David J: An Evening of Spoken Word with Music

The Grocery is honored to present An Evening with David J! 

As part of his Spoken Word with Music tour, David’s solo performance will include music from his new album, The Mother Tree, and spoken word from his new book of poetry, Rhapsody, Threnody and Prayer. The set will also include some old faves from Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, and beyond. 

David will be present after the performance to do a meet and greet and signing. Merch will be available for purchase. 

Thursday, August 7 2025Showtime 7:30 pm - Doors at 7:00 pmThe Grocery Studios, 3001 21st Ave S, Seattle 98144

The acclaimed musician, poet, and cultural icon, best known as David J, has created these two intimate, deeply personal and evocative works partly in tribute to his mother, the late Joan Nancy Haskins and others. David J’s decision to release these projects under his birth name, “Haskins,” (the name his brother Kevin used in both their bands together: Bauhaus and Love and Rockets) underscores their deep familial and emotional significance to him. He calls The Mother Tree “my most personal work yet.”

The Mother Tree is a poignant 5-track album featuring David reciting his poetry to the accompaniment of lush, dramatic, atmospheric music, showcasing his multidimensional musical artistry. Rhapsody, Threnody and Prayer is a book collecting his poetry written over several decades. It includes profound reflections on life, love, loss, and touching tributes to late cultural icons and artists including Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Jack Kerouac and Mark Linkous.

ABOUT DAVID J. HASKINS

Musician, writer, playwright, poet, visual artist. A founding member of the highly influential and revered band Bauhaus, David J Haskins helped spearhead the post-punk alternative music scene of the early ’80s with a string of innovative albums and singles—including, for many, perhaps their defining moment: a song widely regarded as a classic and arguably the pinnacle of the entire gothic scene and beyond, the nine-minute-plus epic slab of industrial dub, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” featuring lyrics by David J.

Two years after the demise of Bauhaus in 1983, David regrouped with two of his former bandmates—guitarist Daniel Ash and drummer Kevin Haskins—to form the hugely successful Love and Rockets, whose debut single hit gold status in Canada. The band went on to achieve a top-three U.S. single with So Alive, a million-selling album, and sold-out stadium tours. 

A highly acclaimed songwriter, his creative tendencies to be poetic, personal, and insightful are evident across his eleven solo albums. David has also written and directed various stage productions. His memoir, Who Killed Mister Moonlight? (Bauhaus, Black Magick and Benediction), was published by Jawbone Press in 2014 to critical acclaim.

David has collaborated with many notable artists, including painter and poet Rene Halkett; novelists Alan Moore, Jeremy Reed, and Hubert Selby Jr.; and a vast array of musicians such as T Bone Burnett, Frank Black (Pixies), Robyn Hitchcock, Amanda Palmer, Johnny Dowd, Jane’s Addiction, The Dandy Warhols, U-Roy, Amaury Cambuzat (Faust), Ego Plum, George Sarah, Jill Tracy, and Bashir Attar, leader of The Master Musicians of Jajouka. His latest collaborative project is Night Crickets, with Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes) and Darwin.

2025 sees the release of a new spoken word-with-music album, The Mother Tree, accompanied by a book of poetry, Rhapsody, Threnody and Prayer.

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