Tuba Man, RIP

[randy_byers]

I've been meaning to post something about the death of Edward McMichael, who was an iconic figure around Seattle known as the Tuba Man. He was beaten to death at a bus stop last week, apparently by three teenagers who had earlier attacked some other people at another bus stop. This story has been in the local papers ever since, and today it even made the NY Times, which notes that "[m]ore than 1,000 people turned out for a memorial service on Wednesday night near Qwest Field." Sports events were a common place to see him, an eccentrically-behatted character playing "Flight of the Bumblebee" or Black Sabbath outside the stadiums. He always seemed to be wherever there was a large crowd, so I'd see him at things like Bumbershoot too. I never gave him any money, never asked him for a song, but he was as familiar a face as the busker who sings on the corner outside my workplace, Schmitz Hall, who always points at me and nods whenever I walk by.

It's strange to feel this pang of loss for someone I did not know at all, but somehow we had a relationship that lasted years. I'll miss him.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I never knew the Tuba Man - evidently he was after my time - but I'm disturbed to learn that standing at Seattle bus stops can be hazardous to your health. I immediately dug into the local news stories to learn exactly where this took place. I've been there. Shudder.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

There was a blind woman who apparently busked at the Seattle Public Market (I never saw her perform) who was killed on a bus in the past year or two when a crazy man attacked her under the belief that God hates disabled people. But I don't know that the stats would support the notion that buses or bus stops are more dangerous than any other part of town. There was also the guy who was killed last summer when he was watering a traffic circle and got in an argument with some young women and then was punched by a guy who intervened in the argument.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Not that being at a bus stop is necessarily particularly hazardous, just that it is an ordinary place to be, in an ordinary part of town, and yet he was beaten. And not even by a crazy person; crazy people can be anywhere.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

That's very true, and it's also true that the ordinariness of the location also made me feel vulnerable. Same with the death at the traffic circle, for that matter. A feeling that nowhere is particularly safe.

[farmgirl1146.livejournal.com]

I am concerned about Buskers in general in today's Greg Nickels fired hate of the homeless. The Tuba Man was not homeless, but if you get to beat up homeless people because the Mayor has city employees do this in homeless encampments, then the generalization takes hold that it is OK to beat up people who are different from you.

I mostly saw The Tuba Man at the opera and ballet. When I attended the ballet Friday evening, there was a small memorial to him at the door. I was amazed at how many people did not know of his death, and how many other people were willing to tell them what happened. It was not lost on these people that he was targeted and killed because he was different. A violinist had taken The Tuba Man's place that night, but he was on the other side of the walkway playing classical, funeral-appropriate music.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the story about the memorial at the ballet. That's very sweet. As for people being targeted because they are different, see my comment to calimac above.

[wrdnrd]

I don't think i ever had the pleasure of encountering Tuba Man, and i'm sad that now i never will.


as familiar a face as the busker who sings on the corner outside my workplace, Schmitz Hall, who always points at me and nods whenever I walk by

Whom i always called Four Songs. Has his repertoire expanded any?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I don't pay much attention to his songs, to tell you the truth. He's just a friendly, well-known face on the street to me. Well, okay, I do know that "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" must be one of the Four Songs. Last week he told me that "we" were going to perform at one of the casinos. I wasn't sure who "we" were, but it sounded like a step up from busking. Still, he was out on the corner again today.

[wrdnrd]

I wasn't sure who "we" were, but it sounded like a step up from busking.

He had CDs for sale the other year. I was reasonably certain they were actually HIS music.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's still selling those. I should probably check it out. I could buy myself one for Christmas!