In Search of a Saxophone

Bleeding Gums Murphy

For reasons that are elusive to me, Buckaroo signed up for a saxophone class at the college. That's all well and good, but Buckaroo doesn't have a saxophone. We live in a moderately small town (35,000 on each side of the state line) and resources aren't readily available. Add to that, up until a couple of days ago, I would have put money on the fact he really didn't know exactly what a saxophone sounded like.

Curious, Marty and I asked some basic questions: What made him decide to play the sax? Was there anything particular he liked about the sound? Had he heard of Clarence Clemmons? (no) Kenny G.? (no) Bleeding Gums Murphy? (no). We thought about explaining to him (as we have it on good authority), it is the drummer who gets the girls, but decided we'd rather hear a woodwind than a percussion instrument. 

At any rate, Buck wanted a saxophone. And he wanted me to go with him on his quest to find one, with the idea that I, "ask the right questions." Whatever those might be. We went to the two places in town. One did not have saxophones. They did tell us what to expect to pay for a reasonable quality sax for a beginning student. The other place offered us payments of $75 a month at 19% interest for 36 months. Not only was Buck not interested in payments, he was not interested in paying anything remotely near that amount.

Out of local options, we started looking around. I had no desire to drive to Dallas. Shreveport has a Guitar Center. Tyler has a music shop. I posted on Facebook's Texarkana Music Scene, but no takers. Buckaroo asked around to his sources. Nothing. Eventually we heard about the Guy. 

The Guy has a music store in Hughes Springs, Texas (population 1,534). Hughes Springs in 57 miles from my house, is three back country roads away. Pro tip: if you drive there in a thunderstorm, you can expect to pull over for about 15 minutes until you have enough visibility to see the road again. Prepare to see lightening strike near you. Twice. If you go on a day that doesn't have thunderstorms, you might be better off. 

Anyway, Buckaroo and I made the trek out to Hughes Springs. We passed three towns with Sonics and spotted several dead armadillos floating down the road. The Guy had three saxophones for Buck to choose from at a much more reasonable price. The Guy was also gracious and gave Buckaroo a starter-lesson, which was great because it gave the rain time to stop.   

Though we were an hour (or more, thanks to the weather) away. I realized, if I had been in Maricopa County, it would have been the equivalent of driving from Mesa to Peoria. Somehow not having municipalities in between made the drive seem so much longer. 

Buckaroo now has a saxophone. He's thrilled. Hopefully when it comes time to pick my nursing home, he will kindly remember that I helped him with this.