
Ladies & gentlemen, thank you for coming. It would have meant so much to our friend and colleague to see so many at his memorial. I’ve...I’ve been asked to deliver his eulogy and, yeah. It comes of a bit of a shock to be actually doing it.
Thorson was truly an artist in his time. I met him, oh gods, years ago. I couldn’t tell you how many. And you know what? He used to annoy the living daylights out of me. It was the nature of our jobs, you know, that his performance would always follow mine. But in those early days he just, irked me, you know? He would take too long and mess up the timing or he’d be right up behind me, nearly pushing me off the shelf.
We were both so damn young. I was obsessed with movement and form back then. I hadn’t really discovered the art of my trade yet. And lord knows he hadn’t either. It was all about volume back then. How high could you crank it up and still recover for the next go?
He was pushing. Always pushing. More power, more sound, more shake. He would chant that through his whole warm up before a show. More power, more sound, more shake. Sounded like a cracking maniac. Honestly I thought Thorson was just this brainless, meathead crasher. I thought I was this great genius, electric with the vigors of youth, energy and creativity. I had this burning need to ignite a new era in our industry and I kept getting paired with this dumb, loud, graceless brute. At the time I thought, ‘There’s no way we’re ever going to connect – there was no spark between us.”
But one day, just before we went on, Thorson came up to me and I remember what he said. I’ll never forget it. He goes “Man, I gotta say. I love your work. You really strike me as a guy who loves what he does. It’s inspiring. If you ever wanna collaborate, let me know. I’d be down with it.” And all of sudden, we started working with each other instead of just near each other.
Thorson really taught me how to focus my energy, how to really jolt the audience. I didn’t have to do all this feathery, fluffy, traipsing around all the time. He allowed my influence in to his work as he added grace, fluidity, rolling tones, and effervescence and we really… we really played off each other’s dynamic. The stuff we created, it was evergreen, it was timeless and it was all Thorson. We may have started off a little stormy but
The years passed by and we really dialed it in, man. We started landing some really big gigs. Did you know Thorson and I played Katrina? Yeah, man. We weren’t on the eye or nothing like that but we were there. We were a part of making history. And we were old men by then- I can only imagine the racket we would have made if we’d still been young and wiry for that show.
Yeah, Thorson really grew as an artist, but more than that he taught me how to grow. That’s what Thorson was, deep on the inside, he was teacher. He made me better, stronger, brighter just because he wanted to. He was always great for lending an ear, giving you a good clap on the back when it was needed. And I know you all saw the same thing in him. He’ll be dearly missed. Thorson, you enjoy yourself up there bud – that great cloud in the sky’s sky. You’ve earned a rest, brother. You’ve earned a rest.
Disclaimer: This is an original short story by Gwenna Laithland. Any similarities to real people or events is purely unintentional. All rights reserved. No one may repost this story or any part of it for commercial or financial gain without authorization from the author.
Comments