So it begins...

Well, here we are, I thought I'd better start one of these blog things 'cos I'm nothing if not a sucker for bandwagonning

Here's the bio:

Henry Raby has been making poetry for the past few years. His first ever gig was at the Big Youth Theatre Festival 2007, probably the 13th. Which was a Friday.

Watch poor quality homemade videos on the left-hand column and read some in Notes also on the left-hand column, or check out myspace.com/henrythepoet

He guesses he does punk poetry, though I guess he could class it as speed poetry or spoken word or ranting poetry. Based in York/Leeds, performed all o'er Yorkshire and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And Kualar Lumpur.

Henry can perform anywhere between 30 seconds and 30 minutes, easily perfomring in-between bands or as a full act in his own right, and occassionally as a compare. And asks for nothing in return but clapping. Available to support bands, gigs, rap/hip-hop nights, poetry nights, parties, story-telling nights, anti-facist rallies, festivals, squat parties, protests etc.

He really likes the works of John Cooper Clarke, Sage Francis, Buddy Wakefield, Inua Ellams, Frank Sidebottom, Harold Pinter, Phillip Larkin, Lewis Carrol, Gerry Potter, Scroobius Pip, PolarBear, Alan Ginsberg, Samuel Beckett, Steven Wells, Phil Jupitus, Henry Rollins, Captain Of The Rant, Atilla The Stockbroker, Captain Of The Rant, MC Lars, Percy Shelly, William Shakespeare, Baba Brinkman, Sarah Kane, Chemical Poets, DNA Poets, The Ruby Kid, Dead Poets, Indigo Williams, Toby Thompson, Jack Mapanje, Sophia Blackwell, Cat Brogan, Richard Tyrone Jones to name but a few

Other influences of note include Alan Moore, Nick Kent, Joe Strummer, Derick Walcott, Frederich Nietzsche, William S. Burroughs, Salman Rushdie, Angela Carter, Alexi Sayle, Bob Marley, Grant Morrison, Phil Ochs, Will Hodgson, Andrew O'Neill, Phil Ochs, John Lydon, John Otway, Neil Gaiman, Thomas Paine, Jean-Paul Sartre, George Orwell, Terry Pratchett, Mark E. Smith, Tim Armstrong, Patti Smith, Paul Weller, Babar Luck, Franz Kafka, Frank Turner, Billy Bragg and everything and anything connected with Pokemon.

He's performed at Speaker's Corner, Project OMG, Click Clak Open Mic as a headline guest, Sticks & Stones, Take The Stage, Cert 18 open mic, TG24, Riverlines, Scribe Magazine nights, Leeds Theatre Group festivals, Barefoot In the Park, supported John Otway, supported Atilla The Stockbroker on his 30th anniversary tour, Hammer and Tounge Slam, C Venues Open Mic nights, Habit Open Mic, Golden Fleece Open Mic, Bar Lane Cafe with 6 Lips Theatre and is also a member of York's comedy collective Can't Sing, Can't Dance, Dont Care (http://cscddc.blogspot.com/)

He also likes referring to himself in The Third Person