It’s hard to believe that it was 1980, that Richie Cannata played the tenor sax solo in Billy Joel’s classic, It’s Still Rock And Rock To Me. That was the music of my youth, and it was the type of saxophone solo that shaped my choice to want to play rock sax. (And, it was Jr. Walker’s work in Foreigner’s 1981 hit Urgent, that drove me into screaming altissimo studies.) 😈
Last night I attended my first-ever grad reunion. Because of living on the other side of the country, or having other engagements on the nights of the previous reunions, I hadn’t been able to attend any of the earlier ones. Last night however, I was was really glad that I was able to go.
I was able to reconnect with some friends from school, most of whom I hadn’t seen in 30 years. The most special part of the evening for me, was reconnecting with my tenor sax partner from high school. Bev reminded me about this funny thing that happened while we were in school, that I still have no clear memory of.
Apparently we were rehearsing for a music festival, and I was helping Bev with her part. However, for some reason we did it via telephone. She had the phone beside her, and she would play her part. I would then critique her on it, and she would replay whatever was necessary. According to Bev, this went on for hours.
Talk about low tech/early days of remote saxophone instruction. We’ve come a long way baby—in the last 30 years. Hell, we don’t even use rotary dial phones anymore. 😆
I can see myself spending time with Bev working on her part, but honestly don’t remember doing it. I wonder how we did in the festival? 
It was interesting looking through the old yearbooks that people had brought, and the photos that they shared. I think it’s a shame that social media sites like Facebook, and digital images snapped on cameras and cell phones, are replacing the tactile, hard copies of yesteryear, for today’s grads.
You see, I have an inherent distrust of technology. How many times have we lost electronic things due to a technological failure, and/or our own failure to back things up?
And let’s face it, 20 years from now, you’ll really regret not being able to laugh at your hair or fashion choices—and that of your friends’—if all of your high school memories go **poof**, into a black hole of cyberspace.
lol, growing up in Alloway, NJ in the 90’s!!!! we still had a party line in the early 1990’s. And that was with a rotary telephone. I grew up poor, and still live poor today, but I’m making great strides for the family.
I never had a party line, but lots of my friends did because they lived out in the country. Party lines were the only way to get phone service then. That was always interesting. I always wondered who those people were who shared the line, and what kinds of conversations they overheard.
I still have some great rotary telephones. My favourite is my vintage Ericofon by the L.M. Ericsson Company—like the one from eBay that I uploaded with this comment. Mine is beige however.