PLEASE POST ANY and ALL MR. BUTCH TALES, PHOTOS, VIDEOS, LINKS, INFO, ETC, that you want to SHARE in MySpace COMMENTS.
The more memorials, concerts, myspaces, youtubes, web sites audio, video, photos, etc, honoring Mr. Butch the better. I hope that everybody will celebrate Mr. Butch's birthday on September 11.
This MySpace page is really just a mirror companion to the MrButchShow.com site that i started in 2004 to help share the legend and myth of Butch. I personally met Butch (where else) in front of The Rat in the mid-80s. THANX for LUVIN' BUTCH. ------ Bill T Miller
MR. BUTCH PROCESSION & MEMORIAL SERVICE
Allston Rock City-
JULY 22, 2007
@ Harper's Ferry-Allston on 7.27.2007
with Ramoniacs, Unnatural Axe, Liz Borden Band, Noble Rot, Jay Allen, & Special Guests.
A HEAP OF ROCKIN' by ALL for BUTCH. Thanx to all the bands and Bobby of Ramoniacs for making it happen. Special guest highlights included the Butch channeled rantings of ED "MOOSE" SAVAGE (and his KAZOOO) and THE guitar god from BURMA, ROGER MILLER playing Stooge's I Wanna Be Your Dog with UNNATURAL AXE. Plus, there was this amazing vintage Butch dvd footage playing on the TV.
MR. BUTCH
Harold Madison, Jr.
September 11, 1951 — July 12, 2007
"Ya gotta keep yourself going in a foward manner so that your friends is always going up in a progressive way, it's too bad that you have to do these things, but ya gotta be articulate everyday.
Keep it 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 to make it last for many hour...
CAUSE ONCE YOU'RE DEAD, YOU'RE DONE, YOU DON'T COME BACK!"
-from
Mr. Butch Video - shot by BTM on April 25, 2004
in front of the Burger King in
Allston Rock City.
A little note concerning Clone Collective’s Art Showing at Herrell’s Café. It had come to Clone’s attention that July 12th is also the unfortunate anniversary of Mr. Butch’s passing. So the Clone’s and Herrell’s Café have committed one wall of the café to honor Mr. Butch. The Clone Collective will also have a few guest pieces from different artist to add to the Mr. Butch wall of honor. The Clones have been busting out some mad art for it’s first art showing and hopes that you join us on July 12th 7pm at Herrell’s Café. Long live the king. We miss you.
the diamonds and gloves the ring embedded in wax the parchment rolled the men ready for departure, the same departure the cat seeks away from its master, the departure of iron and stone, the leaving for mountains unknown, of drums, the beat of the drums, the lock and the loading of guns, and yes, you from nowhere again, standing in half shadow to the right offering a strengh that cannot be denied a sanctuary that never existed.
Inspired by Jean-Claude Silbermann- a Surrealist Experiment....... To retain it's freshness, THE SOUL must remain dry. Sterility gauranteed unless THE SOUL is damaged or open. (For External Use Only). Please dispose of THE SOUL safely. Fill THE SELF all the way up with SOUL and leave it for a full 2 minutes. THE SOUL should be full strength and not watered down. You can not give THE SOUL to your SELF by re-using your own SHADOW, but you can get all other types of infections by re-using your own SOUL. If you have to re-use your SOUL bleach it first. If THE SOUL hurts, pull out!! The selling of SOULS is permitted only in closed packages. Do not remove THE SOUL from THE SELF until moment of use. Do not remove the protective SELF until moment of use. Recent studies have shown that THE SOUL may live outside the body at room temperature for atleast 16 hours, but no longer than 4 days. Never carry THE SOUL in pocket as THE SOUL may ignite and cause burn injuries. All SOULS sold in the U.S. meet the same FDA standards for strength and quality. If you want to lose THE SOUL and are 18 years of age or younger, consult a doctor. Rapid SOUL loss may cause health problems. Slide rubber spatula between THE SELF and THE SHADOW to easily seperate them without tearing. Remove THE SHADOW from THE SELF before intial use. Apply THE SOUL to genital area (vary amount of SOUL to achieve desired lubrication). THE SOUL is extremely slippery-clean spills immediately. Take this SOUL exactly as misdirected. Do not skip rope. When using this Soul see important warnings: avoid contact with eyes in nostrils. Avoid feeding suspect breast. Caution: Federal Law prohibits the transfer of SOULS to any persons other than THE SELF to whom it was divined.(+----->eli mr butch woulda dug this...
I remember Mr. Butch, I lived in Boston my whole life. I remember Mr. Butch in Kenmore Sq. What am I doing in Phoenix now- I missed two World Series and now Mr. Butch has died? I am bummed. This is a great Memorial though; I can feel his Spirit!
If anyone knows what happened to or where Mr. Butches Memorial Guitar that was on Brighton Ave. in front of the firehouse is, please let BeautyDOG know. One of BeautyDOGS slaves made the guitar for the memorial and was planning on making it a centerpiece for a permanent memorial at Herrell's Allston Cafe. If anyone who knows what happened to it, again PLEASE let BeautyDOG know!!
Who was Mr. Butch? I suppose your answer to that depends on who you are and in what context you knew him. To me, he was a man who led a simple life, yet created a legacy that is most profound.
Mr. Butch was and is a symbol. You didn’t need to know Mr. Butch to be able to identify him. He stood out in the crowd; a tall, almost daunting figure in dreadlocks peering down at you from above. After you had passed through Kenmore Square a few times during the ‘80’s, you knew he was as much a part of the landscape as the Rathskeller, the Hotel Buckminster, Nuggets, and Fenway Park. But who was he? Why was he always there? I remember trying to figure these things out for myself.
Mr. Butch was a throw-back to the day of the spo-dee-o-dee box car hobo, yet he never traveled far. He would carry a guitar and sing you a song. It was easy to assume he was a street musician of some sort. Yet he was always in Kenmore Sq., not nomadically traveling from town to town. It was as if that spot by the lamppost in front of the Rat was his home. I would see him there time and again, at all hours day and night. I began to realize he was living on the street. I had figured it out, or so I thought: he was a homeless musician. But he didn’t always play the guitar. The way he would hold court while others would gather around to listen. Was he some kind of modern-day philosopher? A next-generation Timothy Leary?
Indeed, with time I discovered that Mr. Butch was all of these things and more. He was a musician and he loved to entertain you. He did not have a home with an address and a mailbox. He also wasn’t home-less. His home was wherever he was at that moment. He never hounded people for money. He was more than happy to accept an offering and just as happy to exchange a simple greeting with you. Although he was living on the street, Mr. Butch never saw those around him as walking ATMs. They were all people, potential friends,
(cont.)...and Mr. Butch had many of those. And if you ever stopped to listen to a Mr. Butch rant, you know he was quite a philosopher.
Mr. Butch was not just the symbolic King of Kenmore Square. He was, is, and always shall be the symbol of something much more profound. He is the symbol of goodness. He was a man who’d find a coat with hundreds of dollars in the pocket and then proceed to give it all away to his friends. He is the symbol of simplicity. He lived on the street by choice and connected with the world around him, unencumbered by the routines, possessions, and sometimes laws (a certain mattress story comes to mind) that burden us more socio-materialistic types. He is the symbol of kindness and chivalry. He’d help a lady across the street or fondly wish you “good day”. He is the symbol of loyalty. Kenmore Square was his home. Until the city decided to strip that neighborhood of every ounce of character it ever had, including Mr. Butch. Then he proclaimed a new home in Allston, where he would live – and eventually die.
I’ve chosen a different path in life than Mr. Butch. Yet the simple virtues which he represents are things I long to be closer to. Yes, Mr. Butch had an affinity for sex, drugs, and music. I suppose if you take that out of the equation, he’d have had a better chance at Sainthood. Still, Mr. Butch was more in tune than the majority of us to what is most important in life: to connect with the lives around you and don’t let too much else get in the way of doing that. Thank you, Mr. Butch, for helping me to appreciate that. Your legacy is the many lives you’ve touched and the pleasant memories of you we will all carry forward as we journey through the rest of our lives. Mr. Butch, you were the salt of the earth. So I suppose you hadn’t far to go in your passing.
Thanks for keeping the memory of Mr. Butch alive. He has made an impact in my life that is so profound, yet he will never know. I am saddened by this. Through the "Mr. Butch" profile i have run for some years now, i have met the girl of my dreams. I wish i had the chance to thank him for that. Though it was never my plan to meet a girl through the profile i had set up for him, it happened. He has an ability to bring people together without even knowing it.
Just heard the news. I go way back with Butch, going back to the Worcester days on Castle Hill during early 70's. When I was a budding guitarist we would make music together. I'm totally bummed. Have'nt seen him in over 30 years because i moved to Santa Cruz Ca. RIP Butch your old friend Al Astrella
It's interesting that a man who had no real home made so many of us feel "at home" and welcome in the city. And he seemed to do it with just a smile, a hug, a joke, a few minutes spent. Is that all it takes really? If so, why does it happen so infrequently and then so remarkably? I'll leave these questions for Rev. Hank to help us answer...
I remember Mr. Butch from Kenmore; old Kenmore; how Kenmore has changed! And now all these tributes and emails and news articles have made the city seem suddenly small and weird and friendly again. I do hop
