In Memory

Daniel Lazare



 
go to bottom 
  Post Comment

04/29/13 02:48 AM #1    

Mark Fisher

I remember Dan Lazare as an uncanny iconoclast, musical " diamond,"  and friend.


01/15/17 04:25 AM #2    

Geoffrey Kronick

So many people at the 40th Reunion of the graduating class of 1973 in 2013 asked Leslie Johnson and I about Dan Lazare that it seemed he was a Paly Alumni who had achieved some significant modicum of fame.  Perhaps it was just that his musical talent, his humor, his taste for modern writing and poetry, and his at times outrageous behaviors (albeit often amusing) became such legend among us that invariably we wonder what path he followed.  I left Palo Alto in the spring of 1974 headed for college at the University of Oregon, and Dan was at that time trying to support himself in various ways, play and compose music, and find a "gig" with a band, a not unfamiliar agenda for a pretty talented musician in the bay area looking for opportunity.

As I understand, Dan spent some time back east in New York City and elsewhere, often taking long and what must have been somewhat lonely bus rides from coast to coast since like many musicians he didn't have what we called then a lot of "scratch."  I'm told at one time that he was the manager of the old Paris (Adult) Theater in Palo Alto, where I'm sure he was a colorful character as always, but so far as I heard back then, not where he had hoped to be in terms of career and future.  Substances, as affected many of us, apparently became issues for Dan as well, as he indicated to me before I left town in 1974 and as I understand became more pronounced later in his life.

From another Paly 1973 graduate, whose mother knew Dan's late mother, Mrs. Mary Ellen Lazare, Dan died in France of AIDS, but I have no specific date or loction for his passing.  I'm advised, second hand, that Dan's mother received a very kind letter from people in France who explained tht Dan died in as much comfort as possible under the circumtances and around people who cared about him.  As for his resting place, I do not know.

I do remember Dan as a good friend, a wonderful recontauer, a talented musicain and writer, and as my old friend Mark Fisher has characterized him, an iconoclast.  Sometimes the "rockets" among us burn out before they have reached their full height and trajectory.  I wish Dan and his family peace.

Geoffrey M. Kronick (Paly - Class of 1973).

 

  

 


01/15/17 03:55 PM #3    

Michael Huntsberger

Beautifully said, Geoffrey.  Dan was on of a kind - brilliant, troubled, talented, funny, sad, strange, and a real force of nature.  As often as he delighted me with things I remember to this day (i.e., how to play piano Leon Russell style), he angered me with the same intensity (i.e., he nearly smoked us out of our house). It's so sady that he flamed out so early.  He was among the most gifted uscians I've ever known, gone farr too soon under terribly tragic circumstances.  Fare the well.


01/16/17 04:17 PM #4    

Zach Whitman

Thanks for sharing.  I have limited memories about Dan.  I do remember one day in Mr. Currier''s history class at Jordan how blown away I was with his recital of a politically charged poem he wrote.  His ability in some areas was far beyond his years.  


11/25/21 12:47 PM #5    

Chris Clementson

Nice words, Geoff and Mike.

"Iconoclast" and "colorful" are good words to describe Dan. "Flamboyant" is another. Dan was a ball of unchanneled talent, intellect and energy. He needed guidance and tutelage from the right mentor/role model.

I used to sneak over to Stanford GPU meetings on Wednesday nights in my Paly days. (If you know about Stanford GPU then we're on the same wavelength.) One night Dan showed up at a GPU meeting. He swore me to secrecy about his being there. I was "out" in those days but Dan was not, so I kept his secret. We weren't particularly close, but Dan was clearly struggling with his sexual identity in his Paly days and that, together with his inherent iconoclastic and flamboyant nature, must have made it difficult for him to conform to societal expectations with regard to education and career.

It is sad to learn that substances became an issue in his life. I remember Dan often used an inhaler, leading me to wonder whether he was afflicted with cystic fibrosis, but I don't know for sure. It is tragic but not surprising to learn that he ultimately succumbed to AIDS.


11/26/21 10:41 AM #6    

Alec Ryals

  A Junkie that killed my Very Good Friend 

Good Musician etc


go to top 
  Post Comment