Rollins Redux
From Black Flag leader to moral compass follower,
Henry Rollins braces for a big birthday—and another
go at the global stage.
by Patrick Flanary

It was an unseasonably cold night in Florida in 1986, and Henry Rollins, lead singer of the underground punk kings Black Flag, was ready to take the stage.

The owners of the Tampa club pleaded with the local punks to remain civilized. And throughout most of the night, they did. Still, the tension finally shattered halfway through the group's third song, when a fan struck the band's roadie with a hammer.

Rollins, then 25-years-old, was eager to quell the excitement and dove into the mob of rioters. "Doesn't that concrete feel good on your head," Henry Rollins heckled as he returned to the stage. The meeting of mohawks and mosh pits that evening would set in motion the end of the reign for Black Flag. The tour would be their last...
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Lessons learned
At the age of 54, will Sharon Jones finally become a star?
by Alex S. Morrison

Chances are good that you don’t know Sharon Jones yet. But if you love classic soul, funk, or just good-time party music, you definitely should.

Before Amy Winehouse, Duffy or Adele had turned their retro soul fetishes into chart-topping hits, Jones and her band the Dap-Kings had earned critical acclaim for their stunning 2002 debut, which recalled legends such as James Brown, Mavis Staples and Marva Whitney. While the Dap-Kings provided backup for Winehouse on her 2006 breakthrough, their recordings with Jones (including 2005’s Naturally and 2007’s incredible 100 Days, 100 Nights) have never enjoyed mainstream commercial success.
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The Best Things in Life are Free
Freeway’s just-released collaboration with producer
Jake One, The Stimulus Package, is so good we
might actually pay for it at Best Buy
by DeMarco Williams

Hip hop’s had some magical rapper/producer combos before. Pete Rock and CL Smooth come to mind. Snoop and Dr. Dre were dope. Jay-Z and Kanye West too. While Freeway and Jake One don’t have a fourth of the tradition that those duos have, the potential for tandem triumphs is certainly there. And that’s crazy once you ponder their vastly different origins.

Jacob Dutton is a white guy born from Seattle who attended the University of Washington. Leslie Edward Pridgen is a Black Muslim from Philly who got schooled on the crack game early on. Jake ended up connecting with 50 Cent. Freeway got hooked up with Roc-A-Fella. While rocking it alongside Jigga and Beanie Sigel, Free had his moments in ’03 and ’04, but as commercial disappointments in ’07 and ’09 proved, he could never quite mount any serious attack on the masses.
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