Two deaths and a few lives
Mixing old bookmarks and a new piece: "Seattle Bids Tuba Man a Sad Goodbye" ran in the NYT two weeks ago. The story did the man justice, but the linked slideshow didn't. Around the same time, Crumbler linked to a blogger's memories of a beloved dog. At the end of the post was a link to a London Chamber Orchestra recording, which wasn't a tuba-fest but was a deserving background for both dog and Tuba Man.
The new link here is the Friday piece on Dustin Keller, "A Jets Rookie Is Smashing Doubts and Ping-Pong Balls." If you're not a NFL fan, read it anyway. The level of care and character is on level with Tuba Man.
As a make good for the tuba slideshow, also check out the gallery of William Eggleston's Whitney retrospective. I love one description from the related story: "The first picture he considers a success is in the show. It’s of a teenage boy standing about arm’s length from the camera. He’s seen in profile, pushing carts at a supermarket. His face is slack, his eyes a little glazed, his body bent in an effortful crouch. He’s ordinary, but the golden sunlight that falls on him is not: it turns his red hair lustrous and gilds his skin. A prosaic subject is transformed but unromantically; lifted up, but just a little, just enough."
