Henry “Wild Dog” Weissborn (1955 – 2008) was a poet, writer, activist, publisher, punk, and musician based in Houston, Texas. After his untimely death in 2008, at the age of 53, his house sat idle. For most of his life, Henry was a collector.
In 2012, his house was purchased by a developer, gutted, and then remodeled. In the process, more than 30 years of archived periodicals, personal writings, vintage magazines, posters, flyers, vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks, punk zines, and an array of additional ephemera were systematically being thrown out.
A chance encounter put us in contact with the new owner, and in a matter of 72 hours we found ourselves in possession of a legacy, not only to one man’s entire life but to Houston’s first wave punk scene and its musico-political roots.
Wow….So sorry to hear of Henry’s passing. I’m from Houston & used to trade tapes with Henry in the late ’80’s when we became friends when I worked at Infinite Records. He did indeed have quite a collection. In fact, so did his parents. You could not move easily in that house!
I truly hope you got there before they actually threw any of Henry’s collection away. Henry was my friend, we collaborated on a number of projects. Thanks for stopping a tragedy in the making, namely, the loss of a wonderful priceless archive of The Other America.
Best,
Jimmy Bryan