Tharp in White
Entertainment Weekly carried a story today about White Stripes impresario Jack White's surprise marriage to video model Karen Elson. The story was accompanied by a picture of White looking almost exactly like a younger version of my old friend, BeauSoliel multi-instrumentalist Al Tharp, pictured below. The resemblance isn't very strong in Al's picture, but it's the only one available.I met Al in 1994 after he responded to a piece I'd published, and we maintained a warm relationship up through the time we lost touch in 2000. Al lived in an expanded shotgun shack off Rampart St. in New Orleans when not on the road with BeauSoliel. The back room of the house was a full recording studio, outfitted with a massive board, vintage and high-tech audioware, and a Mac that was permenantly set to ProTools.
Robey and I stopped through New Orleans in 1995 as we drove out to California from his boyhood home in Johnson City, TN. The experience was...awkward, as it was clear Robey did not share my romance with the opulent decay of the Crescent City. It seems pointless to recount the details, but suffice to say I will never see a biegnet again without thinking of the expression on Robey's face as we sat in a charming café in the heart of the Quarter, and Robey discovered that this wretched, anemic, evil little pastry wasn't going to do shit about his road-weary, po-boy sized hunger.
Ahhh, good times.In 1998, I visited him again, by myself, and we recorded a plunky cover of The Louvin' Brothers' "The Great Atomic Power" on which I sang and played guitar and shakers, while Al handled all the hardcore duties like banjo and bass and engineering. If you like, you can check it out here.
I miss Al. He's a unique and extremely giving soul, a musician that is simulatneously an expert technician journeyman, a true believer, and immeasurably talented artist. He's a genuinely humble person, who wants none of the trappings of success save for that which enables his moderate comfort and sumptuous creativity. I think Jack White inadvertantly inspired me to try and find my old friend.
A quick search shows see he's still with Bozo, and they've got a page on the website of the Rosebud Talent Agency. Al looks different now without the long hair and goatee, and Bozo frontman Michael Doucet has clearly been hitting a little too much gumbo, but they still look pretty much the same.
leave a response