this is to announce the passing of one of my oldest friends, mr david ray koehler.
for any of you who went to the clubs in the second half of the 70's, i'm sure you saw dave there w. his reel to reel, recording the show. dave put out a fanzine called " hardkorps" for awhile and he recorded MANY MANY hours of live boston rock. in later years he could be seen walking thru brookline village w. sunglaases and headphones on, looking like an aging kurt coabin, but was often more reclusive, not attending many shows or places of drinking.

a life long struggle w. drugs and alcohol took a toll on his body. he had been sober this time for 6 mos.
he died 2 weeks ago in beth israel-deaconess hospital.
it hasnt really sunk in for me but im afraid it is true that he is gone.

dave loved the local scene and music in general and he was a talented writer. he had a band briefly in the 70's called the bimbos and he was supportive of many bands in general.


in addition to his family and friends and cat zack, an incredible archive of live recordings and show posters has been left behind. we plan to make a library and a website as a tribute to dave and as a way for people to have access to these shows. some of the best nights of peoples' lives may be recorded and they dont even know it! perhaps newer shows could be added, making a great live boston rock library, and copies could be sold w. profits to benefit a drug and alcohol awareness group...if anyone would like to help w. this project please pm me.

also a memorial service will be planned. let's make it a good one.
maybe some live music?( moose and willy, where are you?) : )
more information forthcoming!
pm me if you want to help create the library and/or memorial show for dave.

xx r.w. ( aka miss sandy beach)

sorry for your loss. sounds like a great idea for a project in his and boston rock's memory.

Again, so sorry for your loss, Sandy.

thanks, guys!!
this came today from the venerable ed moose savage of moose and the mudbugs fame. i asked him if he'd play a show for dave so something is staring to come together slowly ...

i'm excited to put together a list of all the recordings.


MOOSE WROTE:"Absolutely! It would be an honor to play a show in tribute to Dave. I actually called Willie yesterday but got no answer. I’ll try him again today. I know he would definitely want to do it. I can check with a few other people from some of his faves that would probably be in. I’d be happy to help you organize, promote, or any other help you might need. "

sandy beach=riverwytch?

sorry for your loss.

amazing effort of recording, must be WONDERFUL audio collection, should be archived in higher quality MP3

I last saw Dave at the Live at the Rat show at the Regent Theatre a few years back.

He was pretty much solely responsible for my stint in the Marc Thor band in '79.

He was a talented guy. Sorry to hear of his passing.

sorry to hear of his passing. he sounds like a pretty cool guy. cool project.

Anyone who records and archives live music is a man after my own heart.
Sorry for your loss.

This is just awful news.

Please keep us informed of services, etc.

That name sounds SO familiar. Anyone have a photo of him?

you know him
for yrs, walking around allston with army jacket, 6 feet tall, normal size, our age, shoulder length brown hair parted in middle, at all the great shows
i last saw him at the buzzcocks paradise show several yrs ago
i used to hang at his basement apt in brookline
lots of great books and records/tapes
he was into spiritual reading at the time, he was abstaining from drink but then he jumped off again i guess

rip dave

were you circling L.A. too?

I had five whiskey sours
She said coffee or tea

I was in the group with Tim, later of Swinger's Resort. Played the rumble that year. We were both unceremoniously replaced by Steve Kalinowski AKA Ian Blast.

Dave Koehler was the one that talked me up to Marc which led to my joining the band.

holy shit!
i was there for say, the MT benefit and know all those peeps!
went to college with Ian

Looked like a good soul.

RIP

This is very sad news.
Dave was a true rocker and a real gentleman. It was through his amazing recordings that I got to meet him. He was always on the spot recording so many early rock & punk shows. Here is a transcription of one of Dave's recordings. A 70's WTBS ( now WMBR) Oedipus interview with the Dead Boys.
This would be lost if Mr. Hardkorps tapes were not rolling.
I like the part where Elvis Costello and the Clash get what may have been their first radio play in Boston (and maybe America). http://glampunk.org/dbradio.html
Hardkorps captured everything as it happened.
RIP Dave Hardkorps Koehler.

i have that interview, along with many others from the tbs 77-78 yrs
i believe miss lyn from the bgn called in when the dboys were requesting 'heavy breather' chicks to feign phone sex with them

Oh Shit! That Dave. Yeah, I knew him, only enough to say "hey". Nice guy, pretty quiet.

Again condolences to you Sandy, and friends and family.


Grrr...mortality sucks.

yeah nobody gets out alive, so be good to your loved ones while you have the chance.

plans are in the works ( slowly) for a great show and an awesome library to celebrate dave and preserve some boston rock history; stay tuned....

here's a little update btw.
yesterday willie and i sorted out the live boston rock recordings from the rest of the tapes...
there is alot of stuff on reel to reel, we're hoping my former bandmate jordan kratz (ex transplants, big meat hammer) can restore these in his studio. he's done this before w. a bunch of la peste tapes and
maybe a few others. some of the reels are covered in dust and may be lost but there's still alot of good stuff.
family and friends have been hard at work sorting out his stuff, incluuding his writings and spoken word tapes. there is a stack of fanzines ( frenzy, miscarriage, sunkpiss, etc) and 70's club posters- i think we will have an interesting website in his honor.
we are talking about having a benefit show in his honor in the fall...
we found out that dave dies of something called small cell cancer. from what i understand it has somehting to do w/ SMOKING CIGARETTES, and it is very painful but fast way to die-by the time you realize you are sick it is often too late. it's hard to think of such a gentle soul spending his last days in so much pain but
there's a feeling that his pain is relieved now.

Sandy, if you find tapes that might be lost, hold onto them, technology is improving all the time that can reclaim the sounds. Computer modeling can actualling sample and fill in missing chunks of sound....