Goodbye, Big Man (via The Mouth of the Beast)

This post is part of the ongoing series of Musicilove and serves the two-fold purpose of acknowledging the passing of Clarence Clemons and introducing you to one of my favorites blogs.

I have been in love with the sax since I was about five years old. It appealed to my cool gene, and eventually I took it up as an instrument. At the time, its case was almost as tall as I was, and I remember lugging it on and off the bus to and from school. That was a pain, but I was determined to learn it and tap into a sound that was only rivaled by the bass for coolness. I did eventually learn to play it, and to play some jazz pieces that I had been dreaming about, e.g., Take Five. But mostly, learning to play it put it in my blood, so that I’ve always felt a keen kinship with sax players. Clarence Clemons was one of those. I don’t know that he was the best sax player I’ve ever heard, but he was certainly one of the most exuberant, and the energy rolling off of him always put a smile on my face every time I got to see him perform. One of my fondest musical memories is attending a show of Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ tour. I have relived that experience countless times and of course Clarence is always there swaying in my head. So I was sad to learn that he passed away.

And then there’s Matt, whose blog I adore. His piece on Clemons is one of the shortest I’ve ever read from him and mostly a quote, so it’s not particularly the one I was going to use to introduce him. But I’m impatient sometimes, and I guess now is one of those times. Yet I know if you love music and thoughtful discussion of same, you will love exploring his blog. I also have an interest in Matt as a homeschooler and in particular as an ‘unschooler.’ I happen to be involved with it myself — having successfully graduated three unschoolers.’ But please don’t think all unschoolers are as crazy as I am. Matt is proof they’re not. :D

Enjoy:

Goodbye, Big Man

By now, I'm sure that you've all seen that Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for the E Street Band, has died. Clemons seemed to be a character out of a storybook — or better yet, a widescreen movie about the triumph of a romantic gang of rock ’n’ roll renegades. Wildly popular among fans of the E Street Band, he was the sort of larger-than-life figure to whom legends accrued. Recognizing this, Clemons and Springsteen did much to play up those legends … Read More

via The Mouth of the Beast

1 Comment

  1. Thanks for the kind words and the traffic! I don’t know many unschoolers (teachers or students) and I think it’s hilarious that that’s what first brought you to my blog.


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