Howard passed away yesterday from a long battle with brain cancer.
For those in Tucson, celebrate his life. From musician, writer, painter,
and a thinker, this is a huge loss for all of us who ever lived in Tucson in
the 70's through the 90's especially.
He was a quiet man with great wit, great intellect, deep sarcasm when he
wanted, but above all a deep sense of who he was and the small amount
of people around him. He was that way. He didn't have to be friends with
everyone, only people that he could relate to in a small or bigger way.
Right now I am thinking when I first met Howard Salmon. He was in the
drummer in the Phantom Limbs, one of many bands that were part of the
late 70s beginning of the punk rock scene. He also was the creator of
"Slit Magazine" which printed maybe 50 copies in the beginning. It had
a collection of words and graphics covering the 'new' world of music that
was taking Tucson by charm at Pearl's, Club Europa, and many other
spots. In the early 80's Howard and I talked, and although I suspect he
felt I was the 'establishment' with Newsreal, my publication, at one
point he realized I surely wasn't. My offer to give him a page every
month in Newsreal was something Howard embraced. Newsreal had
a 20,000 circulation at that time. Many more would see what Howard
was creating. They did.
In the past decades we stayed in touch by phone mostly, which was
the choice by both of us. We had extremely deep conversations about
life, politics, and much more. He had confided to me well before he
publicly announced his illness. The key reason was, he knew of my
battle with bladder cancer in the mid 90's. Ok, that we had in common,
cancer, but we really covered many topics in all of our conversations.
As I get get older, numerous real friends of mine are passing. Each
one have special spots in my heart. Howard left us all with many
paintings, writings and more than anything, a Tucson icon of art.
Tucson, celebrate his life.
I just literally heard about this 15-minutes ago from David Robey. I am deeply saddened. Howard was a true friend. Not just from my old Tucson days, but even as recent as 5 years ago. We talked on the phone a lot in my leading up to moving to Berlin. We spoke on phone also after i moved up to about a year ago. I knew he was battling a brain tumor. In our last conversation about a year ago, he sounded much more uptempo and despite being ill, he wanted to still create. He was a quiet innovator, and Tucson, please remember him strongly. I am…crushed. So young.
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Howard passed away yesterday from a long battle with brain cancer.
For those in Tucson, celebrate his life. From musician, writer, painter,
and a thinker, this is a huge loss for all of us who ever lived in Tucson in
the 70's through the 90's especially.
He was a quiet man with great wit, great intellect, deep sarcasm when he
wanted, but above all a deep sense of who he was and the small amount
of people around him. He was that way. He didn't have to be friends with
everyone, only people that he could relate to in a small or bigger way.
Right now I am thinking when I first met Howard Salmon. He was in the
drummer in the Phantom Limbs, one of many bands that were part of the
late 70s beginning of the punk rock scene. He also was the creator of
"Slit Magazine" which printed maybe 50 copies in the beginning. It had
a collection of words and graphics covering the 'new' world of music that
was taking Tucson by charm at Pearl's, Club Europa, and many other
spots. In the early 80's Howard and I talked, and although I suspect he
felt I was the 'establishment' with Newsreal, my publication, at one
point he realized I surely wasn't. My offer to give him a page every
month in Newsreal was something Howard embraced. Newsreal had
a 20,000 circulation at that time. Many more would see what Howard
was creating. They did.
In the past decades we stayed in touch by phone mostly, which was
the choice by both of us. We had extremely deep conversations about
life, politics, and much more. He had confided to me well before he
publicly announced his illness. The key reason was, he knew of my
battle with bladder cancer in the mid 90's. Ok, that we had in common,
cancer, but we really covered many topics in all of our conversations.
As I get get older, numerous real friends of mine are passing. Each
one have special spots in my heart. Howard left us all with many
paintings, writings and more than anything, a Tucson icon of art.
Tucson, celebrate his life.
Will miss you my friend.