Late May issue Review of "Smile You're Traveling" by Henry Rollins

To all the readers I sincerely apologize for the May issue being so late. Have had a lot going on in my personal life and just been way busier than usual. Here is the May issue and I'll be posting a June issue as well! I'm excited to say I'll be seeing this man perform in Nov as part of his spoken word tour! So here is the May issue of Cryptic Inscriptions:

 Smile You're Traveling by Henry Rollins



I have been a fan of Henry Rollins from his days with Black Flag to the spoken word material he has done. I feel good, but bad that I only recently checked out his post Black flag project the Rollins band. I really enjoyed the sheer intensity in the music itself and the honesty of Rollins lyrics. Its one of the first times I have heard someone else's lyrics and have felt a connection with them, motivating me to beat the odds. So being the person I am I decided to go further and check out one of Rollins books. I did end up finding a copy of "Smile You're Traveling" at a used book store in Texas and decided to give it a go . I found out from the first few chapters when it comes to Rollins you either love him or hate him or at times both. I felt like the first half of the book was up and down challenging than a breeze to get through. The second half of the book I enjoyed a lot more and breezed through it like nothing. After reading I felt at moments that I could connect with what Rollins had to say while other times I felt like he was a bit insensitive and inconsiderate. He seemed to mope continuously about being alone then brushed it off like he did not care. He also came off that he felt bad that his music was not reaching a wide audience and concert attendance was lame, but then would say he didn't care and that he was not interested in what was going on today. His cynical approach can get to be a bit much at times and he contradicts himself at times as well. On the other hand he makes valid points that make you respect him. The way Rollins expresses his feelings towards marriage, 9-5 jobs, people loathing in their own misery they create for themselves, modernization, the industry killing the music scene, musicians not really standing out, and feeling alone at times not because they want to fit in because the world has become far from relatable are things I have been thinking about for years before I even read this book or knew much about Rollins. To see someone else express the same feelings as I have felt refreshing. So all in all, this book is definitely an emotional roller coaster of the life of one Henry Rollins. He is a man who is so far driven that he has no time for anyone and it does not bother him and processes he will soldier on till he cannot anymore. He is dedicated to his craft and lives with a do or die attitude that I respect immensely. I definitely recommend checking out at least one of his books to gain the experience the only thing I really want to tell Rollins personally is "Just remember to smile you're traveling."