My son is in Jr High for the first time this year........Little guy is twelve (going on seventeen sometimes, it seems). Something tells me he will be a bit more than a handful as a teen. Anyway, he is in sixth grade band. Now I went to school with him to help him pick out which instrument he wanted to play. I must say, that I did breath a sigh of relief when he didn't look twice at the drums...... The sax was the direction I tried to steer him........cool horn. Well the reed mouthpiece was just a little tricky for him and he settled on the trumpet. Now here we are, almost three months into the school year and for a week now, he has been doing some practicing around the house. Mostly scales, not "songs" mind you. If any of you remember learning the trumpet, or have a child doing so, you are no doubt familiar with the early stages of the learning process, and the acompanying sounds that emanate from wherever the "practice" is taking place. I am here to tell you, for all the world, it sounded something like a heifer hung in a barbed wire fence, occasionally trailing off into a higher pitched one, maybe like we were sacrificing a goat or something......know what I'm sayin'?  So anyway, last night, while writing, closed off in my office, I start to hear this note progression that actually resembled a tune.........rough, but recognizable as an actual song. I asked him about it, and he mentioned the name of the piece........something I'd never heard of. After that, it got quiet for a while.......I'm not sure where he went, but it was out of earshot anyway, and I'll have to admit, I was a little thankful for that. An hour or so later, he popped into my lair with his horn, and asked "want to hear something, dad?" Now what's a dad to say? Of course I did. So I sat back and the kid proceeded to floor me with a flawless rendition of the ringtone I have had on my cell phone for probably five years now............."When The Saints Go Marching In". In a way, I was amazed that he had gone from a ragged exercise, to nailing such a fun tune in just a couple of hours, but then again I wasn't. He has a hard time passing the piano without sitting down and plinking out the same tune, so the choice was logical. Also, I guess you'd have to know Stephen to understand. When the kid puts his mind to something, he doesn't rest until he gets it right. That is going to serve him well in life. Now as for why I have that song as my ringtone, I couldn't say - it's just a catchy tune I guess.......and while it reminds me of New Orleans, I can't say I am actually all that crazy about New Orleans. That probably stems from the fact that while my co-workers get field assignments like Singapore, Russia, The Emirates, etc. I get the really exotic ones like Port Arthur, and Metairie or New Orleans. I was guilty in the past of referring to NOLA as just a dirty old town that could use a good flushing. Lord knows Katrina wasn't what I had in mind......I felt guilty for a while after that. Nothing personal toward New Orleans, I just can only take so much of the Quarter, and God forbid I would go within a hundred miles of there around Mardi Gras time. I am quite capable of getting hammered and doing it under much more controlled circumstances.  On the other hand, in case I have offended any coonasses reading at this point, I must say that I am quite smitten with Acadiana, and the Bayou Teche region that is Lafayette, New Iberia, Avery Island and the surrounding marshes and cane fields. That is where the Blues are for real. That is where you will meet some of the finest folks, and get some of the tastiest food that is known to man. And give me a choice between a truck loaded with Jack Daniels, and one full of Steens Pure Cane Syrup and Louisiana Red Hot Sauce, and I'll drive away with the syrup and the hot stuff any day.