Deacon Lunchbox


Deacon Lunchbox was the stage name of Atlanta performance artist and poet Timothy Tyson Ruttenber. 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.
In April 1991, Lunchbox performed live with Bill Taft at the opening night of the "Cartoon Show" at 800 EAST, an arts collective and performance space in Atlanta.
Deacon is credited with giving the Atlanta alternative country music scene its name - the Redneck Underground. Musician Gregory Dean Smalley, who died in 1996 from AIDS-related complications, is credited with founding "Bubbalooza", an annual Redneck Underground festival in Atlanta. In 2012, Bubbapalooza celebrated its 21st anniversary
at its annual venue, the Star Community Bar in Little Five Points. The 2025 lineup included
the Ghost Riders Car Club, The Sideburners, The Wheel Knockers, and The Downer Brothers.
Ruttenber died in an auto accident, along with two members of the Atlanta group The Jody Grind. The three were riding in a rented cargo van in Montgomery, Alabama, 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 - Words in Your Face PBS TV Episode
  • Benjamin Smoke
  • Coffeehouse: Atlanta's Underground Poets Documentary of Atlanta's Spoken Word scene, containing the last interview with Deacon Lunchbox.
  • Crash Course in Brain Sodomy by Kreg Thornley and Brett Lewis. Cameo appearance

Publications

  • Some Different Kinds of Songs 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, Tim Ruttenber

Recordings

Poems