‘Sonics Guy’ Kris Brannon memorialized on new Tacoma mural. The location is perfect
There’s really only one way to appropriately honor the life of Kris Brannon — aka Sonics Guy.
Bringing back his beloved basketball team.
Still, there’s little doubt that the larger-than-life character — who died suddenly earlier this year — would get a big kick out of a tribute that’s currently being created in one of Tacoma’s most well-known neighborhoods.
Among Brannon’s many charms, the 47-year-old had an unmistakable presence. He was known everywhere, because he was everywhere. Sometimes, that meant stealing the spotlight at City Council meetings or being rushed by young fans at Tacoma Rainiers games. Other times, it meant mingling with bar and nightclub goers, particularly along Sixth Avenue, where Brannon was a fixture.
According to Raimundo Jurado, Brannon’s longtime friend and personal photographer, that’s what makes the location of a 40-foot mural that’s currently taking shape along Sixth Avenue so perfect. Since Sonic Guy’s death, there’s been a massive void in Tacoma — where he lived and was loved like a son — and the green-and-gold likeness that will soon memorialize him on a brick wall outside Gather Juice Co. will help to fill it.
More importantly, it will remind people of the man Brannon was behind the towering Afro and ever-present Sonics gear, Jurado said.
“I spent some of his last days talking to him about life and death. And one of the things he said was that he hopes he made a mark on the community where he lived,” Jurado said. “He did leave behind a legacy, and he belongs to this community. That should be remembered, along with what he represented, which was tenacity, never quitting and never stop believing.”
Let this much be said: If a mural is painted in your honor when you die, you must have done something right.
For Brannon, this will actually be at least the second such tribute. In Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, artist Jeff Jacobson painted the first.
Tacoma’s Sonics Guy mural is the work of the well-known guerrilla art project Beautiful Angle and local cartoonist R.R. Anderson, who first partnered in 2016 on a Brannon poster that remains one of Beautiful Angle’s most popular to date. The mural essentially recreates the sold-out poster, on a much bigger canvas, Anderson said. Ultimately, it will also include a life-size depiction of Brannon for people to take photos next to, he added.
Jurado said he hopes it won’t be the last Tacoma tribute to his departed friend, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented public memorials when Brannon passed away. Jurado is also working on an effort to have a small memorial placed at a local park.
In case there was any question about Brannon’s stature and the place he holds in the hearts of many, the new mural is being paid for through money raised during a GoFundMe campaign that brought in more than $7,000 in roughly 48 hours. The paint was donated, according to Beautiful Angle’s Tom Llewellyn. The wall space was also provided free of charge, Gather Juice Co. owner Sean Doyel confirmed.
Llewlyn said that he and his Beautiful Angle co-conspirator, Lance Kagey, struck up a friendship with Brannon over the years, developing what he described as a close relationship.
Llewlyn noted the “astonishing outpouring” of grief and personal tributes that accompanied Brannon’s death.
“He picked this strange little cause, and then he just stuck with it. I think that’s what (made Brannon so beloved), along with the fact that he was just a super kind man,” Llewlyn said.
“So it’s nice to find some sort of way to memorialize our friend in the sky who has had a big impact.”
Anderson began painting the mural late last month on his days off from the creative reuse art supply center he owns, he told The News Tribune this week. He estimates he’s about a third of the way done, and expects it to be completed by early summer.
So far, it’s been a project of passion mixed with sorrow, Anderson said. He knows the mural would make Brannon smile, but it’s also a reminder that his friend is gone.
“He loved the idea of getting a Sonics Guy mural when he was still around, so seeing all these murals come up after he’s gone, it hurts the heart. But it feels good that he’s being memorialized,” Anderson said.
“Hopefully we get the team back,“ Anderson quickly added, perhaps knowing that’s the message Brannon would want delivered.
“Frigging bring them back.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
