Thoughts about Harry
This is micro. I've managed to gain access to Harry's blog, and I've turned off the requirement to be a registered user to post. So feel free to express your thoughts about Harry.
posted by Harry at Wednesday, May 24, 2006
37 Comments:
Steamy summer night in Newburyport and Harry decides that we need to take a dip.
He hops on his 10-speed and dares us to keep up.
Me, Lloyd and some other suckers try and keep it close. He tears up Carter Street. I catch a glimpse as he tucks into a right turn on High Street.
No idea where he's going. Just peddling away, happy as a freakin clam.
It'still hot, but the sun's dipping. It's a long, slow, up- hill ride. I'm drenched when we cross 95.
The sign says West Newbury.
I can see him, but he's pulling away. Lloyd's making a race of it, but Harry is hauling ass.
The last leg is down hill and I suck in the air, salt in my eyes.
Harry dumps the bike, jumps off the side of the road on the left and is in the water - Buck Naked - before Lloyd, Kira and I even get there.
(A little further and we'd be at The Space).
Cars are buzzing by. We frolic. Nobody cares.
Night falls. The water cools. We ride back, much more slowly. Friendly's looks invighting (Was Friz working that night??)
Back at Kira's and there's XTC on the radio ("Generals and Majors").
Lloyd wins spin the bottle.
Harry's not at all happy.
He storms out. I have no idea where I am, so I follow him. We cross Route 1, past the sub shop.
We peddle back to our side of town.
We miss you already, Harry.
Wed May 24, 11:21:00 PM
Ahh, skinny dipping at Artichoke Dam, more commonly known as the Newburyport Water Supply. That was some fine swimming. I only did it once, late at night after a play on the common by the Children's Theater. After all was said and done, Harry drove us home in someone's car. All in all, a surreal evening. There were many.
micro
Wed May 24, 11:35:00 PM
not a fan of the posion ivy at the artichoke. not a fan at all.
I've been listening to the "new wave" station on Sirius radio and almost every song reminds me of a funny story from the Port days.
One time, we had to move a bunch of us from Prosect Street to somewhere. Only one car. My mother's Dodge Omni. How many kids can you fit in a Dodge Omni? The answer is 14... if you put Harry in the trunk. At least I think it was 14. Too many stories to tell.
I look forward to seeing my old friends soon to recount the tales of HBII.
Thu May 25, 07:41:00 AM
I met Harry when he was working in tech support at Layered. Instant friends, I introduced Darryl to him, and had many StarCraft games and discussions about R2D2 in the bathroom (when he lived with Ro in Somerville).
A few years later D and I are renting a house in Reading, and our third roommate is moving out, and Harry needs an new place. Match made in Heaven. Our landlord even waved the "no cats" rule for Harry. He needed to learn to drive then, having moved out of the city, and he ended up taking his drivers test in my little box on wheels, my Renealt Alliance.
Sometime during our time in that house, D was on travel, and I came home from RI with a batch of small red peppers from my families garden. Knowing my family, I figured they were a nice mild pepper. So I added ALL of them to some spagetti sauce. Harry came home with Micro, and I invited them to dinner.... OMG, we melted our faces CLEAN off! Harry and Micro were chowing, barely able to speak, sweating out of every orifice on their bodies, and loving it! And they both went back for seconds!
I remember when I was working for Articulate systems, and brought home a Voice Navigator (computer voice command controller) and Harry thought it was a good thing to try on adventures games.... until you get all excited, and your voice changes... and I don't think it responded well to the "GO F***ING RIGHT" command. Hmmmm....
I love going skiing with him and Ellen and remember the time we got home to Reading after a HUGE storm, and had to dig our way IN to the driveway...
Sooooo many good memories... What an awesome friend... I miss you!
-Beth
Thu May 25, 09:12:00 AM
I passed Harry today - it was just like so many times before. He was driving the Rover on a country road in Littleton where he and Ellen lived for years.
His windows down, hair in a ponytail, tanned and wearing dark glasses, the music blasting away - he smilled that beaming smile and waved as he blew by going way too fast.
I smiled, rolled down my windows, turned up the music and went to work happy/sad/glad/mad.
I am still traveling the same roads and Harry's memory goes with me.
Elizabeth
Thu May 25, 11:54:00 AM
What a Geek
Thinking back to the first time I met you, you were sharing a house with other friends of mine north of Boston. There were wires running everywhere through the house. Oh my, another computer geek friend, I said with a chuckle... Yet, you smiled and was quick to reply how handy it was to have an intranet within the house and brag about upload/download transfer speeds. I tripped over yet another wire, as we all headed off to meet Roger Dean at a Newbury Street gallery. You fit right in with us and were an instant friend.
Always up on Gadgets
Fast forward a few years... the cool Gerber leatherman tool with all sorts of blades, screwdrivers and such... I had to ask..."what do you need all that stuff for?" "shit happens...tools help" you said, "You never know when you're going to have to cut your way out of a corporate jungle someday. I grinned, it was just the answer I knew you'd say.
Connect-da-dots and the Land of the Mad Elves
All those summer parties. Look! Here comes the Land Rover, Harry and Ellen are here... excellent, prepare for conversations of epic proportions. The drinking, yes we did a lot... for me, it was weekend escapism with all my favorite friends, for you Harry, a hushed, personal road to a dark territory, where no one could follow. I guess, in the long run, the drinking was always there. I never really noticed it or I put a blind eye to it.
Emails and Phone conversations...
Just got an email from Ellen; life took a sharp turn around a big bend with the two of you... I wouldn't be seeing that Land Rover any more. I often spoke with you on the phone, you would always tell me not to worry, that you were happier and that you seemed to be doing better. Conversation would turn back to Macs and Cats. What's the latest things Roswell and Savannah had done.
I'll miss you.
That brilliant computer savvy mind is now gone, dreaming in a PC-free land where MACs hang from trees, ripe for the picking.
Chris W.
Condolences to Ellen and Harry's Mom and Dad.
Thu May 25, 12:29:00 PM
Form my blog.
When Brendan called me and said "I've got some bad news" I thought 'fuck! this is one of those moments I am gonna remember forever and it has to be set in the McDonald's in ghetto Schenectady'.
It was bad, but expected news. My friend, mentor, confidant and brother has died. I will never be able to look at a Mac, Rover or fucking cat without thinking of Harry. Much has been said about his alcoholism, so I won't say anymore, I know enough to be dangerous on that front.
I am so lucky to have grown up in Newburyport during my teen years. Somehow I found myself doing lights and sound at the Screening Room for an Anna Smallpox (spell check did that and HB would think that was funny) production. It was 1983, that's when I met HB and his weirdo friends at 19 1/2 Prospect Street. I had just moved into town and needed friends, these people held my attention. Unsure what to think, I finally decided that Harry was kosher when we had the same taste in music and shared a fondness for skateboarding. We also liked to party. We did plenty of that.
The party went on too long and took its toll- on Harry, his friends, family and most of all, his lovely wife. My involvement in that part of the story fills me with remorse.
Harry was a deep guy, he taught me that it was OK to think.
I love you Harry and will miss you buddy,
Dickie
Thu May 25, 01:42:00 PM
I knew Harry since he was a skinny,black haired, very white, teenager, that used to play dungeons and dragons in my family's basement.
Funny how your brothers childhood friends can truly start to feel like family. (that goes for you too Mike)
I am much harder hit by his passing then I ever thought I would be.
I just felt the need to post.
I will miss your great big bear hugs and you calling me squirt.
Dago's littlest sister
Thu May 25, 03:49:00 PM
I met Harry at Boston University’s computer store back in the early 90’s. We shared a passion for all things Apple & 8 ball (no slop). I was the one who encouraged (Read: begged, pestered and nagged) him to apply to Harvard Business School’s IT contractor. I thought he’d be fun to work with, and tried to make an opportunity for him.
We worked together for 2 years. I’ll always remember his sunny disposition, his quick wit and sense of cool. Oh! and those Littleton yard parties. My snowboard is now named after him, as a tribute. Like most of you, I tried my best to lessen the weight of this world for him, with a joke or some advice, letting him know that he was loved.
Harry, my friend, rest in peace.
Tracy (Myss Teree)
Thu May 25, 05:47:00 PM
I can't believe that your gone, Harry. When you are on my mind (and it will be often), I think that I will most remember lying flat on my back, looking at the sky, talking about anything and everything. On the bluff above Lorraine the pink steamshovel, watching the clouds drift by, talking about The Dragonriders of Pern and Logan's Run (would life be better if it ended at twenty-one?). On the roof of the pump house, watching for shooting stars and talking about girls. And in the wet grass, watching lightning crackle across the thunderous skies. Those were the formative years of my life, and you helped me to see the beauty, humor and irony in the world in a way that may have otherwise escaped me for years. Sleep well, my brother.
Thu May 25, 09:12:00 PM
Here's a little YKYBOTLW tribute to the only man I knew who had a Wookie that wore sunglasses.
OMFG WTF NFW!... Harry, please tell me you're J/K, that this is just some surreal OTT RPG and that you are just AFK so I can LMAO while you're ROFL... but no, IRL I'm SOL, at least that's the FYI I just got.
So I guess all I can say is BFN and THX 1.0E6. I'll catch you on the other side where we'll REHI in that MUD in the sky; and when I TTYL we'll look back and LOL over all the PEBKAC issues we can think of.
In the mean time, IMHO I think you should take some time to RTFM _before_ you come down next time. Otherwise it might be just as FUBAR and you'll end up with JASE.
CYA & pax,
mjb
Thu May 25, 10:51:00 PM
First vision that comes to mind, was the last time I saw you. Right before you headed west, you came over…enticed by the audio equipment I had in my basement, looking for a new home. We said goodbye…your arms loaded with my old gear. Glad to hear it’s going to help less fortunate kids. So much better than collecting dust.
Rewind to the very early nineties… New job at the Phoenix, I knew no one there, and was overwhelmed by the whole experience. Then, while walking around the sea of cubicles, I discovered your little IT island. Computers everywhere, snowboard propped up against the wall, you were sitting reading a wonderfully strange magazine I had never heard of before. You put down your copy of WIRED, looked up at me and we were instantly good friends. Our interest in technology, music, and the combination of the two bound us together for the next fifteen years. From the time you helped me purchase my immensely powerful Mac IIci (33mhz!), to the years you were the head tech/roadie/and biggest fan of my band. You fixed everything we gave you, and kept us up and running. Quite a task in the early days of electro industrial music, before the magic boxes, and laptops of today. We borrowed and swapped much gear over the years. And when you weren’t home, we always arranged to leave it in the camper in the driveway, which gave it a strange kind of secret spy feeling.
After you moved you were a constant instant message companion. Was nice to know that someone else was on as much and as late as I am. I’m sorry we didn’t hook up in Vail, but I’m glad that we were able to IM as recently as a couple weeks ago. Roverhbrown will remain in my buddy list…just in case.
Brad
Fri May 26, 12:42:00 PM
Harry, I will miss your smiling face and remember you as the scrawny teen in black t-shirts, skin so white you glowed walking past all the tan campers, head so high you had to duck to get in the basement to get to Dago's place. You really were part of the family. Be at peace, Harry.
...Dago's other little sister
Fri May 26, 12:54:00 PM
harry, rest in peace brother
as the song says
"Like a steam locomotive
rolling down the track
He's gone
He's gone
and nothing's gonna bring him back"
but ya never forget seeing that train...
Fri May 26, 01:31:00 PM
I read these comments from my brother, Dickie, Dago, Brendan and other friends and the flood of memories and emotions is huge! Someone mentioned formative years, brother those were the best years! My life doesn't suck, but the summer of 84 will always be the best and only fuckin summer that ever was! The sound track alone belongs in some blockbuster, syncronisity? Smash it up,anything from the talking heads, yes I'll say it, born in the usa by bruce springstien. Does anyone remember how Harry would cringe whenever sluggo would put that record on? I know that I was, and probably remained just a friends little pain in the ass brother, but thank you Harry! Thanks for letting me crash on the floor on prospect street and not ratting me out when my mom called! Thanks for letting me hang out at diyno record's and not buy anything. Thanks for sharing you're extra cheesey mac n cheese. Thanks for turning me on to Quadrophenia. Thanks especially for explaining to me that listening to Led Zep was ok but maybe it was time to move on. Thanks for walking me through piercin my own ear and giving me my first ear ring, except for Chris Moore I was the only kid in middle school with one, boy if I was as cool as i thought i was back than I'd be one cool M.F. Someone said it already, living in Newburyport was the best and i'm not knockin it but in short, thankyou Harry for showing me that it was ok to be different in a town filled with preppy jock meat heads! You will be missed!
Sun May 28, 03:17:00 PM
Hello friends of Harry,
I know there are many of us out there, because Harry was such a personable, likable fellow. He had a way of connecting with you, and making you feel special. I always felt accepted and liked around him, and loved soaking up his magnificent bear hugs. The number of people that showed for his and Ellen's annual BBQs were a testament to his magnetism -- although, I think his beef ribs were so awesome, that may have played a big part too!
I remember fondly the memorial day weekends on the Vineyard or Nantucket with my husband Gregg, micro, Ellen, Karen, Kristen. Cheese Whiz, dictionary games, drinking. Having Ellen and Harry over for Easter a couple of times. I remember talking with him at the party after my wedding. He called me a "sick cookie" because he had listened to a CD that I gave to him, that had some off center humor.
I'm sad, of course, that Harry wasn't able to make himself happy. I'm sad for the stress I saw in Ellen's face. I got a drunken phone call one evening, as I think alot of you may have. I feel bad about not wanting to talk with him at that time. The last thing he said was "I love you."
I love you too, Harry.
xoxo, Ann
Sun May 28, 08:14:00 PM
In my early teens and a 'good girl', my friendship with David (Dago) brought me regularly into the basement of his parents' house where I discovered a new world... D&D, Bowie, endless Doritos and Mountain Dew -- and Harry Brown. All completely innocent and safe (despite what it may sound like!), but with just a touch of danger and excitement - and helmed by Harry as our DM, friend, stand-up comedian, and 'establishment basher'.
I remember those times only as happy and exciting (even punctuated by pre-teen drama as they always were) and Harry really was the first person I knew who opened my world up a bit -- bad isn't always bad and good isn't always good, but laughter is essential and goddamn it, don't take yourself so seriously!
Throughout the subsequent 25+ years (jesus!) we saw each other on and off - cookouts at David's, his wedding, cookouts at the Littleton house, on the slopes of some ski resort (can't remember for the life of me which one) as I was learning to snowboard, and a subsequent weekend where we met him at the camp at the bottom of Tuckerman's Ravine... regardless of when we saw each other or how long it had been since the last time, I was always greeted with a bear hug, a huge grin, and he always had a twinkle in his eye (perpetually a cross b/w jolly, protective and lecherous ;-)
My husband has struggled with many of the same demons that have plagued Harry over the years, and I am so grateful that Shaun has been blessed enough to get to a place of recovery. I only wish that Harry had had that same blessing.
I miss him terribly, but I know that he is smiling down on all of us now, in a more peaceful place, but I am positive that he still has that same loving, jolly, protective and lecherous look in his eye - and is giving us all perpetual bear hugs.
Sun May 28, 11:49:00 PM
It's been just about 17 years. At times it seems like seconds, and at times it feels like a lifetime. I had been "borrowed" by the Phoenix from the Providence NewPaper, which worked out well, since I wanted to move to Boston. Me and my Mac Plus were given the task of laying out a whole entire tabloid paper for some external client. It was bit too much to ask of the thing, and it just gave up. I knew what to do, but no one around me had a clue where the system disks were. Someone pointed me to a cube in the back of the production area, and there he was, the guy with the pony tail that would save my day... and affect the rest of my life. Little did I know it was the begging of a crazy, sometimes surreal journey.
The last few days. have been a series of one-liners and snippets of conversations running through my head. I feel like someone punched me in the stomach, yet I find myself smiling. How could I not? He always made me...
"You're doing what??"
- Making a 24 page newspaper.
"Well, that's f*****. Here let's give you more RAM. Don't tell. I don't have enough to go around"
Some days/weeks go by... (wasn't counting...)
"I need to get under your desk"
- Why? What's wrong?
"Don't know yet, but you're wearing that short skirt, so I am sure there's something I need to do there".
I should've smacked him.
Oh, wait. I did.
For a while, a year or two maybe, we had lunch together almost every day. One day this other guy showed up. Matt, Harry and I started being called The Three Musketeers, as we tried to convert a whole newspaper into electronic publishing. Harry was in charge. It was the wildest of rides.
"Uhm. How fast can you recreate that section?"
Harry would cheer me on when I was sent back to Providence to try to bring that paper into the desktop publishing age. He just thought it was hilarious when the meetings would be 13 guys (sorry, men) and me.
As a single mom, I would miss most of the parties, most of the crazy weekends, and... most of his friends. The stories were so wild!
Two guys drag themselves in one Monday morning...
- What happened to you?
"We went boarding. We can't move."
When I left the Phoenix (or did the Phoenix leave me? Hmmm. Harry and I were still having that discussion a year or two ago...) he showed up at my door with a Mac. His Mac.
"Here, I brought this"
- But.. it's your Mac!!!
"Yeah, well, I'm at work all day. You need to freelance. I have another one. I put SimCity there. It kicks ass. You can't just work..."
We three, or sometimes us two, would still meet for lunch, two, three times a week. Andrés was in daycare; daytime was when I could join in. And that was OK. And I loved him for it. I missed most of the parties until the kid was about two and a half... I could tell this whole kid thing was foreign to Harry... Andrés must have been a little over one for this:
One day Harry had come to visit...
"Your kid is sitting on the toilet."
- Well... I am a girl, ya know?
"Oh yeah. I know. Come on kid... let me show you some stuff."
(I'm sure the Kid loves this... 14 days before graduation...)
Some time goes by...
"He's old enough. Bring him along"
- Uhm...
"You silly person. Just bring him."
That's when I met his other friends...
"They're good people"
- I see that... Why are they wearing funny clothes? (It was a D&D session...)
"You've been tooo good too long. Go get a drink. They'll make more sense that way."
Then there was the Layered period. They needed a designer, and Harry just handed George the phone and walked away.
"You are in the best of hands..." I heard the trailing voice say.
Lunch, somewhere in Cambridge. Kid's bored and getting annoying. Harry hands the child a mouse out of his bag o'tricks. The kid looks at it, intently. We're talking. Harry notices the stare.
"He's waiting for the rest of the Mac, ain't he?
- Uhm, I guess...
"Oh, hell..." (and out comes one of the first Powerbooks ever...)
"Do something amazing with it kid"
A few months, maybe a lot of months? go by...
"Hey, there's this woman. I need you to meet her, and I need you to like her."
- Oh?
"Well... I like her, so you better..."
I did. Love her dearly...
I met a guy too. Harry and Ellen approved. I ended up moving to Pennsylvania.
"Hey..." seemed to start every phone conversation.
When we'd visit, it was as though I had never left. Except I got extra of those great, great hugs, when I arrived and before I left.
I did lose track of most of his other friends, though, which stinks. But it is great now to be sharing stories...
There were crazy supermarket tours as I tried to find a lot Linguiça to bring back home, and one memorable bar hopping evening, which was just insane, and the beginning of my serious worries. A few months ago he called, like he did so many times in the last year or two... "I need to talk, and everyone else will give me a hard time." I wish I had kept it that way... I got angry one day, and said stuff elsewhere on this blog. Though we didn't talk every day, or even every week, the silence then was weird... I had no clue where or how to get a hold of him, so I had to wait. Then he finally wrote. I had never been mad at him before, or I never told him I was, anyway. He finally got his phone back, and we talked one day. It was a loooong conversation, and much of it made no sense... I tried to make sense out of his logic, and for once I just couldn't. He tried to tell me he had lost his ability to be kind, and I knew that was nearly impossible, not him. There isn't a bigger heart many places. We argued about him sending food to New Orleans...
- You can't afford to do that! Let me do it; I'll do it for you.
"Well, I did already."
- OK, so I'll send food to you.
"Just send the cats some treats if you want."
It all makes less sense now.
I keep thinking he's going to show up...
'Lo...
- Hey...
"Did you see that new Gabriel DVD?"
- Yeah...
Oh Harry...
One of your last messages said simply "42". Is it really the answer? I know you're watching us... How's the new digs?
I miss you.
Much love,
xoxo
Anabella
Mon May 29, 05:43:00 AM
A poem I first heard recited by C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy in the 1983 movie, "The Outsiders," these are the words of Robert Frost:
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Tue May 30, 01:30:00 PM
oh, harry.
where would i begin? So much began with you.
you brought so many of us together.
good god my first memory of you is of all things going to see Caddyshack. ferried there in the back of a truck, you me and lloyd.
after that, there are so many memories, the slideshow is out of order and quirky.
walking to your house in the morning before school.
Sitting on the porch of 19 Washington stree, watching the world go by.
Blacklights.
Glow stars on the ceiling.
playing D&D in basements and living rooms everywhere.
God, your apartment with the graffiti walls, where i later ended up living, long after the walls had been painted. There was still a small bit of writing left in the pantry closet, ghosts of parties past.
so many parties.
You at the lightboard in the back of the Theatre, a space heater by your feet cuz it was so freakin cold....
Blacklights and Bowie and the Kinks and oh dammit.
dammit.
dammit.
we lost touch so long ago.
i never forgot you though, and how could i have?
always always unforgettable harry brown.
May you be at peace, sir.
be at peace.
Tue May 30, 03:43:00 PM
Where to start. Lots of memories. Hard to make sense of them all.
The infamous sign-stealing incident.
Skinny-dipping at the reservoir. Harry trying to buy beer at that packy on Water Street, the one time he got carded ("Um, I know I have that ID in here somewhere..."). Tech crew for Arts in the Park ("Farts in the Dark").
That amazing, unreal punk-rock summer of '84 (well, the Newburyport version of punk rock, anyway!). The crazy apartment on Prospect Street. Bill the Cat on the bathroom door. Chris Sawtelle getting kicked out of his parents' house for having purple hair (my, how times have changed). Music, music, music. Harry and Sluggo always had something new to listen to, and it was usually pretty fucking awesome (with the exception of a few, um, questionable choices by Harold; I'm thinking of his fondness for the works of Larry Fast/Synergy and the second Buggles album).
Staying up all night with Harold and Dago at the apartment on Mission Hill. Staying up all night with Harold and T.Q. the first weekend they moved into the Central Street apartment in Somerville. "Want to leave?" "We're waiting for 'Fire on the Mountain'!"
I lived across the hall from Harry for a couple of years in Somerville, and then lost touch with him. I would occasionally have some minor contact but only a couple times that I can recall in the 15+ years since he moved out of that apartment.
It's hard to put it all together and try to make sense of the creature that was Harold Brown. Harry was someone who always had a story to top whatever story you were telling ("You met Mick Jagger? Well, let me tell you about the time I helped him change a flat tire and got him to the stadium just in time for the first number..."). If all of his stories he told of his pre-Newburyport life are to believed (and I'm not saying I believe them all), he had more life experience before he turned 20 than most people have in their whole lives.
Most of all, I guess Harold was a guy who was never afraid to take a chance, go for it, jump in the deep end, eat the peach. That attitude got him in trouble more than once (as his ex-girlfriends could no doubt attest), but it meant that things were never boring when Harry was around. Who else, after being busted red-handed for stealing a Stop sign, would have the cojones to try to lie his way out of it? Was that smart? Not particularly, but it certainly wasn't boring either, and it gave us a story we'll remember for the rest of our lives (and an excuse to visit the Fish Tale in the middle of the night).
Most of all, I guess I'll remember Harry as a guy who always wanted to have a good time, and who always wanted his friends to have a good time.
The last time I talked to Harry was in 2000. A friend of mine from work was going to work at the Boston Phoenix, and Harry was working there at the time, and while playing "Do you know... ?", my name had apparently come up. Harry told me that he had spent much of the previous year selling Y2K survival kits via mail order (and making good money), which, then and now, sums up Harold about as well as anything else I could think of. God rest you, Harry, and I hope you've found some peace.
"Such a long, long time to be gone, and a short time to be there."
--Art
Tue May 30, 04:10:00 PM
PS: Big up to Dago, Kira, Brett, and everyone else I haven't seen or talked to in 15-20 years. It's a damn shame it takes something like this to get us back in touch. I hope to see some of you at Dago's this Saturday. If anyone wants to get in touch, I'm at
u- p-s -e--t- t-e--r-AT-a-g--i-t- a-t o-r-s.com (remove the hyphens and spaces).
--Art
Tue May 30, 04:34:00 PM
what art said, above.
but in a way, it's somehow fitting - considering how much of a catalyst he always was.
I only hope he knew how much he'd meant to us all, throughout the many phases of our lives.
and -
if anyone wants to get in touch, i'm at:
k-i-r-a-s-a-n AT c-o-m-c-a-s-t DOT NET
(remove hyphens, etc. you know the drill)
Tue May 30, 04:59:00 PM
So long old friend,
Thanks for all the memories, adventures
and other weird insanity
Tim
Tue May 30, 08:00:00 PM
I met Harry at Layered in the late 80s. He taught me about computers and how to play craps. He taught me about the desert and 4x4s. He taught me how to get into MacWorld parties, one way or another. He taught me about how to be a friend. I still have a lot to learn from him.
Anne (my wife) and I shared many happy times with Harry and many of you. Friday nights in Somerville after tech support all week, the mesa and the rest of SW Utah, San Jose and Santa Cruz, snowboarding fiascoes (speaking entirely for myself), the Dead and all-night casino action in Vegas, pub crawls through Cambridge. Like some others here, I drank a lot with Harry, so some of my favorite memories are now tinged with regret. I think I’m OK with it and I cherish those times with him regardless. Harry was very much his own man, with his own deep strengths and awful demons. I know he changed me, but I don’t know if I could have changed him. Much as I now wish.
Writing this I miss him so much.
-- Steve
Thu Jun 01, 10:05:00 AM
Harry,
I first met you the summer you were 16. Your Dad came into our campground office and said, "this is my son Harry." There stood an articulate, unique, self confident teenager, who soon found his way into our hearts (and our cellar!) How many games of D&D were played down there? How many gallons of Mountain Dew (and what else?!) were consumed?
You accompanied me to David's parades to see him march and play the sax, you stood by our family and supported us through my husband's illness and death, and always welcomed me with a big hug after time intervened between visits.
You became a part of our family as a teenager and remained there when you became a man.
Good-bye sweet Harry...you are gone too soon.
Love,
Mary Lou
(Dago's mom)
Thu Jun 01, 12:47:00 PM
Tearin' up at the moment in a dark net cafe lit by Macs - s'ok tho I'm the only one left here - get it together Henry you haven't had contact with the guy in over ten years,...but I guess that works into it too huh,...been looking for him online off and on for a while now - and now I'm here and I'm late - he always knew me as a forever late one, - so there we are.
Not long after meeting Harry I wanted to be him - I still do actually,...up to and including the past decade that I didn't know him at all - I'm sure about that,...what a hapless lucky jerk I was to come into contact with such a quality human being.
I'm off to find the largest glass of Rum available on Newbury Street with Gene - we'll toast Harry, smile...laugh - work in unison to recall and swap bits of Harry related info that's taken permenant residence in our minds,...and order another.
So long Harry, and thanks.
Thu Jun 01, 09:06:00 PM
Oh ya I forgot, Aaack! Thbbbbbbdt!!!!!!!!
Fri Jun 02, 02:05:00 AM
When Ellen emailed me the news, so many memories came to mind. I met Harry when he and Caroline were dating and he remained a part of my life when he met and married my friend Ellen. Harry will always be remembered by me as the man with a heart of gold. I pray that he has found peace now.
Corinne
Fri Jun 02, 03:31:00 PM
I met Harry back in the early eighties when he would come up to Dago's campground for the summers. I lived next door to David and I like many others, found him to be a very interesting individual who was larger than life. Its safe to say I had many outings with these two and the many others in the group both in NH and in Newburyport that I will never forget. I had not kept in touch very much over the last fifteen or so years and I would only see Harry every once in a great while at a cookout or other event. It didnt appear that he had changed much over the years but I know now that I just was not around enough to know what was going on in his life. In a way I feel that its easier for me because looking back I only have good memories and experiences to think about and thats the way I want to remember Harry.
Kurt
Fri Jun 02, 08:23:00 PM
There are so many things that I can say, but where to begin...
Harry, you introduced me to so many wonderful people, starting with those in Newburyport, and continuing through the many places that you worked.
You introduced me to music, theater, gaming, the Macintosh, craps, off-roading, and so much more.
You brought me places I had never been before, most notably the mesa, where the sunrises were spectacular and the stars were unlike I've ever been before.
We've known each other since we were both teens, and there was no one I was more happy to call my friend. It still is hard to believe that you are gone, and that I'll never see that big, warm smile again, or a greating of "Allo, Guvnor" or "Yo!". And there are so many great memories that make me smile when I think back on them.
So Harry, thank you for being part of my life. So much of who I am today was influenced by you. You will never be forgotten, and can never be replaced. And you will always be loved, especially by me.
I miss you.
micro
Fri Jun 02, 11:28:00 PM
I didn’t really know the guy I parted ways with.
But I did know the guy that everyone gathers here to remember now.
The guy I knew would defend anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere, like a lion... even if nobody was arguing with him about it.
The guy I knew would go to the mat for the underdog. (But not, as it turns out, for himself.)
The guy I knew communicated in soundtracks. If you knew his music, you knew what he meant.
If the guy I knew was quick to provoke ...he was even quicker to smile.
The guy I knew called his grandmother "My Queen."
The guy I knew was called "Tiger" by his father. I never knew why.
The guy I knew shared this with his mother: "I love you way past the sky."
The guy I knew called Annie "Newt."
The guy I knew had an inner imp that made him sparkle. Just look at the pictures.
The literary hero of the guy I knew was the late Douglas Adams, author of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He was giddy with delight when he got to interview Mr. Adams for the book section of the Phoenix. "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." – Douglas Adams
The cultural hero of the guy I knew was the late great Hunter S. Thompson. Hardly anything needs to be said about that. "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." – HST
The guy I knew got air (while snowboarding) at least once that I know of.
The guy I knew made the best marinated steak tips you ever had – you all had them, right?
The guy I knew made the worst "egg thing" that... well, that defies description.
The guy I knew had exquisite taste in buffalo wings.
The guy I knew sure loved the mesa and needed to end up there.
The guy I knew had an astonishing supply of concert t-shirts and tradeshow tchotchkes.
The guy I knew inspired most of you, and many, many others, to write 420 emails when he was in the hospital for three months in 2003. And those are only the ones I was included on.
The guy I knew once decorated Christmas cookies with stars, squiggles, and "http://".
The guy I knew adored his cats, and he never did not have cats. I knew of Ack, and lived with Random and Pixel, Indie and Savannah. Roswell was after my time. I think Random had to be his all-time favorite, or believed she was anyway.
The guy I knew had infinite stores of warmth and affection and bear hugs for everyone.
The guy I knew had many passions but one true love: It was someone who would go anywhere with him, right to the end – his 1996 Land Rover Discovery, The Rover, The Disco, The Beast.
The guy I knew had a blogful (and a lifetime-full) of true friends.
The guy I knew lived by the sword.
Sat Jun 03, 11:12:00 AM
Thanks for sharing Ellen. That was beautiful.
Ann
Tue Jun 06, 05:14:00 AM
So many gatherings, parties, concerts and crowds! Harry loved all that, thrived on the energy, yet he and I had the quietest of friendships. He was such a chameleon. Harry never could quite believe that I didn’t like parties, hated crowds, never went to bars, but he adapted himself pretty well to twenty years of shared meals and long conversations.
He could joke me out of the blackest mood then lecture me about doing more with my life. I had the sense he wouldn’t be surprised if a friend wrote the great American novel or climbed the Himalayas but found marriage and children, jobs and mortgages shocking.
He always accepted people as they were. It took me years to realize that came with a cruel caveat - if he accepted me with all my flaws, objecting to his flaw was disloyal. Drinking was the one subject that was off limits. My last conversation with him was a fight. (Was he pushing people away, one by one?) Our last correspondence was brief.
I still can’t believe that he is gone. I’d like to believe that he knew that we loved him.
Margaret
Tue Jun 06, 09:48:00 PM
I finaly got up the courage to read this. I am continualy struck by how much he meant to all of us, and what a gentle if not totaly fucked up soul he had. The world was richer for knowing him. While he could be difficult, he added so much to so many of our lives.
I miss the bastard. My life will always be a little emptier for his leaving it.
I had a dream two nights ago where I saw him and asked him how he was. He said that he was ok. It didn't give me a sense of peace only because I am still so sad.
I am going to read the later posts and add my last thoughts there.
Lloyd
Fri Jun 23, 08:55:00 AM
Lately as the sting has begun to wear off a bit and other issues take precedence (as they inevitably do), I have found myself chuckling over some of the funnier moments I experienced with Harry.
I will list 2 here and perhaps ask Micro to create a post and we all may comment on the lighter side of Mr Brown.
1. When Harry's career consisted of getting out of bed @ 10 AM and walking from the fridge to his home office with a beer and 'working' for Charlie til about 2 pm then off to the Littleton haunts, he had a grat set up in his office. He had an old Mac Duo laptop dedicated to caller ID and playing individual ringtones (a capability we can use on our cel phones, but this was 8 years ago). Ellens cellular ID illicted a 'BATTLE STATIONS- WHOOP WHOOP!' star wars sound file.
2. More sage wisdom from HB came when he was coaching me on facing the judge for my DWI hearing in Texas- 'Dickie, put a pen in your shirt pocket- there's something about a pen in your shirt pocket that tells the judge you're not a loser". Of course Harry, cuz the .29 BAC I blew screams of responsibilty.
Mon Jun 26, 09:08:00 PM
I got the call from Chris Sawtelle and he had told me that Harry had passed away, and I was immediatly saddend.
I first met Harry in Newburyport through Sawtelle. Harry introduced me to a now lifelong passion of surfing at Hampton beach North wall. When he was getting ready to take off to Colorodo he had his trusty landrover and a U-Haul sitting on the curb. He was looking into the back of the U-Haul with a puzzled look on his face. I asked him what was up and he said he didnt have any more room in the U-Haul to take his stuff. Sure enough, the trailer was packed. He looked at me and said, "well, looks like I'll have to leave my surf board behind!" and he smiled at me. I didnt get it at the time, then he explained that he wanted to give me his surfboard. I had fallen in love with surfing and Harry knew it. He was showing his true colors by giving me my first surfboard and a brand new wet suit to match. I said "Harry I cant take this, let me buy it off of you" he wouldnt hear of it. After some time I convinced him that he was moving accross the country and he would need the money, let me buy the dam thing from you. Finally he agreed. He sold me my first surfboard and a premo wet suit for $300. My Walden Magic Model 9 footer longboard was a constant companion and many around Newburyport would see me driving up State street with it sticking out the back of my Isuzu on a daily basis. "Where's Chris? Thats easy, he is at Hampton beach North wall surfing, theres a 6 foot swell". I now have 2 more surfboards, 2 boogie boards and 2 wetsuits, and I have a friend named Harry Brown to thank for a now lifelong passion. I will miss Harry's excited chats about his escapades in Star Wars galaxies,and being able to trade techno music with him. I only knew Harry a short time, but much like all of you, he managed to touch me and I was constantly amazed at his brilliance. Harry you will be missed bro, and when I get back from Afghanistan the first thing I am going to do is grab the board and head to the North wall. There will be a cerimonious doobie smoked and the first wave will be called out in your honor. See you in Valhalla.
Chris
Wed Aug 09, 05:28:00 AM
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