Deacon Lunchbox was the stage name of Atlanta performance artist and poet Timothy Tyson Ruttenber (1950-April 19, 1992). Ruttenber, a construction worker by day, was popular in the Atlanta area for his flamboyant spoken-word performances. He often punctuated each line of his poems by banging an old torpedo casing or metal bucket with a hammer. His onstage props included a chainsaw, and often a bra was part of his costume.
Deacon is credited with giving the Atlanta alternative country music scene its name - the Redneck Underground. Bubbapalooza, named and led by the late Gregory Dean Smalley, is an annual Redneck Underground festival at Atlanta’s Star Community Bar in Little Five Points

Little Five Points

Little Five Points is a district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 2½ miles east of downtown. It was established in the early 1900s as the commercial district for the adjacent Inman Park and Candler Park neighborhoods to the west and east...

, a three-night showcase for the Redneck Underground.

Ruttenber died in an auto accident, along with two members of the Atlanta group The Jody Grind (drummer, Rob Clayton, and their bassist, Robert Hayes). The three were riding in a rented cargo van in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

, at the time of the accident, when a drunk driver crossed the I-65 median and struck them head-on.

He appeared in Words in Your Face, a PBS documentary about spoken-word performers.

Film Appearances

• Alive from Off Center
  Alive from Off Center
  Alive from Off Center, renamed to Alive TV in 1992, was an American arts anthology television series aired by PBS between 1984 and 1996....
  
   - Words in Your Face (1991) PBS TV Episode
• Benjamin Smoke
  Smoke (band)
  Smoke was a band from the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia that dissolved in 1999 with the death of writer/singer Benjamin. Benjamin is the subject of Peter Sillen and Jem Cohen's documentary Benjamin Smoke .- History :...
  
  (2000)
• Coffeehouse: Atlanta's Underground Poets (1992) Documentary of Atlanta's Spoken Word scene, containing the last interview with Deacon Lunchbox.
• Crash Course in Brain Sodomy (1990) by Kreg Thornley and Brett Lewis. Cameo appearance

Publications

• Some Different Kinds of Songs (1989) A collection of monologues. Publisher: Drewry Lane Book Makers
• The Complete Lunchbox: The Life and Works of Deacon Lunchbox, a Cornucopia of Southern Culture by Robert S. Roarty (Editor), Tim Ruttenber

Recordings

• Rantin' 'n' Railin' (1990)
• An Evening with the Garbageman and Deacon Lunchbox January 24, 1989 (WREK: The Underground Recordings)
• The Mother of All Flagpole Christmas Albums (1992)

Poems

• All I Want is Her Love and a Brand New Harley
• Death of an Amway Salesman
• I'm Bustin' Down the Road Doin' Sixty
• I'm Just an Old Redneck Hippy
• Lewis Grizzard I'm Calling You Out
• Life in Midtown Atlanta
• My Vacations Plans are Ruined
• Nadine and Tony
• Omni Beer
• Quagmire of Skankmud
• Yuppie Bastard

External links

• A Celebration of Deacon Lunchbox - audio files and poetry
• Different audio files and a write-up