Conga drummer stabbed outside of Reading Terminal Market last week
Jeremiah "The Cunga Man" Thompson, who says he was attacked by his son, doesn't know when he'll be able to play again.
Long before I met Jeremiah Thompson, I often stood across the street and admired him at work in his little corner of Philadelphia, on the sidewalk of 12th Street near Filbert, under the neon Reading Terminal Market sign.
For more than a decade, Thompson, who calls himself “The Cunga Man,” has busked at that corner, singing and playing his conga drums to hits like Chuck Brown’s “Bustin’ Loose” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
I always marveled at his ability to break people (including me) out of the every day, how the songs he chose and the charismatic way he played inspired tourists and locals to unabashedly sing along or dance their way down the sidewalk.
Two years ago, after hearing him play a version of “Bette Davis Eyes” that floored me, I profiled Thompson for my We the People series, about the people who make Philly extraordinary. With his long-standing presence in such a public place, I wanted to get his story and hear what his music meant to the people of Philadelphia.
“His playing inspires. It gives me a sense of hope that there is hope in the city of Philadelphia,” Lamont Twyne, 51, of West Philly, told me at the time.
But today, the corner where Thompson performed is quieter and a lot less joyful after an encounter last week left him heartbroken, injured, and unable to play.
According to Thompson, 51, of Lawnside, he was stabbed in the left hand by his 26-year-old son last Wednesday as he played outside the market. Police confirmed the incident and said they responded to a 911 call at 3:15 p.m. and transported Thompson to Jefferson University Hospital for treatment.
No arrest has been made and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.
Thompson, who reached out to tell me what happened, said his son has struggled with mental health issues for much of his life and was released on bail last month in New Jersey after allegedly assaulting another family member, which the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. He said he prays his son gets the help he needs and hopes he doesn’t hurt anyone else. Attempts to contact Thompson’s son were unsuccessful.
As we talked, I could hear the pain in Thompson’s voice — the physical pain of his injuries, the emotional pain of a father worried for his son, and the existential pain of no longer being able to do what he loves in the place he loves doing it most.
“That’s my life. I probably will go back down once he’s apprehended and I get the surgery, even if I can’t play the drums, I’ll probably still go out,” Thompson said. “It’s devastating in more ways than one because it’s something I love to do and now I’m out of commission.”
According to Thompson, he was outside of Reading Terminal Market when his son, who comes by and watches him play once in a while, rode past on a bicycle and smiled and waved at him. About two hours later, Thompson said his son returned and the last thing he remembers is looking up and seeing a large survival knife coming at his head.
“Instinctively, I put my left hand up to protect my head and it was nearly cut off,” Thompson said. “Luckily I had the towel I drape over my conga drum and I used that to wrap my hand and slow the bleeding.”
Thompson said his son ran off, leaving his bicycle behind. Thompson yelled to an older gentleman nearby who often stops and watches him play to call police.
“The older man was in shock, I think, because he was like ‘What’s the number?’ but he got himself together and called 911,” Thompson said.
Family members came to help retrieve Thompson’s microphone, speakers, drums, and busking money.
At the hospital, Thompson said doctors sewed the skin of his hand back together but told him he’d need to see a specialist to repair the severed ligaments.
Not only can Thompson no longer play drums, but he also can’t do essential tasks, like getting dressed on his own. He’s getting help from his mom and said his doctor is seeing if he’s eligible for a home healthcare aide.
A father of six, Thompson said one of his daughters helped set up a crowd-funding page for him at Givetaxfree.org to help raise money to pay his bills while he’s out of work.
He said he’s heard from one of the other buskers at the market who expressed his deep concern, and I told him a lot of other people may be wondering where he is too, because Thompson is not just a part of Philly’s landscape, he’s part of its soul.
Unlike the thick callouses on his palms, caused by years of beating his conga drums, Thompson hasn’t let himself become calloused by what happened.
In the midst of his pain, he’s taking comfort in what he always has — music. Thompson said he’s been listening a lot to Yolanda Adams and Common’s version of the song “Glory” from the movie Selma.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” he said. “It is so moving.”