[Harp-L] Jeff Carp

["John Schulman" <john.schulman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, I'm new to the list, which I just discovered in looking for info on Jeff
Carp.  I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, in Hyde Park.  Paul
Butterfield lived there, having attended my high school before me.  He might
not have readily admitted graduating from the U. of Chicago's University
High School.  I looked up his yearbook quote, which stated, "I think I am
better than those who are trying to reform me."  I was listening to old
Butterfield this evening, and got to thinking about Jeff Carp.  I assumed he
also lived in Hyde Park, possibly as a U of C student.  I heard him with his
band at U of C dances.  I remember he was cool, and had soul.  Many years
later I renewed a friendship with an upper echelon professional jazz
guitarist, also from Hyde Park.  He told me a slightly different story than
on the list.  A Hyde Park friend had told him everyone on the boat was under
the influence of the aforementioned hallucinogenic substance when the boat
began taking on water, in the Gulf of Mexico.  Apparently Jeff and his wife
both swam to shore separately, without Jeff knowing she had safely made it.
When he did not see her, he bravely swam back out to find her, and was
killed by sharks.  What a way to go.
 
That possible tragedy having been voiced, I remember U of C events where I
also heard Sam Lay, Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, BB King, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells,
Muddy Waters, Cream, Butterfield, and the (Corky) Segal-Schwall Band.  While
waiting to hear Howlin' Wolf play at the gymnasium, we were informed he had
a heart attack on the way to the gig (but survived).  It was a pretty cool
place in which to have grown up, when one could attend these events as a
teen.  I never made it to the clubs on 47th St., however.  It was this
exposure that inspired me to play bass and attend Berklee College of Music
in 1972 (after bumming around for two years- much to my father's
displeasure!)
 
Regards,
John