Tim Haslett |
A week ago Monday night at Enormous Room, local DJs, friends, and family celebrated the memory of Boston music luminary TIM HASLETT, who was found dead in his Michigan State University apartment three weeks ago, just 42. As a writer, radio DJ, and local record-store fixture, Tim was known for his legion of musical obsessions. And over the course of a long, bittersweet night, as classic hip-hop films flickered in the background, a stream of DJs — all inspired in one way or another by Tim’s infectious enthusiasms — spun sets that touched on some of those obsessions: reggae, hip-hop, jungle, dubstep, techno, even Baltimore house.
Earlier that day, I talked to BRIAN COLEMAN, who hosted Funk to the Folks with Tim on WZBC in the mid ’90s and was the organizer of the tribute to the man known among many of his friends as “the professor” for his encyclopædic knowledge. “Tim was a gatekeeper and a preacher and a proselytizer. He was a teacher who didn’t look for anything in return. He didn’t want to be cool. He didn’t want to get invited to parties or get the girls. There was nothing that he wanted other than to help artists who he thought deserved more attention than they got. I don’t think I ever knew someone who loved music more purely than Tim did, and I’m sure I never will.”
To listen to the entire E-room tribute in all its esoteric glory, go to this link to the WAYNE&WAX blog. You can also hear a couple of Tim’s early, influential Hard Wired shows on WZBC — they’re available on the blog of BENNY BLANCO (another Boston techno legend).
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