Featuring cameos by Henry Rollins and Vince Staples, the new advertisement for Converse directed by Tyler, the Creator is a funny little video. The clip centers on a meeting of “The Really Cool Converse Club”, which includes greasers, punks, pirates, and more, who convene to revoke membership from one of their own.

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February 14, 2021

Ten points of entry to Henry Rollins' career

"Rollins' body, fortified with heavy weights and tattooed totems, became a vessel for the message of his music, which is that there is nothing glorious about being broken but there is dignity to be found in the bearing of it and consolation in the knowledge that it's not borne alone" - the Quietus writes in the lovely birthday card for the punk icon who turned 60 this weekend. The Q chooses 10 songs as points of entry to Henry Rollins' music.

Henry Rollins has launched a new video podcast 'The Henry & Heidi $1.99 Show' with co-host Heidi May, his longtime manager. Each episode is $1.99, Rollins promises show & tell, footage of him from 20 years ago, and more. The first episode is on the Minutemen, the early days of SST, the '80s hardcore scene in general. Watch it here.

"[Henry] Rollins wore shorts and no shirt and slowly covered his torso with tattoos, including ones for his own band. Was it ego or pride? I loved it either way, because I had neither... I had a poster of its ['Damaged'] cover up on my bedroom wall, Rollins punching his reflection in the mirror, breaking it into a million pieces. He felt like garbage and hated himself too! Plus he had a lot of muscles. I could not have invented a more appropriate role model if I tried" - GQ's Matthew Schnipper wrote a heartwaring and earnest article about how he decided to name his son after Henry Rollins, hoping that hardcore icon will "make him tough in ways I can’t".

Two albums by the late great Rowland S Howard - 'Teenage Snuff Film' and 'Pop Crimes' - are being reissued, and the Quietus did a great job of talking to his former colleagues and fans like Nick Cave, Henry Rollins, Mick Harvey, and Lydia Lunch, trying to recapitulate his work. Henry Rollins saw him in 1983 - "I stood in front of Rowland to get as much of him in the mix as possible. It was like he was an extension of the guitar... I had never heard sounds like the ones that Rowland made that night. To this day, I think he’s one of the most amazing musicians I’ve ever seen or heard". Howard's former The Birthday Party bandmate Nick Cave shared a laudable, albeit a diplomatic answer: "Rowland S Howard's guitar sound defined a generation. He was the best of us all. His influence continues to reverberate, down the years, to this day. He was truly one of the greats".

Henry Rollins has begun a new online radio series called 'The Cool Quarantine' with the idea - "We play you songs, I tell you stories, and we do time together", the LA Times reports. The first episode is out now on KCRW - here - and it’s just over four hours long. It includes “live bootlegs of the Cramps recorded by Ian MacKaye, a story about the time Henry and Ian saw Led Zeppelin in 1977 (plus a bootleg recording from that performance), audio from original Joy Division album pressings, stories about the early days of Black Flag and Dischord Records”.

"The USA will get through this in spite of the catastrophic shortcomings of the current administration. How? You. Your strength, compassion, smarts, cool, and tenacity will be what allows us to get control of this very real crisis" - Henry Rollins told Rolling Stone about the corona epidemic. While being alone, Rollins says he engages in "two kinds of listening. Protein and carbohydrate. Protein is records I’ve never heard before, where I have to lean in and focus. Carbohydrate is music that’s familiar to me. Right now, I’m in a 90/10 protein-carbohydrate ratio. New records by Lorelle Meets the Obsolete, Coriky, Cold Beat, Wasted Shirt, Wolf Eyes, Crazy Doberman, Primo, and Lamps are all really good".

Henry Rollins has teamed with Los Angeles Tourism for a YouTube series (three videos so far) where he explains how to use LAX. Characteristically for him, he is very enthusiastic about it, says the food is great there, he likes the executive lounge and suggests people should use the "therapy dogs"! Video 1 here, video […]