Sir Hank

Henry Rollins has always struck us as the type of guy whose intensity belies a kind of antiquated chivalry. Sure, during his Black Flag days, he regularly assaulted audience members and was generally regarded as a macho asshole by his bandmates, but we picture him as that dude with the bone-crushing handshake who'd call your dad "Sir" and only "Sir."

Whenever we stumble upon him nowadays, he's doing something slightly surprising, and incongruent, like standup comedy (wherein he chats about the hilarious pitfalls of dating) or acting (in Bad Boys II, for example). But Rollins, who in the past two decades has morphed from hardcore, straight-edge punk to media Renaissance man, hasn't lost his idiosyncratic energy and drive to perform. He still tours with the Rollins Band, and his other gigs include hosting a TV show on the IFC channel that draws A-list musical guests (from Thom Yorke to Queens of the Stone Age), running a weekly radio program, and publishing chapbooks through his own company, 2.13.61.

Rollins' spoken-word tour "Provoked: An Evening of Quintessentially American Opinionated Editorializing and Storytelling" rolls into town for a show at the Marquee.