Ringing Endorsement Puppet Bike inventor Jason Trusty on Tin Man

Welcome to Ringing Endorsement, wherein The A.V. Club speaks to local people of note to get their hearty recommendation of an event, restaurant, or whatever strikes their fancy. This week, Puppet Bike inventor Jason Trusty gives a shout-out to a fellow busker with the power to save Chicago.

He's not in Chicago anymore, but the Tin Man needs to come back because he's a true performer. He scared me, so I know he must have pissed some people off, [but] he really represents what the city needs. The whole city, the educational system, the businesses, and the political system, everything can rise up from where it is right now, and Tin Man represents that to me. I mean, he was teaching the same business practices they're teaching at the [University Of] Chicago Graduate School Of Business: You gotta ask for the money. That's what he did every day. He wasn't getting by the same way everyone else does, but he was doing a heck of a job, and he earned our respect.

Last spring I think was the last time we saw him, and I didn't see him at all over the summer. We sort of felt bad like the public moved him out of his turf. He was up there when we were on Michigan Avenue and we were always competing for this corner or that, and the relationship was tight, or it was tough, but after a while, we just started working together. I'm gonna make some "Where's Tin Man?" T-shirts, and sell it to support bringing him back to Chicago.