Episode 182 Howard Paar

Howard Paar is an award winning music supervisor who is originally from London who continued his career in Los Angeles thanks Sir Freddie Laker's legendary Laker Airways. He has won The Guild Of Music Supervisors Awards in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2020 respectively for Diary Of A Teenage Girl, 20th Century Women, Before I Fall and Native Son. Howard first worked in LA as a club creator/DJ/promoter. His work back then was known for developing emergent new music scenes particularly ska, mod  and the paisley underground. His club, The O.N .Klub in collaboration with Sugarhill Records, was also the first locale to play a rap show in Los Angeles. Howard subsequently became an independent publicist representing clients including MTV, Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson, N.W.A., Jimmy Cliff, Eric Burdon, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Bunny Wailer and Michelle Shocked. Howard then went on to become Vice President, Media & Artist Relations at Polygram Records before transitioning to the role of Vice President, Soundtracks. In this role, he worked on many soundtracks including The Big Lebowski and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere as well as creating opportunities for Polygram artists to write themes for TV shows including King Of The Hill and Ellen. In 2001, Howard was nominated for a Grammy for the soundtrack for the award-winning documentary Dogtown & Z Boys.   Along with being a music supervisor, Howard is also a novelist. Top Rankin', his punk/ska noir novel, was released in May of 2021, which follows his first novel Once Upon a Time In LA, published in 2015.