Friends mourn famed Portland street performer
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A candlelight vigil Sunday honored a well-known street performer in Portland.
People made their way across the Hawthorne Bridge where Kirk Reeves used to play the trumpet as people drove by.
Friends remembered the way Reeves would always follow his dreams and encourage others to do the same. They also remembered him wearing Mickey Mouse ears and some people even passed out a few as a fun way to remember Reeves.
Portland Mayor Sam Adams spoke at the beginning of the vigil and proclaimed Nov. 18 as Kirk Reeves Day.
Adams said Reeves would've wanted people to celebrate his life, but also talk about suicide, which his how Reeves died.
One of Reeves' friends organized the vigil and remembered him making everyone smile.
"He would take even the most quiet person and make them lively," said Andee Freytag. "Why not honor someone like that? Why not? He's like the part of everyone's family -- like the crazy uncle we've always loved and adored."
Friends are trying to raise money to get a statue made of Reeves. They hope to put it up on the bridge where he used to perform.
If anyone would like to help donate to the bronze statue memorial:Â http://www.gofundme.com/1h7ems
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It is ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING being homeless in Portland; prison-like shelter & 24/7 DISRESPECT & ABUSE by the police....HORRIFYING!
 @August100 We heard you twice the first time.  Stop the prison analogies.  Shelters aren't hotels.  If the cops are on you 24/7, there's more to it than just because you're homeless.
 @August100 Have you ever been in jail? I can agree with harassment by the police (not necessarily abuse though, but yes, that does happen) but you're clearly unaware of what you're saying. I've worked in several Portland homeless shelters and believe me, it ain't like being in jail. You can LEAVE a shelter. When the more schooled guests in the shelters I've worked in would hear naive or pissed off guests commenting on how the shelter was like "being in jail", they would make it a point to let them know that actually, it wasn't.
 @inthemirrorsky I wrote "PRISON-LIKE"; of course the homeless can leave the shelters and be back on the streets.
Other homeless people, WHO NEVER GOT TO TAKE MUSIC LESSONS, are THROWN IN JAIL!
Oh no.. Another damned statue... Come on, let's help the shelters.. This is crazy..
 @dougrpdx Portland's shelters are ALL prison-like, all-controlling, and MANDATE those extremely offensive 12-step religious AA/NA cults & "Jesus Saves" proselytizing; you'd want to kill yourself after being in one!
 @August100  So your solution is what, eliminate the shelters?  There's a lot of people who need help, and they don't have time to act like it's a hotel-- it's not, it's an emergency service and those who need it are lucky to have it (though we're all unlucky that Ronald Reagan chose to take money out of social services and give it to the rich, thus eliminating many safety nets which kept people off the streets, and now we get to have armies of homeless instead).  I think having to hear about Jesus is a pretty small price to pay for free meals and reasonably safe shelter.  It's not more offensive than sleeping on the sidewalk in January with rats trying to snuggle up to you at night.
 @pdxd  @August100 I agree with you. Its nice to see people as helpful as August 100 in our midst.
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And that assumes, too, that the people WANT to be in shelters or placed in homes. Many homeless don't want the restrictions placed on them in shelters or houses, for that matter. Several homeless people I know simply didn't want to live indoors. Others I know of were mentally ill and incapable of making the decision for themselves but created a living he!! for their families when they tried to help. Oh, and how are neighbors going to be in allowing the homeless and their demons into their neighborhoods?
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And I'll repeat again, though, Kirk wasn't homeless.
 @August100 Thank you for volunteering to put together the housing, the training, and arranging the jobs for all of those currently in shelters!Â
 @James J. My solution is IMMEDIATE REAL HOUSING, REAL TRAINING, and REAL JOBS (or income supports).
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NO MORE POVERTY PIMPS!
 @James J.  @August100 I have to take issue with one thing which you said. I have known of group homes in which the mandatory meetings have an unmistakable Christian slant, and use the Bible as reference. The people who occupy group homes are mandated to do so by the state. So there is no way that anyone of them should have to participate in any discussion which is based, partially, on Christianity. This is America, where the separation of church and state is a hallmark of our government. So no American should have to "pay {even} a pretty small price" for his treatment, in terms of hearing "about Jesus." I might remind you that not everyone finds the Christian message and the person of Jesus totally unoffensive. To those who have suffered throughout history at the hands of those who worked and continue to work to spread his message, such references are plenty offensive. Enough said.
 @August100  @dougrpdx Please. Did you have one bad experience with ONE shelter? All of the shelters I've worked in have been secular. AA/NA having nothing to do with Jesus, by the way. And they are not advocated at all within the shelters. If a guest has an issue with addiction, the 12 step meetings might be one of several things suggested. However, you're clearly hostile and angry- do you have a suggestion about what works then, since the 12 step "cults" don't? I almost WISH that 12 meetings were required for people to stay in shelters (if their issue is addiction). You obviously have never been in prison either. In prison, when you violate a rule, you're thrown in the hole. At the shelters, you're either given a warning or possibly kicked out. Sorry for whatever bad experiencing you're having with "ALL" Portland shelters but I'm wondering if the issue is not ALL the shelters but maybe you...
This makes me very sad. Many of us saw this guy, he was really friendly and upbeat. Sad that he ended his own life. Did anybody really take any time to talk to him? Too little, too late.
 @kindercaregoat He had many friends in the community. He was involved in several activities in addition to taking pleasure in making people smile and forget their troubles for at least a few minutes each day.
I wold have had the city erect a high chair, (like the one he brought with him and sat on during performances) at the spot where he sat.
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and if the Voodoo Doughnuts man does not already have a name, I would like to nominate Kirk to be his name.
OMG! I did not realize he committed suicide or was even dead that is so sad! I passed him on my way back from school every week and he always made me smile, so I gave him a few dollars just for that. My thoughts are with his family.
 @Jennifer Havens Well, they found a sister... Can we call that family ? You sound like the typical portlander... Ohhh my God, how sad.. He made me smile so I threw him a few bucks..
When in reality if you had not threw him those few bucks, maybe. just maybe he would have got the help he so desperately needed... Sad indeed !
 @dougrpdx  @Jennifer Havens What's sad here is how you're talking trash about a man people liked and acting like sympathy is poisonous-- unbridled negativity is way worse.  What kind of logic is it to say that if someone doesn't get money, they'll get the help they need?  Have you also been protesting fast-food places to eliminate employee wages, because of the poor lost souls who work their ass off for minimum wage and no health care?  How much money did Kirk actually make?  Sounds like you know, so let us in on it.  I understand that no-one hired him to play trumpet up on that bridge, and I don't know what kind of money he got from it, but some street performers actually make a better-than-minimum 'wage' when they're diligent enough about finding their spot and playing there consistently, just like any other gig.  Musicians have to find where they fit in and do it. Â
 @dougrpdx  @Jennifer Havens Seriously?!? As I said before Kirk loved to make people smile. If it made him a few bucks, so be it. He actually had a very active lifestyle and was well respected and known among the musical, writing, and other communities. He was a great man and, apparently, your life would probably benefited from knowing him as a person, not judging him after the fact.
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The help Kirk needed wasn't the help you're thinking of. He expressed a need to many of us that he needed medical help -- not for drugs or alcohol, either. He didn't touch that stuff any time I was around him and, actually, didn't really like them, either. The help he needed wasn't available (like universal health care). And, before you go the mental health route, I'd like to point out that many mental health diagnoses are subjective and, arguably, we all have at least one or two. To me, Kirk WAS normal.
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As far as Kirk's family is concerned, well, like most families -- it was complicated.Â
how sad :(
Why did he commit suicide? So far not in the story. Not sure why someone would want to erect a statue for someone who committed suicide, there may be more information out there though.
 @Just Lookin There is an article on Oregon.live which provides a bit more info re his depression.
 @Just Lookin I'd heard that he had cancer, and no health insurance. Don't know if that was the reason or not. Very sad that he is gone.  :(
 @Just Lookin There is no way to know "why" someone commits suicide, except that at some point life feels too painful to continue, and it seems as though the pain will never let up. People who kill themselves probably don't actually want to die, it's that they want/need the pain to stop, and can think of no other way out. Kirk was a wonderful spirit who enriched the lives of all he came in contact with; erecting a statue in his honor is the perfect way to commemorate someone so full of love and life, regardless of how he died.
 @gofigure  @Just Lookin See Oregon.live article.
@Just Lookin Hunter S. Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Curt Cobain, Vincent Van Gogh, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Sylvia Path, Tony Scott, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf, and many others committed suicide, and there are statutes of many of them. The statutes are generally a statement about the lives not deaths.