Shelley Howard was a Chicago nightlife icon.
He subsisted on party vibes — and cataloging them.
For more than five decades, Mr. Howard went out six or seven nights a week to the latest and greatest bars, clubs, restaurants, charity events, concerts, loft parties, pool parties, sporting events and more.
Always with a camera in his pocket.
Friends say he joked that he invented the selfie. He took photos with such notable people as Robin Williams, Vince Vaughn, Billy Corgan, David Schwimmer, Robin Leach and Dennis Rodman, to name just a few.
He posted them, along with thousands of other photos of the nightlife scene, to an old-school website he maintained and later to Facebook.
By day, Mr. Howard was a graphic artist whose concert posters and print ads promoting Jam Productions rock shows, ranging from Pearl Jam to the Rolling Stones, were seen by millions.
He worked out of a studio at his Lakeview home, at first with a pen knife and later computers, always with WXRT on the radio.
Through his connections with Jam, Mr. Howard went to hundreds of rock shows, always with full backstage access.
“That fueled him in a way, because if you spend your days creating promos for live music, that becomes a deeper part of your personality if you actually know these acts,” Jam’s Vice President of Marketing John Soss said.
“Everyone knew that bald man with glasses because he was just always at these club openings and in the VIP areas and at the shows, but a lot of people weren’t really sure why they knew him or who he was,” his son Shaun Howard said.
“It was just a part of him, he got a kick out of it, loved being seen, didn’t want to miss anything. And he wanted content before people wanted content. He had a business card with his website on it, and that was before the internet took off. He just wanted party vibes, didn’t want profit.”
Mr. Howard died from a heart attack Oct. 14. He was 76.
Mr. Howard brought his son to nearly all the concerts he attended, even from a young age.
The father-son duo were in a sound booth at the Park West as The Cranberries played when Irish songstress Sinead O’Connor walked in unannounced.
As was his practice at the time, Shaun, who was 4 and dressed as a pirate with a toy sword and pistol, proceeded to “capture” O’Connor and walk her into a side room at sword point before demanding a ransom from her companion.
“She played right along. She put her hands up, said, ‘Please don’t hurt me, I’ll pay your ransom,’” Mr. Howard reminisced in a Facebook post.
O’Connor was “freed” after $10 was handed over.
It was the sort of story Mr. Howard might tell at any number of his regular haunts in Old Town or on Rush Street.
“He was sort of this social conduit between what was happening on the street and showing people on Facebook and his website,” said his friend Phillip Sylvester.
“Shelley’s presence on the nightlife scene was nothing short of iconic,” wrote friend and party promoter Michael Blatter on the “Chicago Nightlife Back in the Day” FaceBook group.
“Shelley always used to say, ‘Enjoy every sandwich.’ It was his way of saying enjoy every day,” Jam co-founder Jerry Mickelson said.
Throughout the ’80s, Mr. Howard hosted Video Dancestand parties at venues like the Park West and Metro during which he played music and aired video content on a series of television screens. The concept became known as “ShelleyVision.”
Joe Shanahan, founder of Smart Bar and Metro, said he was a fresh face on the club scene and had DJ’d at his own bar just a couple of times when Mr. Howard came to him with a vote of confidence and a jaw-dropping proposal. Mr. Howard was slated to do a video/music set as an opener before The Clash took the stage at the Aragon Ballroom and asked Shanahan to take on the music half of the equation.
“I met and became friends with The Clash lead singer Joe Strummer,” Shanahan said. “Shelley was a supporter, a connector, a conduit. He surrounded himself with a lot of creatives, models, musicians and artists.
Mr. Howard was born May 31, 1947, to David and Estelle Salnitsky. His father was in sales, and his mother was a homemaker.
Mr. Howard, a graduate of Proviso West High School who studied art at Northern Illinois University, opened a boutique head shop in Chicago Heights in his 20s but later turned to developing print ads for fashion shops before getting into concert promotions.
Mr. Howard’s words to live by included: “Hug someone. Smile more. Tell the people you love how you feel. Paint your tapestry with bold colors and rich designs. Postpone nothing. Establish boundaries. Exhibit patience.”
Services have been held.
