On Saturday, August 10th, Henry Rollins inaugurated the new Meet and Greet speaker series in the Annenberg Space for Photography's newest area, Skylight Studios. A compelling speaker, he shared tales about his encounters with people all over the globe, taking their pictures, and documenting the power of kindness to combat global brutality and propagate peace. Not bad for an old hardcore punk. He's maturing in his inimitable, self-absorbed way, but maturing nonetheless. He mentioned his LA Weekly column and a few attendees applauded. I almost believed his humblebrag that the Skylight audience's adulation was the first confirmation that he'd ever received that people actually read his column. Hmmm.
The audience laughed along with him as he related the tale of an overemotional biker who accosted him in a Toluca Lake coffee shop because Rollins had a small part in "Jack Frost," a flick the biker had enjoyed every Christmas with his now-deceased wife.
He is very charming and left his listeners with advice on how to combat human incivility: treat each encounter as an opportunity to be kind and celebrate that person's humanity with dignity.
My friend and I caught the Rollins lecture by accident. We had just wandered over to the Skylight Studio from the Helmut Newton show now on view in the main gallery. Aside from the black and white photographs of naked women in casts, I really enjoyed people watching. Who can resist the sight of smug old men in khakis and tennis shoes, studiously ignoring giant photos of women with unshaven private parts, while arguing over the superiority of the Windows 7 operating system?
Ed Colver is the next Skylight Studio "Meet and Greet" speaker, appearing August 17 from 1-3pm.
Cropped photo of Rollins and Colver: Annenberg Space/Unique Nicole
Top Photo credit; Angie Padilla (c) 2013 used with permission. All rights reserved.