. I think it’s called The Mill.

Tony says that the guys will be waking up and coming downstairs at some point and until then, I can just hang out and wait. I wander around the place, wondering what the rest of the guys in the band are like. I have never met any of them besides Ozzy. I hope that they’re cool. You always run the risk of meeting your heroes and having them disappoint you.

I walked into the living room and there’s Ozzy watching a movie. He’s happy to see me and we hang out and watch television and it’s so damn cool just to hang out with the man. From my right, I hear someone call my name, I look up and it’s Tony Iommi. He’s cool as hell and it starts to occur to me that this is the coolest adventure in awhile. This is so great for me. I have been into that guy’s playing since I was twelve or something and now we’re hanging out. I know, I am a spazz. Fuck it. Black Sabbath rules.

One of their roadies came in and took me on a tour through the house. It’s also serving as their practice place. I check that out and we go into the kitchen. I’m in there with Iommi and we’re hanging out and Geezer Butler walks in. My favorite bass player. Of course, I don’t tell him that. I imagine that would be too weird for the guy to come down from his room and have this maniac fan boy telling how great he is first thing in the morning. I just played it cool but the whole time I am thinking that this is easily the coolest part of the year so far.

I wander back into the practice room because I saw a set list in there and wanted to check it out. What a set list. It’s all there and then some. Tony comes in and we’re talking about the set and Bill Ward walks into the room. Tony says, This guy keeps showing up to play drums! Bill told me that he thought that the guys were kidding him that I was coming. He is a very soft-spoken man and very cool. Fuckin’ Bill Ward, how cool is this? My favorite drummer.

Within a half an hour, the band got ready to run through the set. Geezer warmed up by playing Fluff. So cool. I sat near the keyboard player Jeff’s set up. Ozzy was in front of me and the band guys were to my right. They set up the same as the Rollins Band did. I sat still not wanting to be in the way or distracting but I felt like jumping up and down. They laid into the first song which was War Pigs and it was insane. Then it hit me—I am in a small practice room with Black Sabbath and a couple of other people and I am having my own Sabbath concert. I figure this is as about as good as it gets.

I rocked out so hard in my little perch over the next two hours of solid bone breaking shit. I sang myself hoarse. I thought about Joe Cole and how he would have been so into this.

After they finished playing we hung out in the kitchen. They asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner. Of course. One thing that really got me about those guys is the level of kidding around that they do. They really seem to get off on each other big time and they don’t take themselves too seriously. The music was played with bruising malice but they were having a great time doing it. I can’t remember which song it was, maybe Snow Blind or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath where they were all grinning and rocking out.

Tony asked me if I wanted to hear riffs he had on tape for his next solo album. I listened to some of it and it was pretty great and he asked me if I would like to sing on a track. I heard this one track that was intense as hell and asked him if I could work out on that one. He’s doing the record in LA in January so that will be a snap. We ended up sitting in Bill Ward’s room talking about shows and all kinds of stuff for well over and hour. He didn’t know that Live at Last was re-issued. If I see it in B’ham, I’ll get it for him. We went downstairs because dinner was almost ready. We sat around the table and shot the shit. Geezer had already left so it was band and crew minus him. Bill Ward sat on my left and Ozzy on my right. They start telling stories and it was hard to eat they were all so funny. They fuck with Bill relentlessly. Every time the phone rings, they told him it was for him. They start detailing all the things that they have done to Bill over the years. Like the time Tony set him on fire with lighter fluid. Apparently he did it all the time when they were recording and one time Tony put too much on and Bill was rolling on the ground screaming and Tony thought he was laughing so he put more on and Bill started screaming more because it had gone through his clothes and was burning the shit out of him. Poor Bill went to the hospital with third degree burns.

Bill left to go do some errands and as soon as he left, Ozzy started telling these stories about Bill back in the days that were hilarious. Ozzy is running around the room yelling and telling these stories. Hilarious shit. We were all dying at the table. If there was ever a time to have a video camera on, it was then. There’s no way to describe how funny he was and how great it looked to see everyone laughing into their dinner plates.

Tony took off and came back a few minutes later saying that he couldn’t get his truck out of the mud. Ozzy and I went out and pushed him out of the ditch. There’s me and Ozzy pushing the dark lord of metal out of a ditch. I’ll remember that one for the rest of my life. Tony gave me a lift back here.

I got back here just tripping on the awesomeness of the day. I know for them it was just another day of practice with this nut case hanging around asking too many questions. I am sure I wore them out on the info scan but they were so cool to me. Maybe they see how much their work means to me. I must say, I was a little intimidated by the idea of meeting the mighty Black Sabbath but they are all cool as hell.

1:43 p.m. B’Ham UK: Made the move and got to the other hotel. It’s another small room but it’s a little better than the one I was in. Anyway, it’s good to get the travel over with. I don’t like having it hanging over my head. I was curious as to what the town here was going to have anyway. Monmouth was not the most interesting place I have ever been to.

11-30-97 Bimingham UK: It’s a bit before seven in the morning. I fucked up big time yesterday. I gave in to jet lag around three in the afternoon and kept sleeping and dozing until midnight. Have been up ever since. It’s fucked. Today will be hard.

I watched INXS man’s funeral proceedings on the news. I saw Nick Cave sitting two seats away from Paula Yates and her kid. The singer’s brother did some kind of eulogy thing. He was wearing a really loud jacket, I imagine the sentiment was INXS man would have wanted it that way. So lame. One of the band guys said that no one should try to go the same route that the singer went as if there will be people killing themselves because Michael Hutchence is no longer with us. Please. I remember Paula Yates. I had to endure her when I was on a television show in England. At that point she was fucking the idiot from the Boomtown Rats. She was a mouthy moron. She is all broken up now that her about-to-be hubby hanged himself. They managed to breed before INXS man fell off. I feel sorry for the little girl. She’ll have to deal with the fact that her father was a past it fuck up and that her mother is some stretched out groupie.

Next up was Courtney Love being covered in one of those Hollywood shows as one of the four women that we will all be looking to as far as upcoming fashion trends. They showed the other four, like Halle Berry who is a knockout and then there’s Courtney. The women on the show are calling her a movie star and talking about her like she’s this staggering beauty. Now you can rest easy knowing that the media is totally full of it and can’t be taken seriously.

9:54 a.m.: Back from breakfast. I am watching this thing about princess Diana’s brother’s divorce. It’s insane to get married. Look at the divorce thing. It’s so lame. I can’t see getting married.

7:12 p.m.: I went into the city today and walked around and it was cool. I found a few good records that Ian turned me onto when I was out at his place. I am playing one right now.

I barely got into the grocery store right before closing. I got there at four right when the place closes. Luckily the guard recognized me and let me slide in to get some food. The guy was cool but fuck these places. Closing at four in the afternoon. If that guy wasn’t cool enough to let me in, I would have no groceries tonight. England is a pain in the ass sometimes.

12-01-97 Birmingham UK: It’s about noon. I stayed up late last night and I think I am doing alright. I have nothing to do today so I’ll do stretches and pushups and stuff in the room.

I talked to Tony, Ozzy’s assistant, and he said that things are going as planned for tomorrow. I will get down to the NEC around five or so and watch the photo sessions, practice and whatever else there is to take in.

7:03 p.m.: Back from dinner. It was fairly good Indian food. I heard Gladys Knight and the Pips on the radio: Midnight Train to Georgia.

I was walking down the street back from the restaurant, thinking how much I like to be alone. I like to feel like I am a soldier who comes home to no one. I come home to nothing. I feel like this and am glad. I think it’s great to come home to no one. I like to know things that cannot be translated to others. I am at that point in my life where I don’t feel the need to communicate like I used to. I did have a lot to prove but I don’t any more. I needed to do all the things I did in order to define myself. Now I feel alright and like to be alone. It’s really the only way I can be. I am not a people person. the only time I feel real is when I’m alone. People are cool, but you have to keep up appearances for them. I think everyone acts out a little when they’re in public to a certain extent, or is it just me?

12-02-97 Birmingham UK: Screwed up on the sleep again. Passed out for a little while and spent the rest of the night awake.

Tonight is the start of the four nights of Black Sabbath, the reason I came all the way out here. I still think it was worth it to see band practice. I will never forget that as long as I live. It was worth it big time but the last few days have been brutal. I have been cooped up in this room. To add insult, I found out today that the Fall has been playing on all the nights I have been here. I could have seen the Fall at least two nights. How about that? I was sitting here burning out when Mark E Smith was being mean to a bunch of Fall fans somewhere. I could have been there.

From now on my next few days have a bit more schedule happening. I will go to the venue at five for a few hours and then that’s it. Same for the next day. Wednesday might be interesting because it is Ozzy’s birthday and there will be a party for him that I will get to go to. Should be cool.

The fire alarm went off and I went out of the room to see if it was just me or if the whole building was sounding off. It was the whole building. I passed a couple of firemen on the stairs and that was about all the excitement I have had today. Birmingham.

12-03-97 Birmingham UK: It’s around eleven. I am leaving in a couple of hours. Have work at the NEC, doing the EPK for the live Sabbath album that the band will be recording over the two shows. I was watching them practice at the NEC last night and I was thinking about Joe. How cool would it have been if he was here for this. If he saw them jamming like I did, I know the exact look he would have given me too. He would have looked at me with that This is us, this is what we’re all about look. I was thinking about you Joe. Sometimes I still don’t believe that I have to settle on the fact that he’s dead. I still sometimes think that there is something that could be worked out. Strange to be in denial over something so absolute.

12-04-97 Birmingham UK: It’s almost nine on the morning. I wish I could sleep for more than a few hours at a time. I was dying yesterday. I got to my room after midnight and still only slept for a few hours. I will be out of this place tomorrow and I can’t wait to get onto the next adventure.

12-05-97 Birmingham UK: I check out of here today. I will go from here to the NEC and get ready for the shows and do more interviews and whatever else Sharon can think of.

All day long, everyone from the crew to the catering staff were getting more and more amped as the hour drew closer. It was so cool to be around all these people who were all stoked to be in on this. It was as if we were all going to be up there with the band. Everyone is here because they are Sabbath fans. Everyone is excited as hell. Everyone is hanging out. It’s like Team Sabbath 1997. I had lunch with Bill Ward and we talked about all kinds of stuff. He told me about what happened to him in the 80’s after he split from Sabbath. He’s got one hell of a story.

By nightfall the people were coming into the venue. The train stop next to the NEC was full of metal kids in various states of black and denim. Backstage, everyone was getting excited. The band types were keeping a low profile, the rest of us congregated in the catering area and waited. Everyone I looked at looked back at me with a huge grin. We knew that we were in for two amazing nights of the ultimate shit. Think about it, as far as bands from back in the day go, hardly anyone could play with their original line up. It’s amazing that the Sabbath guys survived themselves.

Soon enough it was Sabbath time. I went out to the soundboard and waited. The pre show video started playing and the place started going off. It was wall to wall maniacs. Sabbath walks on and promptly steps on War Pigs. Ozzy sang every other line and the crowd sang the following line back at him. It was so cool. The show was awesome. I could see Bill up there working hard. He rocked it. Tony, Geezer, all of them kicked ass. It was so cool to see Geezer and Bill playing together. They are the ultimate rock rhythm section for me. The crowd was with the band every step of the way. They sang along with all the songs and never let the energy drop. On Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath people even screamed back You bastards! Rockin’. I knew I was in the right place.

At the end of the set, the band came to the edge of the stage to say good night to the crowd. Bill’s waving to people and smiling. Ozzy sneaks up behind him and grabs the sides of Bill’s pants to try to pull them down. Bill barely made the save. It was great. I went to Bill’s room after the show to tell him he had played great and told him that it was a close call on the pants coming off. He said that Ozzy used to do that to him all the time.

I got back here and just tripped on the whole thing for awhile and tried to sleep. Can’t wait for tonight.

12-06-97 London UK: At the airport, about six in the morning. I have to hit it soon. I will go to Frankfurt and then on to Kenya. Very nice but nothing as awesome as the show last night. The first one was cool but last night was the item. I knew it was going to be one of those nights as soon as the first song started. I have had enough of those nights myself and can see it with other bands. It was definitely going to be one of those nights. It was the best show I saw this year and one of the best shows I have ever seen period. Bill settled in way better than the night before and played with a lot of confidence. Ozzy’s voice was better and he was having such a good time. Geezer and Tony never seem to miss so they were perfect as far as I could tell. The crowd was so into it. The way everyone sang along with Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath was insane. They swallowed the earth whole.

It was a long day for me. I ended up interviewing everyone in the band twice. I was wandering around backstage with my camera crew and Sharon tells me that she wants me to interview Brian May, who’s a few feet away. I told her that I was too intimidated to approach the guy after a show and bug him for an interview but she told me to get on with it and it’s my job so I went up to him, expecting to be politely blown off. Before I can introduce myself he says, Henry! What an honor to meet you, I’m a huge fan. Whoa. I asked if he would do an interview. I felt like I was asking some guy in a band to do an interview for my ‘zine. He said yes and we went into Ozzy’s dressing room and did it and he was cool as hell! He’s a long time fan and friend of the band. Top man.

Oh yeah, I met Cozy Powell. Yeah, Cozy fuckin’ Powell. How awesome is that guy?! Can drum his ass off or what?! He was in Tony’s dressing room and I asked Tony to introduce me and he did and it was so cool. I live for this stuff! I know that people probably think I’m too nuts about this stuff but life is short and I have to get my kicks before it’s all over. The last few days have been so great. To hang out with the mighty Sabbath is a once in a life time deal. Things like this makes me see that you can basically have your life any way you want it. You can have a great time or a lousy time. You can play it safe or go for something else.

I sang Paranoid with the band at soundcheck on the first show day. That was one fast three minutes. It was such a trip to stand there and hit it with Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi. That was large. What a week! What a stone cold honor. I am tripping from the energy of last night. I was getting off big time. I was rockin’ hard all the way through the show. Met a lot of really great people. It was a like a tribe backstage. We were there all day hanging out and working. I’m sad it’s over. Nothing I would like more than to see them play again tonight. I had a great time with everyone from the band and crew. Everyone was so cool to me and made it even better.

Now I am on some other shit. I am doing this African adventure now. Glad I am finally getting to see something different but on the other hand there’s part of me who would like nothing more than to just go to LA with my stories and my chores and be in my room by night fall. But no! The road must go on. It will be a great one to come back from. I could go back right now. I could be back by night fall and it would be a nice little story but that is so lightweight. I would rather die out here tomorrow than have the endless stillness of the home scene. It’s time to get on to Frankfurt. HAIL BLACK SABBATH!!

11:40 p.m. Kenya Africa: Hassle getting in. Lots of standing in line. I think I probably added about forty minutes by not having a visa. It was a mass of people pushing and shoving to get to the counter. No lines, no order, just low level bedlam. Finally got out of there and a fake cab driver tried to hustle me into his car just like in NYC. I imagined getting taken to a corner of the city, shot in the head and left so I told him no thanks. He kept following me and he was getting aggressive. I turned around and started walking towards him and started telling him to step away from me like I’ve heard cops do. It worked. Cute.

I got in a proper cab and told the guy where we were going. We drove over the worst roads I have ever been on in my life. At every corner there were intense men hanging out under the street lights. If there was no traffic, the driver went right through the red light. It was like driving around in Brazil. You don’t want to stand still if you can avoid it.

I saw intense poverty