Fire Island DJ Howard Merritt
1951-2022
There were many DJs who added working on Fire Island to their resumes. It definitely added prestige. DJ Howard Merritt was one. Howard was a frequent visitor to the Pines as he had friends there, and would play at many house parties.
Howard Merritt started playing music in 1972 in New York. First major job was a club called “Flamingo” which was the greatest gay club to date according to many who lived it. He played at the Saint, the Ice Palace, 12 West, the Cock Ring, River Club, the Sandpiper, the Pavilion and other venues.
12 West 491 West Street (between 12th and Jane Street) Greenwich Village – Many well-known DJs have played at this famous club in New York City, Howard Merritt was among them. The list of contemporaries include Tom Savarese (first DJ), Jim Burgess, Alan Dodd, Jonathan Fearing, Jimmy Stuard (May 1976 – May 1977) Robbie Leslie (1979 – fall 1980) Jim Evangelista (final DJ) Art Figueroa (Guest DJ), Sharon White, John Ceglia, Kevin Burke and Casey Jones.
Howard Merritt visited the Pines at 19 years old and began his life as a houseboy. His DJ start began when he created music for his birthday party.
Pictured here with Jim Burgess for the famous Beach 79 party, Howard says, “Jim Burgess was the best DJ of my generation. We played together at the Beach Party and this picture taken was as he turned over the platform to me, after he had opened the event.
1979
“Pictured here in 1979 with friends and collaborators including disco superstar Slyvester.” Howard Merritt, while a resident in California, played at Dreamland in San Francisco and Revelations in Los Angeles. He was one of the first DJs to travel coast to coast on weekends to perform at the Pavilion. He was a regular DJ at the Sandpiper when the Tea Dance was the only event playing. No Mid-Tea, No High-Tea. According to Howard “It was the time you got to be seen and socialize with friends or strangers. It was the best of times.
Howard Merritt has had an illustrious career. During his years in New York he worked at Casablanca records office in promotion and in the A&R department until they closed the label. Working with such performers as Paul Jabara in the studio, and also did two remixes for Sylvester while in San Francisco.
Howard left New York in the late 1980’s and moved to Key West Florida to play at the famous Copa and then managed the club for 13 years.
DJ Howard Merritt resided in Fort Lauderdale Florida, and played gigs at Scandals where he helped all relive the memories of the past with the soundtrack to history…
A Grateful DJ Remembers and Honors Another
By DJ Robbie Leslie
I'd like to share a few memories of my friend Howard Merritt, who passed away this past Saturday, October 29th...
I really don't think I would have been the person or DJ that I am today had it not been for his friendship and the encouragement he gave to me.
Howard was part of a very small and tight-knit group of DJs in the New York area that all started in the early Seventies (or even the late 1960's) and each was successful and much in demand, playing clubs like Studio 54, Flamingo, Hurrah, 12West, Ice Palace, The Ring, Les Mouches, The Red Parrot, Underground, and others.
Howard's first summer gig on Fire Island had been in Cherry Grove at The Monster before Warren Gluck very successfully took up residency for many seasons. I met Howard on Fire Island around 1977, when I was a fledgling and very inexperienced DJ newbie. He was one of the summer season DJs at the Sandpiper, playing alternating Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays when he wasn't spinning in Manhattan. I usually bartended at The Sandpiper when Howard worked and I loved everything he played! I was a "sponge" at this point and absorbed all that I heard. (How fortunate was I to have such illustrious role models as Howard, Richie Rivera, Tom Moulton, Barry Lederer, Tom Savarese, Lary Sanders, and Alan Dodd, all spinning at the same club as me!) I would endlessly pester the guys after their sets on what new songs I didn't recognize. Each and every one was generous to a fault and indulged my queries.
Those late Seventies found Howard summering at a Fire Island house on Ocean Walk nicknamed "Turntable Towers" because it housed a constellation of DJs, light techs, and club upper echelon. One night I was invited over after the Sandpiper closed and we all listened to the brand-new and as yet unplayed Constellation Orchestra album from Prelude Records. To be invited into the home of some of my DJ idols made me at once grateful and humbled... and it was a wonderful feeling!
Back then, part of my "disco duties" were to keep the Sandpiper mirror balls cleaned, the pin-spot gels changed, and the booth tidy. One amusing memory comes from the summer of '78 when Howard was playing The Sandpiper on a Saturday night. "Born To Be Alive" was playing and the record began to skip over and over. Howard quickly mixed out of the offending song, and the night went on. The following day when I was sweeping the booth, shards of black vinyl were scattered everywhere. Howard, had snapped the disc in half sending pieces all over the booth. That defective record would never get airtime again!
Fire Island was and is renowned for its extravagant theme and house parties which go all the way back to the Thirties and Forties in Cherry Grove. One of the all-time greats occurred in 1978 with "Just A Party" - one of the first events that featured live name DJs and club-quality sound and light systems. The event was held at the house and grounds of Utopia on the Great South Bay. The occasion: the birthday blowout of Count Charles de Rohan Chabot, who later came to own the Pavilion. Howard and DJ Roy Thode shared the night with amazing music, and Howard's significant other of the time, Jorge Vilardell, ran the elaborate light show as hundreds of invited guests danced atop the specially covered swimming pool and deck. A well-wisher even parachuted down into the party for the perfect "entrance"!
In August of '79, the Fire Island Pines Community mounted a huge beachside dance event, named appropriately "Beach". It was a colossal effort and I was so happy that I was off work the night of the now legendary party and got to attend with my dear friend Robin and my brother and his girlfriend who had all flown in from Maine. Howard shared the turntables with DJ Jim Burgess. The night was unforgettable; everything was perfect, from the weather and the sound system to the live entertainment - The Ritchie Family, Bonnie Pointer, and France Joli's debut US performance! (Her first album was a monster smash that summer prior to her arrival!)
When I used to travel into Manhattan from Fire Island to get new music, Howard was working at Casablanca Records in addition to spinning at various clubs at night. Though I was a relative nobody in the industry back then, he always welcomed me as an old friend, showered me with any and all available promos, and would play some of the Casablanca and associated labels upcoming releases... of which there were a lot, and of the greatest quality! We also were both members of the same record pool, Judy Weinstein's "For The Record", which included in its roster the majority of NYC's A-List spinners.
He moved to San Francisco in early 1980 to begin a very successful residency at a major new private club, Dreamland. Our paths would cross again when we were both DJs at the famous landmark club The Saint. Years later, when I was booked to guest DJ for Florida's Copa Key West, we met again. He had eventually settled there and served at The Copa alternating as both DJ and general manager. Seeing him, and working together again, we resumed our relationship effortlessly as old friends do. He invariably made me feel welcomed and appreciated whenever I came to "the Southernmost City". I fondly remember countless visits to The Keys, first as a guest DJ flying down from New York, then making monthly appearances after moving myself to Fort Lauderdale and being hired at The Copa Fort Lauderdale.
In 2016, after leaving an unhappy residency in nearby Wilton Manors, I joined Howard at a small club called Scandals Saloon that was just beginning a rather disorganized stab at a Sunday Tea.
Moving to Scandals... The crystal clear metaphor was not lost on me: taking leave of an oppressive job in a gloomy space to the outdoor lightness, happiness, and artistic freedom that was Scandals Saloon. From darkness into light... literally!
Howard had been working at Scandals for some time both in management and music. While every other venue was dark and confined, choking with overused smoke machines, our goal was to create a fun and social outdoor Sunday event that took full advantage of Florida's beautiful weather as well as this club's enormous back patio. We wanted a beach bar vibe that was friendly, diverse, and casual.
When we first started out, we had next to no permanent equipment outdoors, and our ad hoc DJ booth was a couple of high-top cocktail tables. But... we began almost immediately to grow and word spread around town of a fun Sunday alternative to the same old-same old predictability of neighboring bars. DJ Frank Corr, also from New York, would join the team along with several popular local spinners each with their own popular following. Our Sundays are scheduled to take our friends and guests from a sunny Sunday afternoon into the beautiful subtropical dusk and sunset, then into the cool evening hours. The Scandals Sunday Tea is now a very popular not-to-be-missed weekly event here in Fort Lauderdale. Howard undeniably gets the credit for bringing this traditional afternoon Fire Island Tea down to South Florida!
Scandals Saloon earned my undying respect and support after I learned of Howard's stroke, recovery, and subsequent illnesses. The owners kept Howard on staff and on salary when I believe most other clubs would have withdrawn their financial and emotional succor. Though other gay businesses self-aggrandize themselves on their generosity and benevolence, I believe in what I see and know, and not necessarily in what I read.
Howard always impressed me with his thoroughly upbeat attitude and cheery presence in spite of being challenged by a series of health difficulties. I never once saw his mood sour or heard a word of self-pity, in spite of every trial he had to face.
Through it all, the vicissitudes of life and love, I want to acknowledge Howard's husband and life partner Dan Larrimore for his steadfast loyalty, his integrity, his good humor, his dedication, and his devotion until Howard's very last moments in this world. I can think of no greater demonstration of pure love than his faithfully walking Howard, hand in hand, to the gates of the Infinite. This is a gesture more munificent than any other... one that so many of us may probably never know.
Tonight, on SiriusXM Studio 54 Radio, I will be presenting an excerpt from Howard Merritt's Flamingo New Year's Eve 1979 recording. It airs at 9PM Eastern / 6PM Pacific on Channel 54.
It is through his music that Howard Merritt spoke beautifully and eloquently to so very many of us through the decades. It is an enduring gift from my friend that I am so proud to share with you all.
