Early photograph of Henry Rollins First Black Flag show at the nest!

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HENRY ROLLINS - 1981 - Cuckoos Nest, Costa Mesa (near Hunting Beach) - HANK is 55 years old today! This was not the first time i met Henry, that was at Irving Plaza earlier in the Summer when he was still Henry Garfield, the Circle Jerks were playing and Henry was there from DC selling his S.O.A. 7" singles (they were on green vinyl) he gave me a couple, one for me and one for me to give to Brian "Pushead" Schroeder to review in "SkateBoarders' ACTION NOW" magazine... Next time I'd see him would be at "Oki Dog" in Hollywood, and i said "Hey, i remember you, what are you doing out here?" He said, "I'm Black Flag's new singer!" Wtf? Really? I was so damned jealous! And he let me know the first gigs would be down at "the Nest"... I went and he was great. Although i gotta admit i never could get into the way he sang the songs I was so used to hearing Keith sing on the 1st single and a couple of the Ron sung songs on the "Jealous Again" EP, but you can't front on anything else, he was fucking GREAT. My camera was probably in my bag for a few songs, then it had to come out... Made some great great photographs that day, this one included, and a bunch of others, you can see in my books, especially in the MY RULES book. Henry also wrote a piece for the book that's fucking awesome. He was the first to turn his essay in, within twenty minutes of me asking for it! He may not be the friendliest or warmest guy in the room, it's no act, he's as serious as a heart attack and i respect the hell outa this guy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY AND BEST WISHES FOR YOUR BEST YEAR YET - 2.13.61 the date of his birth and the name of his publishing company, who distributed the first printing of FUCK YOU HEROES ("H" wrote the "book flap" text) he's the motherfucking man! #MyRules #GetTheNewBook #henryrollins #HarDCore #BlackFlag #SOA #integrity #inspiration #PUNK #real #respect #author #punkrock #gogo #musiclover #getinthevan #WashingtonDC #SkateBoarder #journalist #BadAss

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Feb 13, 2016 at 10:12am PST