R.I.P.: Christopher Tucker, 1971-2008
It is with the heaviest of hearts and great sadness that we tell you today that one of our very closest friends (and frequent Philebrity contributor) Christopher Tucker passed away on Friday afternoon. Christopher was so many things that it’s impossible to touch upon them all here: Father, generous friend, musician, writer, bon vivant, lightning rod… we could go on. We’ll be talking a little bit more about Christopher as the week goes on, but you can read his writing for Philebrity here and listen to some of his music here and here. In the meantime, information about a memorial for Christopher will be coming in the next few days, and we’ll be sure to share it with you. If you’ve got any memories of Christopher you’d like to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments or drop us a line via email. We’ll miss you so much, Christopher.
UPDATE: Memorial services for will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 1st, 2008 at Pippin Funeral Home in Wyoming Delaware where friends may call two hours earlier.
Burial will follow at Barratt’s Chapel Cemetery, Frederica.
Chris’s life will also be celebrated at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, August 2, Valley Garden Park, on Delaware Route 82 in New Castle County (beside Hoopes Resevoir.)
Letters of condolences may be sent via www.pippinfuneralhome.com. [Via DelmarvaObits]
July 27th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for putting this up. I have been checking here often for something to show up as I know how much Chris loved and respected this place.
I just want to thank everyone for their support this week in dealing with this loss. I got to spend a lot of time with – and got to know better – many of the people that knew Chris.
I have known Chris since I was 8 years old and we have been best friends for over two decades. My life will not be the same without him. Sadly I am not a brilliant writer like Chris so there is no way I can explain how amazing he was and how much I will miss him.
This is so sad. I miss you bro…
Matt Murray
July 27th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
it was both wonderful and difficult to know you, ct.
i’m sure glad i did.
this will hurt for a long time.
peace and love.
xo
July 27th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
my heart is so heavy with loss. thank you, joey, for one more way to honor the legend that he was.
fuck the past tense. christopher is always. i love and honor him.
mandy
sister
darlin
etc
July 27th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
So sad. Sleep well Chris, thanks for all your help…
July 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I didn’t begin to get to know Matt Murray until this week, but I am so happy that he and Chris had each other for most of their lives.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
My Friend,
On my flight back from Seattle Friday i saw MT. Rainier through my window. WOW, the space it occupies, much like the space you occupy and will continue to in so many of us. May you find the highest places and the quietest places where all you can hear is the whistling of the wind through the air. May your soul be at peace – dryw
July 27th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
christopher was many things to many people. so much more than words to can say. he contributed so much to this world with his astounding talent, but also more intimately through through the wonderful aspects of his personality that some of us know. everyone that he loved i love. thank you all for your kind words and support through this very tragic time.
ps… matt, you can expect me to keep being to keep being touchy feely. xo
suzy
July 27th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Christopher was truly a unique and brilliant soul and i am glad to have known him.. all the support and people coming together that loved and cherished him this week was amazing..
i will miss your laugh.. sleep well CT..
“the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”
-Meg R.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Christopher described Orphan Family this way: “the band is called orphan family because that’s what it feels like when you are with your best friends – you are orphans to each other, unrelated, but you are a family and that is a splendid dichotomy.”
He knew who his family was, and it’s good to be with family now.
jen o.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Thank you so much for posting this Joey. I took me while to get over my intial shock/disbelief and realize how much I’m going to miss him. This photo brought it all home for me. Fortunately there wasn’t anyone in the office yesterday to witness me burst into tears when I saw this.
Rest peacefully Christopher.
-your friend Kyle
July 28th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I didn’t know Christopher Tucker but I enjoyed reading him here. I’m sorry for the loss of your friend.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Chris, we love you. The boy is being looked after just as you know he would be. Your boy Matt fought the good fight for you just as you know he would.
Chris did know who his family was, and it was so wonderful to see so many family members come to say good-bye to him and lend their support to each other. I wish all of you who love him could have been at Standard Tap on Thursday night. It was truly comforting.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
We were too young to know it when we played little league together. We were too young to know it as we roamed the halls of the C.R. schools together. We were too young to know it as we snuck into the bars in Dewey. We were too young to know it as we finally became legal to visit the same bars in Dewey. We were too young to know it when The Verge became. We were too young to know it when we were broke at U. of D. We were too young to know it when WilberFest developed. We were too young to know it when you and the Verge performed at my house for my last day in Dover before I left for the military. We were too young to know it the last time I saw you as we shared tears of the passing of Devon. But I know it now, some childhood friends become friends for life and time nor distance ever stand in the way. And Chris my friend, you are still too young not to be here anymore. I will morn your loss for a while, but eventually I will have nothing but smiles when I think of you. You were loved by so many. Until we meet again…
Greg Folkins /Dallas, TX/
July 28th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I remember when I first met Chris at the impressionable age of 14. He seemed so wise (or was it wise-ass?)in all of his 16 years at the time. I was thrilled to meet someone who had the same music tastes as I did. It was rare to find someone who was so plugged into music in our pokey Delaware town. And even though we lost touch again until we reconnected in college, I always remembered how he, unintentionally I’m sure, validated for me a part of myself that I was almost ashamed to admit to my prep-school friends… that I liked GOOD music that wasn’t southern rock or Jimmy Buffet.
I have so many wonderful memories of Chris from colege and beyond that I wish I had the time or the space to convey. But it will have to be enough for the universe for me to say that Chris made a large impact on my life and that he will never be forgotten by me.
Gretchen Bok
Somerville, MA
July 28th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Chris, I still don’t know what to say. I’m waiting for one of those phone calls where you have nothing to say and you make me feel like I inconvenienced you. All I know is that I miss you terribly and I love you dearly and that you seemed happy lately. As awful as last week was, you brought us all together and we even had a good time for a bit. You would have enjoyed it. My life is fucking weird without you brother. More soon. I love you. Always.
Jonathan.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:44 am
The moment I met you I knew you were special, something almost other worldly. I wish I could I have gotten to know you better. I hope to see you in my dreams and i love you even though we weren’t close, you were my boy’s best friend. I love you Chis Tucker…please visit me and let me know you are at peace. and I’ll be reading your manifesto or whatever it is you sent to Jono. I am honored to have known you.
Love,
Meri
July 29th, 2008 at 9:58 am
It all started when I stopped off in the middle of a jog to visit the cute boy wearing a sweater vest that lived in the house under the bridge. We drank a beer, listened to some Ride, then I continued on with my run over the bridge. Kindred souls met, fell in love and embarked on recreating our early 90’s, Delaware version of a Sid and Nancy, Bonnie and Clyde, Kurt and Courtney cliche. The trip was grand- we skipped, ran and stumbled through crazy adventures I thought you only read about in books by dead people. For years since he’s been a brother and a friend. I remember him, dancing, ranting, singing, playing and loving the world. Chris Tucker Forever.
Warm thoughts to everyone who knew and loved him.
Love you Chris, Danielle
July 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
my buddy dave p. told me that i absolutely had to meet this guy christopher and that his band was really cool…i will always remember our first meeting at last drop…he walks in, drops a cassette demo on the table and begrugingly tells me it’s pure genius! i only knew him from that point forward but over the next few years would meet people from all parts of his life…delaware, cali, philly…and see how much people really dug him. his art was his intellect and his passion was the geniune love he had for his friends and more recently in life, “the boy.”
“we rode our bikes to the arcade, lit m80s along the way
and all night we laughed at cassette tapes that we hade made. before we played our first guitars, we learned to play with matchbox cars and i’m out to find another tree
for to carve for posterity
the acronym for me.” Christopher Tucker, “Latch-key Kids”
July 29th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I did not know him well enough, but am saddened by… I have enjoyed reading everyone’s thought. i wish i knew him better and will start to learn his music for the first time and am looking forward to it. may the passion of his vision sink into you all and he will live through you and me and find peace within us all.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
The Chinatown bus from Philly back to NYC with Jono and Meri on Friday, gutted after saying a our final goodbyes to you: two 19 year old english twats (your word, not mine, and I’m so glad you finally gave that one up…though not without a fight) sitting across from us, loudly discussing the La’s and how their genius goes way beyond ‘There She Goes.’ Blah blah blah blah blaaaah… La’s La’s La’s La’s Laaaa’s…. Jesus, you never give up, do you? (And you know that is part of what I love about you)
You are everywhere and I so need that right now.
I love you. I miss you. My heart is shattered and every day is like “marching up and down this Sisyphus hill… where the rock goes rollin’ down the hill again….”
Thank you for never letting me down. Except that one time for Spiritualized at the Wiltern. But you missed the best show I have ever seen and now I am sorry I sold your ticket and we don’t have that memory to add to our very long list. Pink Elephant margarita days and Heliotrope nights. All my stolen books and sunglasses I would eventually find in your car. (Good thing you gave as many as you stole.) The best brunch ever. The second best brunch ever. The best emails ever. (All 9,356 of them.) The best spellers ever (a tie, though you hated to admit it.) The best late night phone calls ever. The best voicemails ever. (All of them ending in ‘I love you, darlin’. Half of them with an added ‘and we’re gonna be okay.’) The best car ride ever. The best stolen car ride ever. The best encouragement ever. Always. There were so many bests with you… and I will treasure them always.
“so when you’ve lost control and you’re a blackened soul
and all of your body is drawn, what keeps you keepin’ on is love.
it’s love.”
Thank you for showing me so much love, Christopher.
“and I wish I was on the way… to you my love…”
July 29th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Damon passed this on. An interview with Chris. Almost like he was sitting across from me 15 years ago. Time has flown by and right now I really wish it hadn’t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-vzoaufU4
July 30th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I met Christopher 10 years ago. We worked together at the graphic design department at First USA Bank in Wilmington for a year. He was my buddy at work and made the day go faster with his humor and wit. Later he moved to Philly and our lives overlapped through AKWD preschool, neighborhood events and local music. We were friends; I tried to be the best friend that I could to him. I cared about him a lot. Just a few days before he died I sent him some pics of his son from a preschool pumpkin picking trip a few years ago. I hope he had a chance to enjoy them a little.
My very heartfelt condolences to all his friends and family for your unimaginable loss. I hope that you (and I) may all eventually find peace and acceptance.
best,
Jeanne Kohl
July 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
1995 graduation card from Chris to me:
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHCCCCCCCKKKKKKKOLA!!!!!!
Jen,
Congratulations. Now no matterwaht happens, who you owe money to, and how much the man tries to get you down, they can’t take it away from you now. Be proud of yourself, woman.
I actually got this card a week ago but, well, you know the deal, right?
Take it easy woman. And keep that mind on. You never know when some retard might show up in your life and try to turn it off.
Later & Love,
Chris”
Great words from a good soul.
Rest in peace Chris. -Waltuz
July 31st, 2008 at 3:45 am
Christopher was a truly wonderful person. I didn’t know him as well as the rest of my band mates had but it only took that one time, that one evening that we spent together many moons ago out there in the dampened days and nights of Philadelphia, for me to understand what krista told me about all along.
His kindness. His gentleness.
He told me that having a kid was one of the greatest things in the world. He was so happy about it. He was happy about a lot of things that day, something about playing more music and a decent job. It was a dream combination for a talented musician and things were looking up. We just drove around that one night, talked and ran some errands. He was cool like that, helpful – thoughtful, he was not in the least bit irritated by us wanting to get cheesesteaks and do touristy stuff like that. Always cool and laid back. He always had a smile on his face and often asked me politely if I needed anything.
He lovingly supported us through thick and thin. He was at almost every show the last 8 years. I didn’t see him this time around, perhaps I rubbed him the wrong way or something last year. God, I hope not. God bless your heart Christopher. Rest in peace brother. Hopefully we will play a bigger and brighter stage together this time around. Rest in Peace.. Bobby Hecksher – The Warlocks
July 31st, 2008 at 9:19 am
After the celebration of Christopher’s life at Valley Garden Park on Saturday, all are welcome to continue the celebration at Scratch Magoo’s at 1709 Delaware Avenue in Wilmington. Christopher enjoyed many times at this restaurant/pub.
Please share photos of Christopher by visiting http://www.flickr.com.The login is christophertuckerforever@yahoo.com; the password is
rememberingct. A slide show is being prepared for the celebration at the park.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:06 pm
i haven’t been able to look at this until today because thinking about you makes me choke. i didn’t respond to your last email. it’s so easy to forget that you don’t have forever.
you always remembered my birthday even if i forgot yours.
the saddest books i’ve ever read were recommended by you.
your nasal voice drove me crazy at four am.
your insistance on playing your song four thousand times in a row so that krista, frankie and i could all acknowledge the momentary, yet genius, “ping” you inserted in the middle was enough to make me want to kill you. but i listened anyway.
the late nights – “bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.”
the brian wilson disaster – your white cords stained dark red. the detainment. enough said.
when my heart would break, and it would with great frequency, you would come to my defense – sit on the phone, write me sweet emails.
who’s going to be excited when i finally meet a boy as wonderful as you?
when you called me darlin’ it made me feel… i can’t explain… it made me feel like i deserved something okay from this world and that you had confidence that it would come.
i’m sorry i didn’t listen to the record you sent me. i am sorry that i didn’t always call you back right away. i’m so sorry i forgot your last birthday.
i love you.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I knew Christopher fairly well…our bands played about half a dozen shows together. He was always so generous and cool. We both became fathers around the same time, and it was so comforting to know someone in my situation (no pun intended). It was a joy to run into him around town, and talk about being a dad while trying to make music at the same time. We both shared our excitement in the moment when it finally felt like our sons needed us, as the first year and a half to two years any child is mostly all about mom. It is so sad to me that he will have to feel his son’s love from another place now, but I am sure that he will. And being a father myself, and having worried about some tragedy not allowing me to be around to see my son grow, I know in my heart that I will always be with him in his. And that gives me peace. It is obvious even to myself, someone on the fringes of his life, that at the bottom of everything what Chris wanted the most was to be loved. And he was. I can’t think of anything more precious than that.
I’m so sorry you are gone Chris. I will miss our little encounters of sharing stories and laughs at how beautiful life can be.
All my love to you and your family,
Mike
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
“Waiting in the ICU”
Oh Christopher:
Where does your spirit dwell?
Your mother’s tears have formed so many
Patterns
Crying on your cold, white,
sterile sheets,
There are no spaces left
So they spill at Heaven’s Gut
And for now
I sit quietly and wait,
Finding solace from my grief
While asking how,
Oh how,
Dear God.
Do I unlock the
Mystery of what’s become of Chris.
**********************************************
I know his light shines bright in Heaven now:
Christopher accepted Christ when he was four years old. It was after a long custody battle. To have a family, a father, mother and child together again was the ideal for him. He was so happy. In fact, so much so that he poured a bucket of sand down the bathroom sink so the devil could not get in and break up his family ever again. The pipes in the apartment complex were backed up for days. We were a happy family and his father and I went on to have another child, his little sister Candice. He fell in love with her immediately and helped take care of her and dressed her in funny outfits. Five years later, we moved to a small town, Wyoming DE. I wanted to put down roots and have a normal childhood for Chris and his sister. I’m sorry, I truly tried for 16 years to have what Christopher always wanted “A Family”, with a mother and a father who were not fighting. Later through marital problems, Christopher always told me in his nine year old wisdom: “Mom, I understand, you just want some peace and quiet, and off he went to take care of his screaming sister.” My train derailed so many times throughout his childhood, but I know this one thing. His childhood was happy. Sometimes he was judged because he thought others thought of him as “poor” or snubbed and mocked him because others saw his parents in a bad light. Christopher could not be the person he was without first having parents who adored and loved him with a passion that will never end and who tried to teach him right from wrong and to have a good character. Now again my life is derailed as I have lost my best friend of 36 years, my confidant, my son, my only son.
Christopher was always so happy and proud to introduce me to his friends. I never knew quite why, but I guess it is because he wanted me to be a part of his group. And now I feel I am. The Orphan Family has a mother. And I’d just like to thank the outpouring of cards, emails, memorials, and testimonies of his life that has helped sustain me. Please send more as I am insatiable when it comes to hearing stories about my son and how he will live on in my grandson, Jack. What a gift Chris was and will continue to be. The best son a mother could ever have.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I am sadden to hear the news of a lost pal. I am also happy to hear an old friend was loved by so many and truely lead a great life that his family could ever be so proud of. I will never forget the good times, never have never will.
To Christophers Mother,
I hope I provide some fond memories.
Rich Ringer
rringer@ssctv.net