Dennis Rodman Dodges North Korea in Houston, Reveals a Surprise New Venture in His Wild American Life: Forget Carmen Electra, Madonna and Sharon Stone — It’s All About ‘Normal People’ Now

Dennis Rodman walks into a crammed room with black curtains covering all the walls, sees the faux gold and zebra print throne waiting for him and without missing a beat, asks, “Home Depot?” Yes, Rodman is still in on the joke, even the North Korea ones (no matter if his temporary Houston handlers really don’t want him to talk about that).

“This is funny,” Rodman says, looking a little further around the room — a converted office space in a nondescript strip mall on Richmond Avenue — before settling into his throne. There are silver skulls on the shelves, cigars and NBA All-Star Saturday night tickets on a side table to the right.

The decor can best be described as Rodman, circa 2009.

Rodman was still largely considered a harmless eccentric back then, before he started buddying up with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un and showing up on the radar of Homeland Security. The man who dated Madonna and Carmen Electra in his prime and wore a full wedding dress to promote his autobiography (the literary classic Bad as I Wanna Be) is interested in a different type of matchmaking these days.

But Rodman was not allowed to talk Kim Jung Un or Donald Trump in his first Houston appearance for local ticket broker AnyTickets.com. When the North Korea question was rightfully raised, reps for the company quickly shouted out, “Next question!” before Rodman could continue.

Rodman likely would have answered it, too. This is not a man who dodges questions. Rodman does reveal later that he plans to make another trip to North Korea in September.

And so a wild, uniquely American life continues at age 57. Yes, Dennis Rodman is nearly 60, a remarkable achievement of its own. I was a kid growing up in Detroit, a devoted fan of the back-to-back mini Pistons dynasty Rodman never gets enough credit for energizing, when police found him in his pickup truck with a loaded rifle in the parking lot of the Palace of Auburn Hills (the arena the team played in) back in 1993.

Later, it came out that Rodman had written a suicide note.

In a time when Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade and other remarkable everyday people we don’t know leave the world too soon by taking their own lives, Dennis Keith Rodman probably should be thought of as a survivor too. I’m a little biased — I hung out with Rodman for a night in Palm Springs of all places for a story several years ago and he happened to live in the same unremarkable apartment complex as my late grandmother in Newport Beach (Rodman still lives there) — but it’s good to see him still trying new crazy things.

“I figured it wasn’t hot enough in Vegas, so I came to Houston,” Rodman deadpans.

He seems to have found some people who care about him in Houston in Marcus Stern and the rest of the team at AnyTickets.com. Stern and his partners put Rodman up on stage with the alt-rock band Live, singing, during a concert at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Sunday night. Rodman’s official title with this Houston operation is head of business development.

But mostly, as Rodman himself readily admits, he’ll just be doing Dennis Rodman things.

“Just coming in and being me,” Rodman says of his role. “It’s more like what I do all the time already. I meet a lot of people out in the world. I meet really cool and interesting people, intriguing people.”

The idea is that those are the type of people who would be interested in buying the type of high-end, custom event VIP experiences AnyTickets aims to offer. But with Rodman, what’s most interesting is often what comes after the idea.

Dennis Rodman’s Flip Phone

Rodman may have made a combined $27 million in salary in his 12-year NBA career ($8 million less than what LeBron James will take home for just his first season in Los Angeles), but this is one NBA Hall of Famer who still needs to work. His California living situation isn’t the only thing that is relatively humble (especially by pro athlete standards).

“This is how bad I am, I’ve got a fucking flip phone,” Rodman cracks as he indeed fishes a ringing flip phone out of the pocket of his shiny blue track pants. “So working with AnyTickets.com, will get me an iPad right? Or an iPhone, right?

“This is what I’m working with people. A flip phone.”

Rodman shows around his flip phone, getting another room on his side. When this press conference is over, several Houston TV reporters — most of them too young to have ever watched this rebounding genius play in his prime — wait in line to get iPhone pictures taken with this near 60-year-old rebel.

So much for  journalistic integrity? Rodman is used to breaking down barriers and getting people to do things they don’t expect.

This once beyond painfully shy introvert who grew up in Dallas is now a people person.

“I love — really love — hanging out with normal people,” Rodman says. “I’ve never really hung out with an athlete in my life. Or any other stars. Besides, I dated Carmen and Madonna and Sharon Stone, and those people. Too many stars.

“I love to hang out with people like this. I love to see their excitement.”

Rodman gestures around the temporary throne room. Down another black curtained hall (it’s fair to wonder if this place was decorated for a photo shoot or a Soprano‘s elimination scene), a larger group of AnyTickets employees wait to see the man who used to be called The Worm.

“Dennis brings excitement to our team,” Stern says. “When Dennis comes into our offices and meets with us, everybody listens. He commands the attention of everybody.”

Sometimes, even Rodman is outside of his comfort zone, though. Like being on the stage with Live.

“I was on the stage last night, shaking my ass off,” he laughs. “True story. I was on stage, trying to see. So nervous. They’re like, ‘Wow. Your legs were shaking. Your hands were shaking.’ ”

Most of the time, Rodman swears, his everyday isn’t this crazy. Planned September return to North Korea aside.

“I like staying at the beach, in Newport Beach,” he says. “I’m a local there. I’m not such a celebrity. I’m pretty much a beach cruiser guy.”

This is Dennis Rodman’s life in 2018. It’s still a pretty good one. That’s no small win.