I don’t remember how I was first introduced to Henry Rollins and his spoken word performances. I know it was a long, long time ago and when I first purchased the CD Box Set of his albums, it was over twenty years ago now. I wore those CDs out and they helped me drive cross-country at least once.

For a man who got his start in punk music singing for Black Flag, Henry may be the closest thing we have to a Renaissance man. He sings and writes music, writes poetry, acts, and tours non-stop on his spoken word tours. His stories are touching, funny, and over the last 10 years, he has become much more political with his messages, in a good way. Just don’t read his poetry – after I first got into Henry, I bought a couple of his books, and it was the darkest, most depressing poetry I’ve ever read. But when you see him live on a spoken word tour, he’s mesmerizing.

I haven’t listened to the CDs or watched a video in quite a while – but Boing Boing linked to JWZ’s site today, with some videos of Henry doing his spoken word thing. Next thing I know, an hour has gone by and I have a craving for some more Rollins.

I’m a bit disappointed to see Netflix doesn’t have any of his shows available any more. But I know what I’ll be listening to while I work this week.

(Via Boing Boing)