Black History Month 2025 - February 12th - Shawn

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 12th - Shawn

The Lanier Stage Band was mostly black; I was one of 4 or 5 white kids, and there was one Mexican-American, and one recent Vietnamese kid whose family was one of the many who made it to Houston after the fall of Saigon.

However, one of the African-American kids was different than the others. He did not really hang out with the other kids in the band. And unlike most of the others in the band, he was in the Vanguard program, like me, and was in a couple of my academic classes.

One day early in 7th grade, I heard a big commotion, and looked over, and Shawn had another kid pinned to the ground in a wrestling hold. The teacher broke it up and sent both kids to the principal, but the scuttlebutt was that you just did not mess with Shawn. He fought hard, and was not above fighting dirty. Neither kid was suspended or anything, and nothing like that happened with Shawn around me throughout junior high and high school.

I found out on a band trip later that Shawn’s father was a wealthy successful businessman. Shawn had a really great saxophone, a sweet boombox on the bus, and was always dressed impeccably.

Shawn loved teasing me, and I really don’t take teasing well at all. One day, he had been firing rubber bands at me while I was playing, and then, as we were leaving the lunch line, he laughed at my reactions to it. I lost my cool and took a swing at him (I only ever did that twice, and I am totally ashamed of both times). He ducked, laughed, and ran as I chased him out of the band hall. Once I realized how foolish I was, I stopped. The next day, I apologized for the violence, and he apologized for launching rubber bands.

And we gradually became friends. He was a voracious reader, so we talked about books. He took up bassoon at roughly the same time I took up bass clarinet, and we should sit in concert band with our burping instruments and cut up and misbehave and have a great time.

We ended up at HSPVA together, and were in the #1 jazz band our senior year. Doc Morgan would get mixed up and call him “Syd” and me “Shawn”. One time he did that to me, and I said, “Doc, I know we both went to Lanier, and we both play sax, but Shawn in the black one.” He, Shawn, and I all laughed heartily.

I lost touch with him after high school, but I will never forget Shawn for what he once did for me. At the end of 9th grade, he came up to me and presented a paper bag to me. Inside was a “Universal Method for Saxophone” book. He had had everybody in the band sign the inside front cover, and then then wrote:

“To Syd, our honorary Soul Brother”

It was one of the greatest honors I have ever received.  

Black History Month 2025 - February 11th - Perry Kay - Original essay

 This post is the original essay I wrote for Perry Kay. I posted February 11th - Perry Kay on social media, but wanted to record this for later.

Black History Month 2025 - February 11th - Perry Kay

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 11th

Perry Kay

Houston in the late 70s and early 80s was a hotbed of jazz education. Every school in the area had a jazz band, sometimes called a stage band. I went to Lanier Jr. High, and Mr. Kay started the Lanier Stage Band my first year in 7th grade.

Mr. Kay was a graduate of the North Texas State jazz program, the best jazz program in the country. He was a great sax player. While he was not the most well-spoken man, he knew his stuff, and he knew how to convey it. He put all of the kids who played trumpet, trombone, or saxophone and had been through beginning band in the stage band. He also picked the best drummers, found some piano, bass, and guitar players, and we were up and running.

The band we had in 7th grade was usually in the worst time slot at jazz festivals. We were all just learning how to do this jazz stuff. In 8th grade, we were quite a bit better, and in 9th grade, we started winning.

Mr. Kay was passionate. He was really good at demonstrating what he wanted, on any of the instruments in the band, but especially saxophone. He encouraged me when I was interested in playing bari sax in 8th grade. He allowed me to check out a bass clarinet so I could teach myself how to play well enough to make Houston All-City Orchestra on two weeks notice, and hey, look, now he had a bass clarinet player for concert band!

One day, he spent one entire class period dedicated to the blues scale. I went home and noodled around with it, and stumbled on a lick which I thought sounded amazing. He also had copied some magazine article about what it meant to be a jazz musician and improviser. It was life-changing for me, and I decided I wanted to do this for a living.

When my parents bought me a shiny new tenor sax for 9th grade, he had me play it a lot, but he still let me play bari on the tune that I made my own, Neil Hefti’s “L’il Darlin’”, from the Count Basie book. I won awards at jazz festivals for that tune. I would watch my mother smile whenever I did that gliss down to low B.

He worked with my mother to make vests for the band on an extremely limited budget.

He brought in local players to work with the band. One day, he brought in a fellow on crutches who smelled of cigarettes and "old man". It was Arnette Cobb, who had been a star in Lionel Hampton’s band, but whose career had been cut short by a serious car accident. Cobb had started playing again, and was doing clinics all over town. He would stand there leaning on his crutches just holding him up at his shoulders, tenor hanging on the strap, and just wail out the most soulful sound you ever heard.

At one point, Cobb looked at me, and said, in his rough almost-whisper, “Young man, this is your band! You are carrying them on your back. Show them how it is done. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise!”

Mr. Kay did an incredible job with that band. I still play to this day, even though I do something else for my actual living.

Black History Month 2025 - February 10th - John

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 10th

John

I spent 6th grade at McGregor Music and Science Academy, a newly designated magnet school in the heart of Houston’s 3rd Ward. My class was about 60% African American.

One day during the first half, my teacher asked me help tutoring a student who was having trouble with math. So worked with John, and taught hm fractions and long division over the next few weeks.

Another day, at PE, we played basketball, and I was terrible. Truly. I had been sick most of my childhood to that point, so I had zero skills. John approached me on the way back to class, and offered to give me pointers on how to play basketball during lunch as payment for teaching him math.

He worked with me off and on the rest of the year. I was still a terrible shot, but at least I could dribble, at least with my right hand, and I could defend.

We both helped each other out with what each of us was best at. As it should be.

Black History Month 2025 - February 9th - Ken Brown

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 9th - Ken Brown

I had Mr. Brown for Geometry my first year at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He was in his late 30s, wiry, and in shape. He wore tight shirts that showed some chest, gold chains, and rings.

He knew his stuff; I loved the material.

I was reading a Red Book for US Coins in class one day (I collect coins), and he got my attention, and said, “What’s the favorite coin you have?”. I told him that I only had one coin, a 1900 Morgan dollar, and a 1964 Proof Set. I made a killing a few months earlier when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market, turning about $20 of coins into $200 about three weeks before the silver market crashed back to normal. He told me, “Congratulations!”.

A couple of days later, he caught my attention as I came into class. I stopped at his desk, and he opened a drawer, pulled something out of it, and tossed it on the desk. It was a 2”x2” coin wrapper with something in it. I picked it up, and looked. It was a 1909-S VDB Lincoln Penny, in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. This is one of the most famous coins in the US collection. He said, “This is MY favorite coin.” I told him, he had taste.

I did not really interact with him much after 10th grade, but it was cool that we had numismatics in common.

Black History Month 2025 - February 8th - Frank Thomas

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 8th

Frank Thomas

My last year in California, and the last year I had season tickets to the Oakland Athletics, they signed 37-year old Frank Thomas on a one year contract. He was signed as designated hitter to supplement their mostly uninspiring offense and hopefully ride their good pitching back to the playoffs. I had seen him a couple of games over the years, but I got to see him on a regular basis.

What a great hitter.

He was giant, 6’5”, listed at 240 lbs in Baseball Reference. You would think he would be easy to strike out with that large a strike zone, but he lead the league in walks four times, and walked over 100 times in 10 different seasons. He only walked 81 times in 2006, as he was only in 137 games. But he hit 39 home runs in 137 games. He demolished Minnesota pitching in the A’s first playoff series win in 16 years, but alas, the Tigers completely shut him down in the ALCS.

With his super-fast swing from those huge biceps, and giant tree-trunk legs giving him even more power, he was a fearsome presence.

When not playing, he seemed gracious and gregarious, with a beaming smile, and an easy-going nature. It was easy to love having him on your team. He also made it through the nineties and early 2000s without ever being implicated in baseball’s performing-enhancing drug scandal.

I am lucky I got to experience him, and wish I could have seen him more in his peak.

Black History Month 2025 - February 7th - Michelle

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 7th

Michelle

I had a good friend in the Bay Area in the early nineties. He worked in tech as a hardware tester, but I met him playing the Foothill College Lab Jazz Band, where he was playing trumpet. We ended up taking a jazz combo class together. 

He had trouble making ends meet and ended up leaving the Bay Area for New Jersey in the mid-nineties. In 1998, I got an invitation to his wedding, and he included a personal letter and asked me to bring a sax, or at least a mouthpiece or two, because he planned to have a jam session at the reception. So I made plans.

He is white like me, about my age.

1998 was a transition year for navigation. You could go on the web and get turn-by-turn directions to anywhere, but there were no cell phones that could do that, so you would print your directions out and follow them off of the paper. Satellite navigation for cars was right around the corner and in some cars, but not very many, and certainly not rental cars. So I flew into Newark and set off on the drive to central Jersey. The street signs were hard to see, and I was lost pretty much from the time I got on the road.

I drove up to this church, parked, and got out of the car. However, everybody in the parking lot was black, so I thought I was at the wrong place. I got back in the car, and drove in circles for about 15-20 minutes, and came back to the same church.

Then in hit me. Rick was marrying a black woman.

For a few minutes I just sat in the car and tried to calm down and get my breathing back to normal. I was shaken to my core. My own prejudice and assumptions betrayed me that afternoon. Once I realized my mistake and got over my embarrassment, which only I knew about anyway, I went into the church and saw Rick.

The wedding and reception were lovely. Rick and his new bride Michelle were glowing, as was Michelle’s 3-4 year old boy. He obviously adored Rick. And we did get to play a jam session that night. 

Michelle and I got maybe five minutes to talk. But I am writing this to admit my own prejudice. Sometimes we think we are so enlightened, but we get knocked down by reality.

Black History Month 2025 - February 6th - Paul D

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 6th - Paul D

I started working at a startup software company while finishing my bachelor’s degree. There were ten programmers, one of whom was the CEO. All but one of us were all classmates with each other at Rice, and another was a fellow that some of us met at a programming contest. All 10 of us were white and male and nine of us were between the ages of 20 and 25.

However, the other 20 or so employees were from all walks of life. One of them was an African American fellow named Paul. He was hired to work in the shipping department. He packed boxes, printed labels, coordinated pickups by UPS and Fedex, and did random other jobs around the office. There was always something to do at a startup…

He started hanging around with the programmers because he was close to our age, and we had more in common with him than anybody else. We would go to lunch or dinner and the like.

I bought a beat-up car while I was at that company, and started trying to maintain it myself. I knew it probably needed an oil change, but did not know what to do about or where to go. I brought it up to Paul, and he said he would teach me how to change my own oil. I went to his apartment complex in my car, and he took us to the local auto parts store and got oil and a filter and a plastic container to put the used oil in. He had tools and a drain pan. And, in that Southwest Houston apartment complex, he showed me what to do and how to change the oil. He saved me about $30. I changed my own oil on my cars for a few years more after that.

He invited me to be an usher for his wedding. The service was at a historically Black church in Houston that had no air conditioning. It had handheld fans with pictures of the church on them that looked like they were 20 years old. The maid of honor was flying in from somewhere, so we all waited in the hot building, and all of the wedding party was dying of sweat. We finally got through it and had a good party.

The startup was bought during that time, and I moved to California a few weeks later. I lost touch with Paul, which is a shame. He was a cool guy.

Black History Month 2025 - February 5th - Mr. Smith

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people.

February 5th

Mr. Smith

My family moved from Lubbock to Houston the summer before my 5th grade year. I did not blend in well with my new school. I always thought I was the smartest person in the class in elementary school, and I was obnoxious, and I was just about the worst athlete you could imagine, largely because I was a sick kid most of the time. My neighborhood was close to Rice University, and many of the kids in the class had parents who worked there, so they bristled at my arrogance.

I had the only fight I ever had that year. A few kids (at least 4 boys and 1 girl) perpetrated a bullying campaign against me, writing fake love letters that pretended to be from another girl in the class. After a few weeks of this, they turned into obscenity filled screeds left in my mailbox. My mother went to the principal, and he and my teacher cracked down. The five I mentioned above were suspended at least one day, and two of the boys were paddled.

My parents decided that I needed to go somewhere else for 6th grade, as they (and I) felt that the environment there was too toxic. However, we did not have the money to send me to Kinkaid or St. John’s, Houston’s best private schools. That year, however, Houston Independent School District announced a few new magnet schools. HISD would put interesting programs in historically minority-dominant neighborhoods to stave off federally-forced bussing as part of desegregation.

I ended up at McGregor Music and Science Academy. I had already explored some amount of music on my own, playing around with my dad’s guitar and the piano in the house. At McGregor, I started paying saxophone in the band and taking piano lessons. I also loved the science lab, and won the school’s Science Fair in the spring. About 60% of my classmates were local neighborhood kids, so they benefited from the new programs as well.

Mr. Smith was the band director, and he got me started on saxophone the first couple of weeks. I took off from there, teaching myself (until high school, actually). Started on alto. Mr. Smith quickly had me reading alto clarinet parts so that they would be covered; there were plenty of saxophone players! A few weeks in, the school got some tenor saxes, and I quickly switched.

Mr. Smith approached me on day in November, and asked me to help him with some music “since you read so well”. So I started going to the band hall at lunch. He was doing his own arrangement of the Theme from SWAT, a show on TV at the time. He had written out a sketch with about six parts, and wanted to assign those parts to certain instruments, and needed help to finish early enough for the Winter Concert. He taught me what transposing instruments were about, how to identify range problems, and some rudimentary music preparation skills, like planning page turns. He critiqued my notation; it was not great, but I was forced to read my own for that concert, and I made it through.

Considering that nobody in the band had been playing longer than three months, the piece, which closed the concert was a rousing success.

I am so grateful that Mr. Smith took me under his wing. I am fascinated by arranging, orchestration, and music preparation to this day.

This theme was so good!

Black History Month 2025 - February 4th - Ken Griffey, Jr.

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people.

February 4th

Ken Griffey, Jr.

His father was a really good baseball player, and Junior was hyped to be much better. Seattle called him up in 1989, and then signed Senior for 1990. On September 14, 1990, they hit back-to-back home runs. This is when most fans discovered The Kid.

He was great out of the gate. Handsome, cocky, with a big toothy grin and the sweetest left-handed seen anybody had ever seen, he became the icon for a new generation of baseball players. Some baseball old-timers bristled at his demeanor, especially when Griffey wore his hat backwards when he wasn’t in games. Major League Baseball, to their credit, embraced the youthful exuberance, and promoted Griffey shamelessly.

Boy, he was fun to watch. The early nineties were filled with young baseball stars, but Griffey Junior was one of the best. Now appearing in commercials (like old athletes do), he still has the dazzling smile. He also seems to have avoided any off-field or post-career scandals. He’s living his best life.

You were good, Kid.

Black History Month 2025 - February 3rd - Michael

This year, as a 60-turning-61 white man, I am going to highlight African Americans that have had some kind of influence in my life. Some are famous, some are friends, and others are just people. #blackhistorymonth

February 3rd - Michael

When I was 16, I got my first job, as a frycook at the local amusement park, AstroWorld. I worked at the stand called “Coney Island”, in the area of the park called the same thing, home of the Texas Cyclone roller coaster. The stand sold hot dogs, cokes, and cotton candy.

I was really earnest and worked really hard (or as hard as maturity would let me). One of my coworkers at this stand was this quiet African-American fellow, my same age, who had been there since the park opened in March (I joined in June). He was hard-working, had figured out how everything worked, knew how to deal with people, and quickly became the person put in charge when the manager would go on break. He was friendly when you interacted with him, and it was apparent to me that he was off-the-charts smart.

He got Employee of the Week for the entire Food Service department twice that summer. I got it zero times. He was also amazingly good looking. I was completely jealous and in awe.

Later, when I showed up at Rice, he was there. He graduated with an electrical engineering degree on time; I had spent a year as a music major, and struggled to my computer science degree a full year and a half after he graduated.

A mutual friend says that he is doing well. Michael does not do social media, so apparently he is still really quiet. Still, I would love to get together with him and catch up.