Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The Tuba Man


Five kids
gang banging on Mercer Street
beat the living shit 
out of The Tuba Man
one October Saturday night.
He died a week later.
The Tuba Man 
played in the street,
usually in front of 
a ball game
or 
the opera.
I once asked 
if he could hit 
a low C
on my way into
a Mariners game.
He hit it.
The Tuba Man was like The Ramones;
you couldn't conceive a world without them.
But now, we have to.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This makes me very sad. I miss him now too, very much, and I didn't even know him. Thanks for posting this.

ScaughtFive said...

Yeah. I'm quite sad and upset by this. I guess my city has decided getting people to stop using plastic bags and selling outsiders a myth that we're a music mecca is more important than hiring police. The police department is the same size it was during the mid 70's while the population has exploded.

redgrevillea said...

I'm horrified!! I feel so contemptious towards those kids...but what's happened has happened... Why couldn't they have left the sweet harmless man alone?

Terrible.

heatherdaydream said...

isn't it a pity.....

that is a sad story...please pass on my acknowledgement to the space in your town where the tuba man's memory hangs

thnaks for the music and that great opening shot

kittykat