The media is revering late Howie Pyro, a bittersweet situation for everyone who knew Pyro well. Pyro died on May 04, 2022, due to coronavirus-related pneumonia complications. The 61-year-old bassist was among the influential and exceptional people with the charisma and taste to change the energy whenever he desired. People in Los Angeles were fortunate to call Pyro one of their own for over 20 years.
It seemed like Pyro beat death after his successful liver transplant. He had been recuperating in an LA hospital in the last few months before his death. However, he got coronavirus-related pneumonia during rehabilitation after his transplant. His operation was successful, but the virus affected his lungs in a fatal way.
Do you like punk rock or rock and roll? If so, your social networking feeds may have been full of remembrances and photographs of Pyro over the last few days. Pyro was a friendly, fascinating and funny person who always stood with fans and friends for goofy selfies. Pyro was among the first celebrities featured in the column known as ‘Lina in L.A.’ on LA Weekly that spotlighted nightlife figures. LA Weekly featured Pyro as the bassist was packing Footsies and other hipster bars with what appeared to be an old telephone receiver as a headphone playing obscure and weird rock and roll music.
Pyro described it as danceable rock and roll music, an unprecedented form of enterainment for the crowd with shaggy hair and skinny jeans. Nevertheless, Pyro made the crowd dance, and it was wonderful to watch.
LA Weekly wrote about him for a feature published on June 27, 2017, about his vinyl records in Los Angeles. After that, LA Weekly discussed Pyro’s life many times and possibly co-creating his autobiography. Pyro was also an accomplished writer with bylines for Dangerous Minds a while ago but told LA Weekly that he did not want an autobiography. He realized that an account of his life was rife with mind-bending book material. However, he did not feel comfortable about sharing that material in the capacity of an author. LA Weekly and Pyro discussed that some times as he shared Forrest Gump-like stories during those conversations. The similarity with Forrest Gump concerned not only the people Pyro used to hang out with but also his action to impact culture, particularly in NY.
‘Hot Licks With Lina’ became a Tuesday night event around two years before and became a lead-in show for Intoxica with Howie Pyro. He entertained listeners for a while with Intoxica Radio available on LuxiuraMusic. As the name of the show would suggest, it is no hyperbole to say that Pyro intoxicated LuxiuraMusic listeners.
At the time, show host Lina Lecaro, who also worked for LA Weekly, found it an honor. However, LA Weekly knew Pyro before that as it wrote about what he did as a disk jockey. While Pyro was most popular for his stent with D Generation and Danzig, he played for several other bands.
As LA Weekly was supposed to write regarding one of those bands, it found that he had departed after disagreement with their other members. There were allegations, and LA Weekly realized that it had to discuss Pyro’s version of events. He frequently told LA Weekly that not only he would not forget that episode but it also brought back his belief in media for a while. Lecaro and Pyro turned good friends over time and shared several mutual connections.
Lecaro always expected to see Pyro working at events, including the Johnny Ramone Tribute at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Tiki Oasis festival, and Ace Hotels events. Lecaro and her team would often accompany Pyro in his DJ booth to not only absorb his energy, mojo and humor but also watch him choose from his collection of vinyl records.
LA Weekly wrote about Pyro several times in the last many years, including for features about events where he was a part and a piece regarding Facebook’s crackdown on odd names. The Facebook measure disproportionately hurt music figures and the queer community. Examining the measure more closely led to the reconsideration from Facebook of its position before Pyro could keep using his name as part of his activity on this social networking website.
There will never be another Howie Pyro. Nobody can ever create the same kind of heat on dance floors as Pyro did. No one can match Pyro’s passion for old films and vintage music. Further, nobody will have the stories and experiences that Pyro did. No one will be just as cool as Pyro, either.
Besides long chats, Lecaro and Pyro shared emails much about his prospective biography five years ago. There is a lot of brilliance in the email exchanges between Lecaro and Pyro that were never used as part of a story on LA Weekly.