Eric The Pilot

by Henry Rollins

Greetings. Some of you may remember this story from a few years ago. I found myself in Australia towards the end of 1997 and had not told this story for quite awhile. I let it rip one night and Randy had the tape rolling. I mixed this during the time I was editing material for Think Tank. I figured this was a cool way to release this story. Thanks for coming to the shows after all these years, I don't know where you get the strength.
-Henry Rollins, May 1999

1 pages, Audio CD

First published May 5, 1999

About the author

Henry Rollins (born Henry Lawrence Garfield; often referred to simply as Rollins) is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, author, actor and publisher.

After joining the short-lived Washington, D.C. band State of Alert in 1980, Rollins fronted the Californian hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1981 until 1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins soon established the record label and publishing company 2.13.61 to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the Rollins Band, which toured with a number of lineups until 2003 and during 2006.

Since Black Flag, Rollins has embarked on projects covering a variety of media. He has hosted numerous radio shows, such as The Henry Rollins Show and Harmony In My Head, and television shows, such as MTV's 120 Minutes and Jackass, along with roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for human rights in the United States, promoting gay rights in particular, and tours overseas with the United Service Organizations to entertain American troops.

Reviews

[Tom]

Not sure if there's a print edition; I don't think so. It's way more entertaining to hear Henry's writing than to read it, IMO. He's a solid writer with an interesting flair for language, but he's a very conversational storyteller and the stories come to life infinitely more vividly when he tells them.

The title seems like it leaves open all kinds of possibilities, but it's a perfectly straightforward story. Henry scrambled to find a connecting flight when his first flight was delayed on the way to a show, and ended up in a tiny single-engine plane, dealing with severe terror of flying made worse by the size of the plane. He offers hilarious descriptions of how appallingly flimsy the plane is and how alarmingly casual the pilot seems, and the story gets better and better the farther they go.

My reviewing habits have been awful lately, but this popped up on my iPod this morning, and I was delighted to find it listed here. Maybe this will spur me to actually pay more attention to printed books again, too.

[Timo]

Great long story from the life of mr. Rollins. Not as good as some of his stories, but still, good.

[Tomson Titus]

one of the greatest stories ever told!