Rock Island, Illinois’ Rozz-Tox is that rare entertainment space that rewards awareness, nurtures community and celebrates revolutionary creativity. Everywhere you look, there’s something interesting to contemplate, literature to read, terrific music and conversation on the air, mixed with the perfume of incredible food. You’re stimulated to explore broader associations between what you’re listening to, what you’re eating, the atmosphere — all pulling you into the present.
“People that come from cities like L.A., New York, Chicago, fucking Berlin … I’d say 85 to 90 percent of the artists that come in here from other big, progressive, beautiful, massive cities, they walk in here like, ‘I wish we had something like this,’” Benjamin Fawks said.
Fawks opened Rozz-Tox in 2011 with his mother, Marisa “Missy” Sorrells (1958-2017). The space borrows its name from the eponymous manifesto written by artist Gary Panter; its ethos adheres to the directive expressed in “Item 15” from the text, “If you want a better media, go make it.”
Rozz-Tox is a third space that encompasses “a listening bar, café, performance venue, gallery, culture cell, guesthouse, cinema, club,” as its website describes. In the nearly 14 years since opening, it’s become even more important to the community in which it resides, from Rock Island to Guangzhou, China (current home to Rozz-Tox’s sibling venue, and where Fawks opened his first space in 2007).
At the end of 2024, that community rallied to raise over $30,000 in less than a month to help cover the down payment for Fawks to buy the building at 2108 3rd Ave and “Keep Rock Island Weird” — a campaign that Fawks’ said his partner, artist Jessica Beshears, was “instrumental in getting [him] to do.” While he said the majority of donors were local, the campaign saw contributions from Rozz-Tox lovers around the world.
When asked to describe his many roles, Fawks answered simply, “custodian.”
“I like the custodian term. I think it fits because this space is not for me. It is for me, but it’s also for you. It’s also for them, for the band, for the customers — it’s for everyone. So I’m just taking care of it. I’m making sure it’s oiled up and running.”
“It is also my home,” he continued. “I sweep and mop. I do the dishes. I clean the bathrooms. And I book the shows. I’m taking care of so many different things, I feel like ‘custodian’ fits better than most.”
It’s that sense of home that makes Rozz-Tox such a beloved space; there’s an enthusiastic, personal dimension to the curation of everything, from the décor to the menu to the programming.
Events are dynamic and various: upcoming shows include DJ sets, past selections of which can be heard on Yamaguchi Radio; Filmosofia, “a free community film screening and reading discussion with philosophical narratives;” the long-running SPECTRA Reading Series; and a range of music performances and listening experiences, mostly directed by nonprofit OUTLETProgramme, which brings visionary musicians and performers to the Quad Cities from around the globe.
The upcoming season (the first to receive grant support from the Illinois Arts Council) features several international acts, including London-based Still House Plants on March 26, who the Guardian called “the most vital band in Britain today, in every sense.” The following night, “master throat singers” Alash, from the Siberian republic of Tuva, return on March 27 after a much-celebrated performance last year.
Fawks first experienced throat singing while living in China, where he attended a cultural exchange event. “The night progressed into a ‘jam’ with bluegrass strings and Mongolian throat singing. I hadn’t heard throat singing before, or at least not live, and I fell in love with it. I used to play it in the bar over there quite often.”
Another upcoming highlight on April 18 is Brìghde Chaimbeul, “a leading purveyor of Celtic experimentalism and a master of the Scottish smallpipes.” Fawks first heard Chaimbeul in June 2024. “I listened to her album Carry Them With Us while I was in Scotland and felt close to the music. I can’t wait to hear these sounds in this room, and to share that with others.”
What impression does Fawks hope people take from visiting Rozz-Tox?
“Encouraging is a good word. Also inspiring. What I like to do with this space in general, fundamentally, but also with the booking, is inspire and encourage younger people to do something fucking cool.”
“I would like more days and nights where people just come here to bring a book or a date or a friend, get a bowl of noodles and a drink, and just chat, you know? It’s important. We need to get away — myself included. We need to get further away from screens, and back into talking to people, face-to-face.”
Time spent in such a place challenges us to be more considerate, particular and attentive — in our individual tastes, but also in where, and how, we spend our time, and who we spend it with.
“I think it’s unique because it’s my own thing,” Fawks said, “but it also changes and evolves with the people that come here, and I try to let it. I like to think of spaces, and this space specifically, as an organic thing, something that grows, something that evolves and changes with whatever’s happening. It’s unique — it’s separate from other spaces, because it is its own thing. This place really is different for every single person. It’s — it’s a Rozz-Tox.”
This article was originally published in Little Village’s March 2025 issue.
