Express-Times, PA: Howard Stern honors Lonny Heckman
- From: Sue M. <batchild1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:17:49 -0800
From today's Express-Times at:
http://www.pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1196313206301070.xml&coll=2
==========
Howard Stern honors Lonny
The Late Northampton songwriter idolized shock jock, wrote song for
him.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
By Dustin Schoof
The Express-Times
Lonny Heckman would have had plenty of reason to smile Wednesday.
Heckman's idol Howard Stern spent about 20 minutes paying his respects
to the late singer-songwriter Wednesday morning during Stern's Sirius
Radio program.
A lifelong Stern fan and resident of Northampton, Heckman died Tuesday
morning of complications from kidney failure. He was 38.
Heckman penned the song "When I See Beth Smiling" around Valentine's
Day for Stern to sing to his fiancee, model Beth Ostrosky.
Ultimately Heckman hoped the song would be sung at the couple's
wedding next summer. He also planned to attend tonight's performance
at Crocodile Rock by Shaw Blades, a rock guitar duo that adapted and
helped popularize the song.
"I was really moved," Stern told listeners. "I was really touched
because here's a guy who cared so much about me that he actually
bothered to write a wedding song and respond to something we said on
the radio."
Heckman's song quickly became a cult hit and popular favorite on
Stern's talk show after its September airing. On Nov. 6, Heckman
received the call of a lifetime when Stern's staff phoned him for an
on-air interview.
"Now, I never met Lonny Heckman. I did interview him on the radio and
you can sense when somebody is a good soul," Stern said during
Wednesday's broadcast.
Stern and his co-hosts opened Wednesday's broadcast with the news of
Heckman's passing. Stern sounded shocked as he discussed his interview
with Heckman.
"The few minutes I shared with him on the phone, he was one of those
guys that didn't even bring up the fact, really, that he was that
sick. We didn't know. He was one of those guys who was really
suffering with a lot pain and he didn't want to burden us with his
pain," Stern said.
Stern finished his morning eulogy to Heckman by playing the song's
opening verse after which he lamented, "Lonny wherever you are, I want
to thank you for doing this and for connecting with this show. You're
a good guy."
Heckman's aunt, Susan Bartholomew of Allen Township, said the family
was taken aback by Stern's comments.
"They thought it was so nice of Howard Stern to be so caring. To see
this side of him was very touching. It meant a lot to Lonny's mom, it
really did. She's just thrilled with it."
Bartholomew said Heckman's mother, Linda Suranofsky, and other family
members plan on attending tonight's performance by former Styx
guitarist Tommy Shaw and former Night Ranger bassist/singer Jack
Blades.
"This is just the start of people knowing him," Bartholomew added.
In a posting on Heckman's MySpace page early Wednesday, Shaw and
Blades wrote, "We were saddened to hear of the passing of Lonny
Heckman today. Though we never met, the power of music drew us
together to create something bigger than us all. Our sympathies go out
to his friends and family. As the Righteous Brothers once sang, 'If
there's a rock and roll heaven, you know they've got a hell of a
band.' Now they have a songwriter. Shine on brother "
Staff writer Dustin Schoof can be reached at
dschoof@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
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