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Sometime between Sunday Night and Monday Morning, beloved Seattle icon, Tuba Guy, passed away. He had been the victim of beating and robbery on October 25th which left him with head wounds and he was at home after a stay at the hospital. Tuba Guy was a fixture in Seattle sports. Any game you went to, even Storm games, would have that familiar plodding sound as you neared the stadium or arena.
Not only was he adept at the tuba, but he was also the inventor of the Tuba Guy Dance, which, according to him, he invented “sometime around 1985.” To a casual observer, the dance simply looked like a man marching in place. Upon closer examination, one could truly see the intricacies of his movement. Looking at his feet you could see that this man is truly tuba to the bone. His feet would lift up and down in the same plodding style as his tuba playing – never waivering and always on tempo. Fast or slow, no matter what the song, Tuba Guy would make the dance work.
His torso would never move. It was his base, his foundation, and it powered the entire machinery. His arms were fully extended at about a 45 degree angle. His fists balled tight to control the power that he could unleash if he was a careless man. With each step the arms would rise then fall. Each rising degree cautiously monitored.
His face would convey a wide range of emotion. Pure concentration when the team was doing poorly, as if he could single-handedly will the team to play better with each determined step. Pure joy when the team was rolling. Then we get to the delicious cherry on top of this sundae – the Tuba Guy’s hat. Sometimes it was a hamburger, a pizza, or a hotdog. The more irrelevant the better.
If you were ever lucky enough to see the Tuba Guy actually inside the game, then you would be treated to the entire spectrum of the Tuba Guy Dance. During Mariner games, any song that came over the PA, including every player’s at-bat music, commercials on the big screen, or the Mexican Hat Dance, Tuba Guy would dutifully stand up and dance away.
The only thing better than seeing the Tuba Guy Dance was to join in on the Tuba Guy Dance yourself.
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Oh my God that’s horrible. Everybody loved Tuba Guy – he was harmless. Wow.
[...] at a bus stop, writes the P-I’s Robert Jamieson. Manny Faces of Hot Dog & Friends wrote a nice eulogy for Tuba Man, whose real name was Edward [...]
I never saw Tuba Guy, but now I feel like I knew him well. And now I am sad because someone I knew so well has died. Damn you Manny Faces and your literary magic for ruining my morning with mourning.
Tuba Guy was a dick to me once outside the Kingdome as a little kid (and I’ll be the first to admit I probably deserved it) which was why I was never a big fan. Still, no one deserves to get got like he did. He was a great face for the “State of Seattle Sports” column and (for better or worse) a face of Seattle fan-dom for an entire generation. If you went to any games in the last decade, you probably knew who the guy was.
I’m ready to make it official: Seattle sports have hit rock bottom. Good night, sweet prince. You deserved to see us on the upswing. I’ll pour out a little liquor for you tonight.
What a tragedy! I only knew the “Tuba Guy” as Ed, who would come into the pizza shop where I worked during college. It wasn’t until He would walk in and in that joyful baritone of his, greet everyone with a resounding “How is everyone doooooing?!” that you could hear even in the back of the shop over the ovens. He was one of the kindest and friendliest people I’d ever met, and even though I haven’t seen him in nearly 10 years, I will certainly miss him.
That is just really sad.
Oh, Tuba Guy. I’m in the same boat as Jonathan. I first met the man while working at Zeeks Pizza in Belltown. He was the interesting (and yes, baritone) guy who came in nearly every day to buy a slice. He was always wearing a Finding Nemo hat, or a Dr. Seuss hat, or a jester hat, or any other weird hat that only Ed could pull off. I’ll never forget the way that he talked even then. Always a sports fan, I got more into Seattle sports as my time here progressed (the run to the Super Bowl certainly helped). So I began to see Ed outside Safeco, Key Arena, and Qwest on a regular basis. I talked to him every time, and you could tell that he enjoyed the conversation. Even though I was usually drunk and bordering on mockery, I have to say that I did too. Tuba Guy, you will be missed.
“A memorial is planned for McMichael at 11 a.m. Saturday in front of McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, where all musicians are invited to perform several songs in his memory.
Another memorial has been tentatively scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Qwest Field Event Center.”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008361887_tubaman07m.html
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