Howie Pyro, The Eternal Teenager
Deep Breath:
It’s only been a few days since Howie passed and it has been
very difficult to wrap my head around it. Howie was SUCH an incredible person.
He was filled with childlike wonder and excitement about so many things. He was
the eternal teenager. We developed a
strong bond over the years that I will treasure always. Thoughts and events
have been banging around in my brain since his passing and I’m not sure how
I’ll be able to deal without my almost daily communications with him.
I connected with Howie back in the early 2000’s via Myspace
of all things. Our friendship sort began
as “frenemies” as we were constantly bidding on the same things on eBay. I
would send him a pic of something I won and he would freak out saying “you beat
me on that one!” The reverse was also true just as many times. My wife would
hear me shout out at the computer and she would check to see if I had fallen or
maybe stubbed my toe; nope, just losing some auction to Howie!
One of the first times we met in person was at one of the
WFMU record fairs. We chatted for a long while, but then we both had to get to
business; he was selling records and I was buying. He also did a fair amount of
buying himself.
While at this fair it was always imperative to shop at Todd
Abramson’s table. After flipping through the records and amassing a pile I
cashed out, but not before I saw a long time want. It was the Mad Mike Favorite
by The Youngsters - ZEBRA on Sho-Biz records!
I thought the price was a little high, so I put it in the back of the
box thinking, “well if I have any money left at the end of the day, I’ll come
back!” That never works out the way you want it to. Right on cue, Howie comes
over and starts flipping through the box. Of course he finds Zebra almost
immediately, and with a loud exultation he yanked it from the box! “YOINK!”
Foiled again by that infernal PYRO! Side note, I did find
that record years later for half the price!
As everyone knows, Howie LOVED records of all kinds. One
listen to his show INTOXICA and you’ll hear everything under the sun. From some
insanely rare garage fuzz monster from Europe to some dollar record you somehow
missed while digging your local roadside junk shop. He was always on the hunt for records.
Whenever I went to a record show he insisted that I send him pictures of my
finds. It was a ritual. A ritual that makes me smile to this day. Many messages
would end with “I HATE YOU!” and a little laugh emoji. Just as many of my
messages to him ended the same way, or with a simple, “UGH!” Hardcore record collectors rib their friends
like the most hardened comic roasting a pal at the Friars Club.
In his 61 years Howie lived a life most of us would take 200
years to live. I swear he only slept a few hours a night. I would be up at 5:30
or 6:00 east coast time and we’d be messaging back and forth. Mrs Kogar would
exclaim; “who are you talking to at this hour?!” Before she asked the question
she knew who it was, it was Howie. Stephanie was always concerned with Howie’s
health telling me to tell him go to bed, eat a sandwich or drink some water.
When I was in Los Angeles for the Norton Records fundraiser
we spent a fair amount of time together. My first day there I don’t think I
slept for 24 hours (including the flight over). It was go go-go, go, go go-go,
(ya know?) in Howie’s world. Eventually, a few days after the fundraiser I was
all set (I thought) to appear on his show. It was a crazy time. I met him at
the station at the appointed time and when he got there about 15 minutes before
the show, he shouted, “oh no! I forgot all my stuff!” Since I was supplying the
records he had it in his head that he wouldn’t need to bring anything. But what
he forgot was all his cd’s that featured those iconic samples and station ID’s
he would use during the show.
We raced back to his house and then made it back to the
station a few seconds before he was to go on the air. In a rush, he gets all
set up and moments before hitting the “on air” button he looks over at me and says:
“Allright! Ready? I only want you to play records that I don’t have or that
have never been played on the show!” I
wish I could’ve seen the look on my face, as Howie gleefully hit the button to
start the show! This is the guy who has EVERYTHING! What was I going to
do?! The next two hours were complete
insanity in the best possible way. I never expected that kind of
curveball. After losing it for a few
seconds, I regained my composure and for the next two hours it was “do you have
this? Yes. Do you have this? No!” After the show the adventure continued as we
met some guy at a Denny’s so Howie could look through his records. There was
never a dull moment in Howie Pyro’s (Sick Sick) world.
After I posted the show on my blog he made this comment over
there:
“Thank you! Only a few certain people "rate" to
have my blind trust to just throw records down live on the air, but obviously,
you are one of them. Thanks so much for "reeling" with me! Haha
Reeling brings REALing, and my show, like much of my public life is fueled by
chaos, which is why i throw a curve ball to a guest sometimes before the
show...to make it as electric & alive as possible. You were a total pro
& I truly appreciate it.”
I could go on and on about various tales and cool times with
him, but I’ll save that for other posts.
When Howie started getting sick we would talk on the phone
and try to diagnose his ailments. Howie did not like doctors and told me that
he was so afraid of hospitals because of experiences in NYC in the 70’s. He
told me vivid stories of blood on the floor in hallways and other stuff right
out of horror movies. I tried to tell him that not all hospitals were like the
hospitals in NYC in the 70’s!
I was so happy when he found the right place to help him,
but happiness turned to despair when I found out it was his liver that was
giving him those pains in his side. I had issues with my gall bladder years ago
and was hoping it was something related to that. Sadly, it wasn’t.
I will leave it to his family to describe anything else of
what he went through these past months. There were so many ups and downs. So
much hope as well as despair. One of the times I talked to him on the phone he
had “gotten his voice back” and he sounded so strong. He sounded like the Howie
of old, or like what he sounded like on his radio show. We talked for hours like the old days. We
talked briefly of his experiences, but we mainly focused on the usual stuff.
What an absolute joy.
Back at the beginning of April I was in California for the
memorial service of another friend, Steve Pallow. This allowed me to call on
Howie at the apartment where he was convalescing. I can’t describe how good it was to see him.
He looked good, but he was weak from his previous battle with Covid related
Pneumonia. We did what we usually did. We talked about stuff that we are into.
We talked about Haunted George, and the memorial, and what a brilliant and
amazing guy he was. We talked about Howie’s struggles, his ups and downs. It
was just like he wasn’t recovering from a liver transplant. If you didn’t know
he had been through that it was pretty much just like our average
conversations.
He had a new pile of stuff to go through, which he did with
glee. He showed me that new Vampira book and it was like he was seeing it for
the first time. That was the teenager in him. Constantly there, excited by
something new and cool. I imagine nearly every day was like Halloween morning
for him. The Great Rat Fink had visited the night before and left packages of
books, records, posters and photographs. A common refrain from him was “what
about the paper?” He was fascinated with paper. Books, posters, comic books,
monster cards, fanzines, magazines. Paper, paper, paper.
I didn’t want to tire him out (usually it was the other way
around!), so after about 4-5 hours I had to leave. He gave me some magazines
that he had doubles of and said “you’ve gotta check these out!”
That was thing; he was always so generous with stuff,
especially information. He got off on and hearing stuff he didn’t know, and
always flooded others with information THEY didn’t know. We shared some of the
most amazing conversations over the years.
EVERY conversation with Howie led to some movie, book,
comic, record that you didn’t know, or that you HAD to check out IMMEDIATELY. I
will forever miss that amazing fount of unbelievable knowledge of everything
cool, weird and interesting.
I will miss our frequent messages about something new that
was coming out. The “oh my god! Did you see this?!” type of messages. Sometimes
it got to the point where when I heard my messenger ping, I would instinctively
reach for my wallet. But whatever it was that he “made” me check out, it was
like a drug for my ears, my brain or my eyes.
Howie, I love you and will miss you for the rest of my days.
I will always look back and remember fondly our time spent together and the
conversations we shared. Thanks for
allowing me in to your world and being part of mine. There will never be another like you…
