Howie Klein: A Reminiscence From Noah
- Noah
- 15 hours ago
- 6 min read
This continues our tributes and reminiscences about this site's founder Howie Klein. For others in this series, click on the tag "Howie" at the end of any of these posts.
It Was A Privilege
by Noah
I remember it so clearly. One afternoon 45 years ago. I was sitting in my office at Columbia Records. It seemed I was literally brought in to work on the toughest projects and I had begun to euphemistically call my office "The Department Of Lost Causes," but funny enough, many of my projects had begun to unexpectedly (at least to the suits) make large amounts of money. So there I was that afternoon finding myself on the speakerphone with the company president, Al Teller, who was telling me he had just signed a deal to distribute Howie Klein's 415 Records label and he was sending Howie over to see me about getting Columbia's staff behind Howie's records and marketing them to the public. At that very moment Howie appeared at my door as if beamed to me straight from Teller's office.
Howie and I hit it off immediately. He was the living breathing antidote to the stifling corporate atmosphere around me. He had a positivity, a determination, an intellect, and sense of humor that made him an army of one. At the same time, he had a healthy disdain for close-minded fools and bullshitters. He was a warrior. In short; my kind of person! The company needed him as much as he needed the company even if the company couldn't see it. Howie's commitment, spirit, enthusiasm, or whatever you wish to call it, along with the quality of the music he brought to us was a wave of fresh air. There was an honesty and no bullshit quality about what Howie and his artists were doing that matched a growing potential public audience that was starved for fresh music and only needed to hear it.
The 415 Records music was already getting some good attention at various college radio stations around the country and a couple of us had noticed. That was due solely to Howie's indefatigable efforts and I knew we could quickly expand upon that. However, when it came to music that didn't fit a narrow formula, the porno-stached polyester wearing stiffs that programmed the nation's commercial radio stations literally had a list of (no exaggeration) 57 excuses as to why they just couldn't play a given record. The excuses ranged from, "We're already playing 3 records by women" to "too much guitar" to "not enough guitar." One excuse that was never on their list was their lack of imagination. As the great Frank Zappa used to say, "They wouldn't know music if it bit them in the ass." Also, when faced with a decision on whether or not to play a record, the radio programmers of the time had lost their way and started making that decision based on methods of ill-designed call-out research sampling or focus groups. They looked for reasons, even one, not to play a record as opposed to half a dozen reasons to put the record on the air and give it a chance with the public.
Howie and I had a logical counter to commercial radio's fear and obstinacy: In Howie's office in San Francisco, he featured a large handmade sign on a map of the USA that read, "All Bands On Tour All The Time!" In other words, take the artists and their art direct to the people. Over the next few years, as Howie's artists made their cases that way, we had some successes and, yes, we had some failures. Not everyone's a winner. As an aside, I feel compelled to add that, eventually, more and more radio stations switched from music programming to talk radio and all sports formats. To this day, many radio people have never figured out why they failed at music programming.
After a few years, Howie and I each went our separate ways in the music industry and used what we had learned very well. We also never lost touch with each other and we frequently got together and traded war stories either on the phone or over a meal. Those conversations usually amounted to brainstorming sessions for artists that we were each involved with through the separate companies we worked for. A few times, Howie even tried to slot me into jobs where he was working. Unfortunately, the last and best one would have required a move of 3000 miles that I was not willing to make.
By 2002, Howie was gone from the corporate world, having accepted a buyout after the failure of the infamously ill-fated merger of Warner Brothers and AOL At the same time, I was enjoying a life as a "studio rat," independently working directly in the actual making of records for whoever picked up the phone and called me. One day Howie emailed me and asked what I was up to. I told him I was working on a Leonard Cohen project that week and, other than that, I was stewing about George W. Bush and proceeded to name the ten or so politicians in Washington that I could stand. I gave details about each one, all Democrats. He immediately wrote back that his good guy list was exactly the same and for the very same reasons! Just like with music, our tastes in politicians matched; no real surprise there. Then, he sprung it on me: He told me he had a blog called DownWithTyranny up and going and needed a couple of good writers, so when could I send him my first post! I told him I had something to say about our New York Democratic Senate primary. He said, "Great. I can post it tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 if you get it to me by morning." That was the new beginning.
Howie Klein was a great man and a great friend. His life was full and it was as fascinating as it was adventurous. If you've read any of his memoir postings, you already know that. Already, there is talk of a documentary. Just the tiniest bit of examination shows how well regarded and effective he was for the progressive movement. Recognition often came his way in the form of awards, such as two from People For The American Way, one of which he co-shared with a fellow progressive warrior, Rob Reiner.
Howie spent his life fighting for his causes and the good in this world with the same determination, spirit and attitude that he used when working on behalf of his artists. He fought two of the worst forms of cancer a human can get. The first time it was Mantle Cell Lymphoma. That was 12 or so years ago when that cancer was still a death sentence. He didn't accept the prognosis of a quick death that he got from the first doctors he went to. He found one at The City Of Hope who was and still is the preeminent authority on how to fight Mantle Cell and she gave him 10 more years of life, but I will always believe that a lot of that miracle was partially due to the same determination, spirit, and confidence that he faced down every problem he encountered. He was still the man who took the massive ridicule and skepticism when he booked the then unknown Doors, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix for shows at Stony Brook while he was attending college there.
The second cancer was Pancreatic Cancer and he was just as determined to beat it. The advanced treatment he underwent was both brutal and the best available. He faced it with all his trademark confidence, inner strength and bravery. It just didn't work out, but I have no doubt that he'd make the same choices again. He knew that you have no chance of winning if you don't get out on the field and play. Howie wanted to live. He felt he had more missions to see through. I am glad that I told him he was always one of my all time very favorite people. I am heartbroken now, but I know that he would tell me not to be. That gets me through.