Why Saxophones?

The saxophone, in the grand scheme of things, is a relatively new instrument. On my quest to find what makes this instrument tick, why it moves the soul, and how it exploded into popularity during the 1920's (The Jazz Age) and why it's kept its popularity into the 21st century, I'll keep you, dear blog buddies, posted.

Lucky for you, blog buddy, you don't have to wait long, because my journey of a lifetime already started about a year ago.

*ANECDOTE TIME*

My family loves Michigan. LOVES MICHIGAN. Naturally, we spend many weekends in small lakeside towns perusing small shops at my parents' leisure while my brother and I trudge along letting our parents know our discomfort derived from looking at women's clothing and arts and crafts wares the whole way. It's pleasant.

Of course being the Catholic family we are, we absolutely must stop on our trek up north at the University of Notre Dame. They have a rather extensive bookstore called the Eck Center. And let me tell you, blog buddy, spending three beautiful, fantastic, painful hours in there every month during the summer is a wonder for the nerves...if you like fried nerves. Yummy.

On one such occasion, I ambled over to the music section which was crammed with biographies of many famous musicians. I stumbled upon a little black book that caught my eye called The Devil's Horn by Mike Segell. It's sleek black cover featured a saxophone with a snake curling out from the instrument's bell. "Well," I thought, "I might as well try to make this interesting."

After a quick skim, I decided to purchase this intriguing piece of work as a last ditch effort to try to cure my boredom for the rest of the "vacation." When I began to read, I found an expertly crafted tale of the world's most controversial, popular, and most loved instrument - the saxophone.

It is this book (and some other fun sources) that will manifest in this blog of all noteworthy musical blogs (On a scale from 1-10 - with 1 being really bad and a 10 being really, really good - I'd give this blog an 8...8.5...no higher than a 9.7. There's always room for improvement. One day, though, I'll write a perfect 10 - because I'm worth it.) mostly because it's served as the inspiration for this mother-lode of creative AP English assignments. Prepare for gratuitous quoting from my lover, the book, in upcoming posts.

Me and my lover, The Devil's Horn, being scandalous in the Kitchen.