Searching for Henry Earl
left: Henry Earl of Lexington, Kentucky is an internet celebrity for being arrested nearly 1,000 times for public intoxication. (photos and text by J.B. Calvert)
It's not difficult to find Henry Earl. Googl(ing) the name 'Henry Earl' yields a homepage, dozens of fan sites and a Wikipedia article dedicated to his internet legend. In real life, finding him isn't difficult, he's either in jail or trying to get arrested.
In the past 13 years Henry Earl, 58 has been arrested nearly a thousand times by Fayette County Police for public intoxication and other non-violent charges.
Once while intoxicated at a free concert at The University of Kentucky, Henry interrupted the performance of a local band. The band agreed to allow Henry to stay on stage after he agreed to sing like James Brown. The rest as they say, is internet history. Today folks in Lexington call him 'James Brown'.
Henry got his first moments of internet fame when a user at Fark.com posted a link to a gallery of his mug shots from website of the Fayette County Corrections Facility. Hundreds of Fark users flooded the Fayette County Corrections facility website to see dozens of mug shots of Henry, depicting him in a range of emotions. Many of the mug shots circulating on the web depict Henry with bloodshot eyes, glowing with an infectious smile or frowning with a grim gesture. In other photos, he appears stunned like a deer in headlights-- or posed with a reflective, introspective expression.
above photos: Mugshots depicting Henry's range of emotions were linked to by users of Fark.com . (mugshots public domain.)
The high rate of internet traffic caused servers at The Fayette County Corrections Facility to crash. Henry became America's most famous alcoholic.
THE INTERVIEW
Henry Earl is the first internet celebrity I met. The Lexington jail Henry calls home is only 90 miles away from Louisville so I decided to arrange a meeting and photo op with Henry.
After a few phone calls to the media relations manager of the Fayette County Corrections Facility, I was able to get an interview with Henry.
The drive from Louisville to Lexington on interstate 64 is a trek through the gentle, rolling hills of an area referred to as 'Bluegrass Region', or 'Horse Country'. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai owns a horse farm near Lexington. Kentucky is a slab of limestone, covered with rich, rolling soil. The limestone enhances the calcium the bones of grazing animals that graze in the bluegrass. As the saying goes; "Kentucky clay makes the boys tall and bright." Something went horribly wrong in Henry's case.
The Fayette County Corrections Facility stands in a commercial district of Lexington near light industrial factories and a slew of fast food restaurants. Built in 2000, the jail is a cutting edge facility and features aspects of tradit
ional Kentucky architecture. The jail entrance resembles one of the many iconic horse stables from the Kentucky Bluegrass region.left: The Fayette County Corrections Facility, on the outskirts of Lexington resembles one of the many iconic horse barns in the region.
As I arrived at the Corrections Facility the guard at the entrance searched through my camera bag as he contemplated the function of some of the instruments and placed them back in the bag. I couldn't stop smiling at the guard.
"I'm here to see Henry Earl," I said.
The guard didn't say anything. Either he knew Henry and was tired of hearing about him, or he probably didn't care why I was there.
"The media relations manager will be here to see you in a few minutes, please have a seat," the guard said.
The media relations person greeted me with the most cordial Kentucky hospitality and we walked and talked as we made our way to talk to Henry. I explained to the media relations person that I wanted to help Henry in some way. Donating cash to Henry is pointless, he owes the Fayette County Corrections Facility a pretty penny for his nearly 1,000 arrests. I gave Henry a 40 dollar gift card for Wendy's and a printed list of nearly every Alcoholics Anonymous Center in Fayette County.
"You can't control the actions of others, but you can always control your own," I said to the media relations person.
We neared the end of a florescent lit hallway, lined with bulletproof glass which gave brief glimpses into brightly lit, spacious common areas for inmates. Still bodies and shifty eyes of inmates seemed to follow our movements as we continued down the hallway.
Finally we arrived at Henry's window. Behind the bulletproof glass was Henry Earl, grinning like piranha in a goldfish bowl.
"Hi Henry!" I exclaimed.
Henry's grin was infectious, revealing missing front teeth. His hair was disheveled as it was in many of his mugshots but I could sense he was well fed and bathing regularly.
"Hi there!" Henry exclaimed through the window.
I felt like his guest.
The barrier between Henry and I was an inch and a half piece of thick piece of tempered bulletproof glass. The window through which we talked to each other muffled our words.
Inmate visitation stalls at the Fayette County Corrections facility exclude the stereotypical closed circuit telephones. Ventilation holes around the bulletproof windows are the only way to communicate with the inmates. Nevertheless, I managed to interview Henry.
We made our introductions and I explained what I was doing and why. Henry nodded and seemed to understand what I was saying, although I wonder how coherent he could possibly be. Henry is 58 years old, (2007) his nerves may be damaged by binge drinking nearly 1,000 times in the past 13 years.
"You're Henry Earl," I said.
Henry nodded, still smiling from ear to ear.
"And you've been in jail nearly 1,000 times..."
"Yeah!" Henry proudly proclaimed.
"Do you get along with the staff?" I asked.
"Police know me well, the guards cut up with me often."
"What have you been getting arrested for, Henry?"
"Drinkin'!" Henry exclaimed.
"They call you James Brown, I can see the resemblance," I said, joking.
Behind the bulletproof glass Henry jumped, knocking his plastic chair to the floor. He proceeded to dance and sing like James Brown until a guard told him to sit down and shut up. Seeing Henry dance behind the glass window was surreal. He resembled a performance artist rather than an institutionalized homeless alcoholic.
The next question seemed inappropriate, but I knew Henry would be interested in the topic.
"What do you like to drink?" I asked.
A prison guard standing nearby snickered at the question.
"I like drinkin' pints of Wild Irish Rose wine," Henry said. "It's all I drink."
Wild Irish Rose comes in 375 mL, 750 mL, and a 50 oz jug. The beverage is a low- end, fortified wine at 18 % ABV. After doing a quick Google maps search of liquor stores near The University of Kentucky I made some calls to try to determine where Henry gets his hooch.
In order to find out which liquor stores Henry patronizes I called stores and asked the clerk if Wild Irish Rose was in stock. If so, I asked how much they sell it for and in what size. After calling ten liquor stores in Lexington, only 2 of the clerks took the time to look up the price of Wild Irish Rose. Eventually I found the prices for Wild Irish Rose- $1.75 for a 1.5 liter and $3.99 for a fifth. One clerk remained on the phone long enough to mention "James Brown" is banned from his particular store.
"Henry hasn't been allowed in our store for 15 years," said the clerk. "He used to aggressively panhandle and harass the customers."
In Lexington Henry has been banned from liquor stores, an alcohol treatment center and once he was banned from jail. Guards at the Fayette County jail denied Henry admittance despite his plea to be re-arrested one particular frigid winter morning. Henry was sober and frustrated but determined to get out of the cold. Henry used every bit of his 130 lbs. of leverage to send a trash receptacle cascading through the window of a police cruiser in the jail parking lot. Henry was escorted just a few yards to jail.
In February 2006 Henry entered an alcohol treatment program where he was given a job and living space. His rap sheet for 2006 accounts for only 3 arrests, his First arrest in March was for criminal trespassing in the 3rd degree which he spent a week in jail. Kentucky Revised Statute 511.080 defines criminal trespassing in the third degree "A person is guilty of trespassing in the third degree when he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in or upon premises." Henry was back in jail for a week after having been a free man for 3 months.
Exactly one day after being released from jail for trespassing, Henry was booked for alcohol intoxication and spent over a month in jail when a parole violation was added to the charge. Henry managed to stay sober for 7 months, but he was arrested again in December 2006 for alcohol intoxication. He returned to his old ways after being released a month later. Henry's single lapse in 2006 knocked him off the wagon. In 2007 Henry would be arrested over 25 times for alcohol intoxication.
Some see Henry Earl as Don Quixote- on an idealogical quest to passionately engage surrogate activities. Henry is more like Cool Hand Luke- overwhelmed by the system and dragging his feet the whole damn way. The image of Henry Earl as a rebel is appealing- It comforts me to know while people live lives of 'quiet desperation', Henry Earl is in Lexington wasting my Kentucky tax dollars, stirring up trouble and getting famous for it.
For what it was worth, I gave the jail guard a 40 dollar restaurant gift certificate to give Henry, a list of locations and meeting times of 20 alcoholics anonymous centers in Lexington and I said one last goodbye to Henry.
"Henry, stay out of trouble, okay?"
Henry raised his right hand and saluted like a cub scout.
"You know, I was doin' pretty good when I was sobered up, maybe it's time for me to slow down," Henry said. "I'm gonna stay out of jail for a while."
Less than a week after our interview Henry was picked up by Fayette County Police for alcohol intoxication.
Photos and text by James Calvert, copyright 2008. Prints available for sale, a portion of proceeds go directly to Henry Earl.
posted by J_B_Calvert at 1:56 PM
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