These cool cats just can’t stop the music

“Because I Said So” column for The Commercial Appeal

September 3, 2009

When my wife and I were newlyweds 15 years ago, we lived in a little house on a little street in Midtown. Like many Midtown streets, this one claimed an old woman with too many cats, and those cats had the run of the neighborhood. On any given night, one or several of those cats would sit underneath our bedroom window and make the most awful noise you’ve ever heard, warbling from sundown to sunup. It was part of the charm of Midtown.

I don’t know what made me think of that just now after all these years.

Anyway, 11-year-old Calvin has recently taken up the saxophone for band class at White Station Middle School. Alto sax, to be specific, which is different in size, tone and price, I’ve learned, than the tenor or soprano saxophone … (read more)