The
New Orleans music community mourns the loss of sousaphonist extraordinaire
Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, who left this world last Thursday.
OffBeat's staff will never forget the day he unexpectedly showed up at the
office with a troupe of brass band youngsters and performed an impromptu concert
in our dining room. It was Anthony's way of thanking us for putting him on the
Christmas 2000 cover, where he appeared with a seasonally-clad Shim Shamette on
each knee. In the same issue, the former McDonogh 36 student, Preservation Hall
performer, Olympia Brass Band member and veteran of Jackson Square recitals told
interviewer Bunny Matthews: "There are some musicians that don't talk to me
or think bad about me because I play out on the street and all, but I care less
about that because when I die, I'm gonna die by myself. And they'll be the ones
standing over me, saying, 'Oh, he was a good man!' Some of the musicians who are
sitting back with their mouths pushed out, putting out bad things about music
should come forward and spread it a little forward so that peoples can enjoy it
because you only have a short life. I'm enjoying mine. Music will go with me all
the way to my grave. That's how I want to die-I want to play that last note and
die. That's the way to go- take the joy with you."Fred, Very sad about Tuba Fats , only 53! I was looking forward to sitting in with him again in Jackson Square. I wonder who will take his place. You might like to put this extrect from Offbeat, the Weekly New Orleans sheet. A fitting tribute which I think many of his friends in this country would appreciate