NOOOOOO!!! MR. BUTCH, DEAD @ 56
[views:8542][posts:32]_________________________________________
[Jul 13,2007 12:29am - DestroyYouAlot ""]
NOOOOOO!!!
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachus...mr_butch_dies_at_56/?p1=MEWell_Pos2
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Street icon 'Mr. Butch' dies at 56
By Bryan Marquard, Globe Staff | July 12, 2007
Dreadlocked, homeless, and usually cheerful, Mr. Butch was an iconic presence in Kenmore Square for years before moving his base of operations to Harvard Avenue in Allston a decade ago. Ranting in rhyme with a beer in hand — a tall boy, preferably — he would panhandle one minute and offer to share his take with a friend the next.
‘‘Mr. Butch,’’ whose name was Harold Madison Jr., died yesterday of injuries from an early morning crash when the motor scooter he was driving hit a pole, friends and family said.
The subject of YouTube videos, a MySpace tribute page, and a Wikipedia entry, Mr. Butch may have been the most famous street person in Boston. He was so popular that The Boston Phoenix wrote in April that it was considering changing the criteria of the ‘‘Readers’ Pick: Neighborhood Character’’ category because Mr. Butch won so regularly.
At 56, he had lived on Boston’s streets for about 30 years. In Kenmore Square and his Allston neighborhood — areas rife with college students and people who prefer less traditional approaches to life — some saw in Mr. Butch a latter-day Thoreau, a man who chose a path that didn’t involve taxes, rent, or office cubicles. Instead, he helped the elderly cross streets, joyously played air guitar, philosophized, and sang.
‘‘He’s been in so many local movies, videos, in the Phoenix — he’s like an icon of the neighborhood,’’ said Erin Scott, manager of New England Comics on Harvard Avenue in Allston.
‘‘He was just the sweetest, nicest homeless person — he looked out for people,’’ said Toni Fanning, who owns the Ritual Arts store nearby. ‘‘I’ll tell you, this whole street is just miserable right now. Everybody just doesn’t want to believe it. It’s so hard to talk about Butch in any kind of past tense.’’
In a YouTube video posted on Mr. Butch’s MySpace page, he offered a buoyant view on how to live: ‘‘You got to be articulate every day and keep going on strong and straight and use your heart and all your might and all your weight and all your power. Do what you can, make it last for many hour, ’cause once you’re dead, you’re done, you don’t come back,’’ he rapped, pausing before adding, ‘‘Yeah.’’
Fanning’s favorite encounter with Mr. Butch was on Easter a few years ago. When she left home to visit a friend who was in bad straits, she was depressed about her friend, the day — just everything.
‘‘And I walked outside and there was Butch standing on the corner of Harvard and Comm. Ave. with a big sandwich board that said, ‘I need weed,’’’ Fanning said. ‘‘I started laughing so hard that it got me through that entire day.’’
Mr. Butch was not timid about his pastimes: drinking beer and smoking marijuana. And he could be irascible. He was a tall and slender man, and the stoop of his shoulders signaled his level of intoxication. Unwelcome as Kenmore Square began tidying up its act, Mr. Butch left, telling friends that encounters with police officers had become too frequent.
Allston proved more tolerant.
‘‘I’m just devastated,’’ said Jerry Katz, a lawyer whose offices are along Harvard Avenue. ‘‘Everyone loved Mr. Butch. I loved Mr. Butch.’’
Though thousands of passersby made his acquaintance through the years, few knew much about Mr. Butch’s background. Born in Worcester, he grew up in a large family. His father, Harold Sr., dubbed him Butch.
A talented drummer, he sat in with bands and played with a mentor in the local music scene, picking up the guitar in his midteens and filling a closet with percussion instruments he made from items he found. He did not finish high school and moved to Kenmore Square in the 1970s when Worcester became inhospitable to his frequent drinking.
‘‘I think he was just looking for someplace to be accepted,’’ said his sister Jeannette Madison of Worcester. ‘‘He told us that this was the life that he chose — a street person, happy-go-lucky, panhandler. I guess for him that was easier, and it didn’t take very long for people to understand what he was doing and just take it with a grain of salt.
‘‘People are who they choose to be.’’
In addition to Jeannette, he has four siblings in Worcester — Russell, Phillip, Jeffrey, and Sheila — and a brother, Alphonso Moore, of Henderson, Nev. His mother, Virginia, died in December; his father died in 1974.
Mr. Butch played on the fringe of Boston’s music scene for years. Friends tried to get him into subsidized housing, but he refused to go through the required detoxification treatments. Recently, he lived in a van friends helped him acquire.
Trusted friends became his ‘‘banks,’’ holding onto his money and storing his belongings. Mr. Butch’s thee-quarter-length leather coat, with his name in white and red letters on the back, was displayed last night in the window of Regeneration Tattoo on Harvard Avenue as a tribute.
‘‘It kind of blows my mind that he isn’t here,’’ Scott said. ‘‘I have his guitar in my back room. I have a buck in his bank.’’
Friends plan to meet Monday at 8 p.m. at Regeneration Tattoo and Ritual Arts for a memorial, said Sue Jeiven, owner of Regeneration Tattoo.
‘‘He always wanted a big blowout for his funeral. He said: ‘Blow a lot of money. I want a big party,’’’ she said.
A favorite among many students and professors, Mr. Butch was once asked to speak at Boston College. Proud of the moment, he sent his siblings a photo of himself lecturing in front of the classroom.
‘‘I feel like he had a lot to say and there were a lot of people who actually wanted to listen,’’ his sister said. ‘‘And I thank the Lord for that. And I thank the Lord that Butch is in his hands now.’’
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
[Jul 13,2007 12:30am - RichHorror ""]
I will always remember rocking out to DRI's 'Four Of A Kind' with him and Brian from Watchmaker in front of O'Briens. That's all.
[Jul 13,2007 12:30am - DestroyYouAlot ""]
I am so fucking depressed right now.
[Jul 13,2007 12:33am - hung_to_bleed ""]
He probably did dick.
[Jul 13,2007 12:43am - timjohn ""]
jeff that's cold
[Jul 13,2007 12:43am - DestroyYouAlot ""]
I used to hang out with Butch every goddamn morning before work, for quite a while. He was just fucking beyond words; he had life figured out, and wanted none of it. RIP, you crazy fuck.
[Jul 13,2007 12:54am - timjohn ""]
old school - '83
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btw i've never heard of this dude before. rip
[Jul 13,2007 3:16am - deadlikemurf ""]
i used to give him a five spot everytime i saw him. even when i was broke. worth it.
rip mr. butch.
[Jul 13,2007 8:27am - 123145 ""]
come did ne1 really care about this worthless nig
[Jul 13,2007 8:42am - succubus ""]
He was in the PHoenix quite a bit (as the article above mentions) so I prefer this article:
http://thephoenix.com/phlog/PermaLink,guid...91-d5a8-4c68-a689-b1a0babd94f4.aspx
[Jul 13,2007 11:22am - KillerKadoogan ""]
hung_to_bleed said:He probably did dick.
You, sir, are an ignorant asshole and I hope you die, and when you're on your deathbed, you can look back and say, "Damn, I sure am glad I gave so much of my time to some one else. I accomplished a whole fucking lot."
Mr. Butch lived the life he wanted to live until the day he died, and that's more than I can say for anyone else I ever met.
RIP Mr. Butch
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[Jul 13,2007 2:48pm - PureHolocaust ""]
Mr. Butch is actually God, and he will smite every one of you that shits on his name.
[Jul 13,2007 2:55pm - GEORGE ZIMMER ""]
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HI... I'M GEORGE ZIMMER - FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE MEN'S WEARHOUSE. YOU BETTER START PRACTICING WITH 2 LITER COKE BOTTLES BEFORE YOU RECEIVE MY EXUBERANT EPIDERMAL CORDAGE. MY AMPLE HEAD TEEMING WITH MAN HOOCH IS SO COLOSSAL THAT GOD TRIPS OVER IT. I GUARANTEE IT.
[Jul 13,2007 2:59pm - Niccolai ""]
Never heard of him.
He's black though.
[Jul 13,2007 3:08pm - SkinSandwich ""]
Niccolai said:Never heard of him.
He's black though.
And knowing is half the battle.
[Jul 13,2007 4:34pm - hugntableed ""]
KillerKadoogan said:hung_to_bleed said:He probably did dick.
You, sir, are an ignorant asshole and I hope you die, and when you're on your deathbed, you can look back and say, "Damn, I sure am glad I gave so much of my time to some one else. I accomplished a whole fucking lot."
Mr. Butch lived the life he wanted to live until the day he died, and that's more than I can say for anyone else I ever met.
Geez, lighten up. I was only kidding. I seen people write a hell of a lot more offensive things around here. I didn't even know who the guy was, I was just being a prick.
[Jul 13,2007 5:14pm - deadlikedave ""]
that guy lived exactly how he wanted, granted its not the conventional way of life, or a life anyone would envy, but he did everything he wanted to everyday...i only got to meet/hang out with him a handful of times but he really was the man.
Theres a memorial thing at Regeneration records and Ritual Arts in Allston on Monday at 8 if anyone is interested.
[Jul 13,2007 5:23pm - intricateprocess ""]
shit sucks. Mr Butch was the shit
[Jul 13,2007 5:42pm - babyshaker nli ""]
ya i heard about this is it true he fell off his scooter and snapped his neck cause im definitly not reading that whole article
[Jul 13,2007 6:34pm - DestroyYouAlot ""]
Mr. Butch > Jesus
[Jul 13,2007 8:52pm - brad weymouth ""]
he cam edown to Weymouth in the summer of 96 and hung out at my old band The Nothings garage. the guy was awesome. he was in awe of how much beer and weed we had, he ended up hangin out most of the night. We walked to the store with him and every single person we encountered was horrified of him. without reason though, he was a gentle soul who lived life to the fullest
rest in peace you yellow eyed animal
[Jul 14,2007 9:02am - random handjobs ""]
no way! who's gonna hang around outside spike's and play recorder while i eat? seriously, though, he was a rad guy. had it all figured out, I'm convinced.
[Jul 14,2007 5:35pm - pam nli ""]
I never met this dude, but he must have been a real character to be famous while homeless.
[Jul 14,2007 5:57pm - doomwhore ""]
I fully support male characters who refuse to work, own a house, and/or pay taxes to a flawed federal government. One day, I will grow to be just like this man. But. I will never own a scooter.
Ever. So. I assume I must be safe.
[Jul 14,2007 6:16pm - Kinslayer ""]
I wonder who inherited his little flute/recorder thing he used to play...
[Jul 14,2007 9:06pm - Nash nli ""]
This is so sad, I saw Mr. Butch on his scooter the day he died.
[Jul 14,2007 10:36pm - Lamp ""]
Now that I think about it, I may have seen this guy before...
I'm pretty sure he asked me for money and I said I didn't have any.
[Jul 15,2007 12:36pm - OCR ""]
Kinslayer said:I wonder who inherited his little flute/recorder thing he used to play...
the dead nigger storage department
[Jul 15,2007 1:28pm - Kinslayer ""]
Lamp said:Now that I think about it, I may have seen this guy before...
I'm pretty sure he asked me for money and I said I didn't have any.
you selfish bastard!
how do you feel now that you know he's DEAD!?!?
[Jul 15,2007 1:33pm - RichHorror ""]
I blame Lamp for his death.
[Jul 15,2007 2:48pm - Lamp ""]
I feel completely indifferent.
[Jul 15,2007 4:21pm - KillerKadoogan ""]
A memorial service for
MR. BUTCH
will be held at
Regeneration Tatoo Studio
155 Harvard Ave. in Allston
and is planned to procceed to
Allston's Ringer Park
So, the memorial service has been postponed. It was going to be monday night, but Mr. Butch's ashes won't be ready in time, and his family cannot make it down on monday, so the whole thing has to be moved. It will be held
sometime between
July 21st and July 27th.
There will be a really short ceremony, followed by a parade through Allston, where we will scatter his ashes. We will also be most likely having a benefit show for Mr. Butch. His family has very little money to pay for his final expenses, so the show will hopefully cover that and then some.
Contact us if you have any questions or if any bands want to play.
thanks,
--Regeneration staff(Please Repost)
[Jul 15,2007 11:36pm - DestroyYouAlot ""]
I support the shit outta this. They should raise enough money to get a WWII-era bilplane, put his ashes into it, and crash it into Kenmre Square, scattering Mr Butch's final remains across the entire area for business suit assholes and BU students to breath in. I think he would've approved.