Iconic Pueblo busker remembered as an 'amazing character' and downtown fixture

A well-known street musician and longtime fixture in downtown Pueblo died Wednesday, but the memory of his haunting Marxophone music and entertaining stilt walking will long live on in residents' minds.

Tom Boyd was not only known for busking with his Marxophone on Union Avenue, where he would play for tips, but also for wearing a different hat nearly every time he did.

"He was quite a character with all his hats and his Marxophone," recalled John Radeaux, owner of John Deaux Art Gallery at 221 S. Union Ave. "We always had him here at the gallery to play for the (First Friday) art walk and he did that for probably five years."

Before Boyd snagged the Marxophone he was so well known for at a local thrift store, according to a 2009 photo cutline by former Pueblo Chieftain photographer John Jaques, he would "walk on stilts with signs for Solar Roast," coffee shop, Radeaux recalled.

Walking on air: Boyd and the stilts

Solar Roast Coffee Owner Mike Hartkop remembers it well.

"We had just opened in 2010 and we hired kids to do sign shaking. Tom Boyd came in and asked for a job so we hired him and when he showed up the first day he strapped on these stilts," Hartkop recalled.

"He was so good he could do backflips in them and instead of a standard sign we had to modify a sign so it was the right height for a guy on stilts," Hartkop said. "He was an incredible guy, very passionate."

Hartkop recalls one time he tried the stilts on and "fell right on my butt."

"My brother, who is 6-foot-2, put on the stilts which made him like 8-feet tall and went into the Sharmrock and ordered a beer," evoking a resounding round of laughter, he said.

A talented musician with a strange instrument

"Boyd was an amazing character. The Marxophone is a strange instrument and I can still hear the chimes in my head from his playing," Radeaux said.

"He was a big member of this community. He wanted to make people happy and make a little cash for food," one of Boyd's friends, who asked not to be named in this story, said.

"He loved being around people and wanted to make them smile and tell them a joke. He came here from Ventura, California, and was happy and content with his life in Pueblo," the friend said.

"On rainy days when he would stay at home, I would Door Dash him some food and a lot of other people made sure he had something to eat too. We wanted to make sure he knew he was loved," his friend said.

Boyd was so beloved that when his trike cycle was stolen out of his backyard several years ago, it wasn't missing for long.

"One hour later it was back. People found it and immediately had it back at his house, that was how much he was loved," Boyd's friend said.

Radeaux posted about Boyd on Facebook Wednesday and many other tributes soon followed on the social media platform.

A 2019 Chieftain story about Boyd reported that, "Though Boyd spends his days busking full time, don't confuse him with a panhandler. A sign on his bike reads: 'Not homeless ... Yet.'"

The article went on to read, "Boyd talks longingly of a time when busking was seen as a revered art form, bringing music out into the public and creating a little romance for the community. When he first tried busking, Boyd played guitar at the Wild Wild West Festival, where he made $15 ... When he switched to playing the Marxophone, he made the same amount in 15 minutes."

"The wealthy people think I'm homeless, and the homeless people think I'm wealthy," Boyd told the Chieftain. "I'm what happened to the middle class."

Today, the chair where Boyd always sat and played his music in front of the Sacred Bean coffee shop, and before that when the business was the Grind Haus, sits empty; a sad reminder of how he was larger than life.

His vintage melodies no longer float in the air along Union Avenue. The neighborhood is a bit quieter and less festive these days, Hartkop said.

More on Tom Boyd: COFFEE AND A SONG

Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Iconic downtown Pueblo musician remembered as 'amazing character'