There were a couple of notices in the local media of Ed Charla’s passing, which we reprint here (there was also a notice Valley Advocate on August 10, 2006, with a photo by Paul Shoul.
Edward Charla, a popular figure in the Valley known to many as DJ Hit and Run, died late last month due to complications from diabetes. Charla, who was 50, had suffered with the disease since childhood, but he hardly let it stand in his way. Perhaps best known as the visionary behind Extremos, a series of underground parties, Charla remained a politically active person throughout his life. He had dedicated much of his energy recently to the cause of low-watt, “free” radio as a board member and producer at Valley Free Radio, where he produced the show “Bread & Roses.”
“Ed was one of the people who gave Northampton the flavor it has,” said Paul Shoul, who took the accompanying photo in October, 1987. “He was blind and frail, but he had the strongest will of any person I ever knew.”
Shoul’s sentiment was echoed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette obituary of Ed Charla, which ended with this: “He was blind for nearly 20 years but saw better than most of us did.”
And a notice printed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on August 3, 2006.
NORTHAMPTON – Ed Charla, formerly known as DJ Hit and Run, died here on Sunday, July 30. He was 50. The cause was complications from diabetes.
He was born Edward Anthony Charla Jr., in New Rochelle, N.Y., June 6, 1956. Raised in the Bronx, he moved to Vermont at the age of 17. There he built his own home by hand, and lived in it for the next dozen years.
During that time he was an executive sous chef at a high-end restaurant in New Hampshire. He made food for every visiting U.S. president.
He moved to Northampton in 1979. In Hampshire County, he continued as a chef at a number of establishments, most recently at the Eastside Grill.
He also built his reputation as DJ Hit and Run, the venerable organizer of the underground cabaret parties known as Extremos.
During this time, he also made recordings with DJ Smash in New York City on Eightball Records, a clubhouse and cool jazz recording label in the 1980s.
After 30 years of diabetes, he began to lose his vision. In 1988, he moved to St. Croix to adjust to the change. For the next six months, he learned to use a cane.
In 1989, he moved to Miami Beach, his winter residence, while continuing to summer in Northampton. He continued to DJ on both the South Beach and local scenes.
Due to his escalating childhood diabetes, he underwent a double (pancreas and kidney) transplant in 1992. For the first time in his life, he was diabetes-free. The first thing he did was eat a piece of cheesecake. The transplant worked until 2004, while for 12 years he was free of diabetes.
He returned to Northampton but maintained a residence in South Beach until 2003.
Most recently, he was on the first board of Valley Free Radio, where he produced the program ‘Bread & Roses’. Highly involved in community activism, he served on the board of the Primus Mason Interethnic Alliance in Springfield. He was also active in the Haymarket People’s Fund and ALANA.
Mr. Charla is survived by his brother, Robert Charla, and his two stepbrothers, Jed and Clay.
Funeral services will be held today at Czelusniak Funeral Home, 173 North St. Soon thereafter, he will be interred with his family in New Rochelle. A separate service will be held in New York.
He was blind for nearly 20 years but saw better than most of us did.
