the joy of Henry

Now those of you who know me know I have a few heroes and crushes that could be considered embarrassing or worthy of a teenager. You are only as old as your heart. Doesn’t make it much better. But I am fessing up to it so hold your horses.
This one particular infatuation dates back to 1997 where I came across a punk rocker turned spoken word artist still doing music named Henry Rollins. I forgot how exactly he crossed my path. Something I read. Some I guy I was into mentioning him. Some 80s flash-back. I bought a book he wrote and then another one. In November 1998 finally he made it to Berlin where I was living at the time, battling with a question I had been toying with too long: Should I go back to the US and live my life there? So I sat in Kreuzberg, on an uncomfortable wooden bench in a church that like many churches had a become a multi-purpose building for lack of churchgoers and listened to this raw and loud and unafraid guy ranting about life and its ups and downs. I loved his humor and the way he observed life. I loved the realness of it. You only have one life to live. And Henry Rollins lived it in Los Angeles, that town that had always stirred my longing, over there all the way in the West, where the Pacific ended the trail, where the sun would eternally shine.
A good year later I left Berlin. Within a few months I “met” Henry Rollins again, at a record store (now long gone) where he also signed my copy of a new CD by the Rollins Band who I later saw perform in Silver Lake. Wow, I had made it, living in the town of the guy that was one of the forces that kicked my ass. And don’t you always meet again? A month ago Rollins popped up on my favorite public radio station KCRW with his very own show. I could have listened to him before, on the fantastic alt-radio station Indie Rock. But you know, those radio dials are programmed in and it is really hard to flip them... But finally no escaping. He made himself heard on 89.9. And lo&b.hold his power to kick ass hasn’t diminished. Listening to the musical journeys he subjects you to is a jolt of life. a necessary reminder of what is out there, what music can do, what you did in your life when that track hit you. I sometimes forget how much I cherish music to make sense of my life and express my emotions. So that is what Henry is for. Ever combined the Ramones, some Russian avant-garde composer, Sonny Rollins and the Black Flag, not to mention the German favorite Killing Joke? Puts a smile on my face, makes me search my ipod for more treasures of my life during the week, even though it is a while back. Made me be buy (okay download) an old album by the Lounge Lizzards who are among the concert highlights of my life time. The joy of Henry, you can call me a fanatic any time!