11 November 2011
There are so many token recognition days out there and most of them are pretty inane. There's Valentine's Day, National Announcement Day, World Rotary Day, Star Wars Day, Secretaries Day (er, Administrative Assistants Day). So many days wasted when something much more honorable could be recognized.
Finally, a worthy day is upon us.
Today is Nigel Tufnel Day.
Sir Tufnel is one of the greatest living Americans of our age. He makes the late Steve Jobs look like a slacker.
Hmmm... I better clarify all that. Nigel is not a knight. Nor is he an American.
But he should be.
What he is is a genius musician from the 'burbs of London.
People know I am a Bonoholic. That's no secret. I am very fond of quoting Bono, who inspired me with the words, "You've got to dream up the kind of world you want to live in. You've got to dream out loud, in high volume."
Nigel hangs out with A-listers
like The Nanny
And therein lies the genius of Nigel Tufnel.
He took that quote and amped it up in my life.
I don't just "dream out loud." I dream to 11.
11. What a beautiful, magical number. You can even make a complete sentence out of the number 11, as I did at the start of this paragraph. I'm sure that'd freak out my instructors back in the journalism school at Boulder; they wouldn't understand. Perhaps it's really not so surprising, then, that the J-School no longer exists. Ah. Magical 11 enlightens once again.
Yes, actually, in many respects it is inadequate to honor Nigel on 11-11-11. That's once a frickin' century, man. We all, as civilians of planet Earth, should be living at 11 every single day.
Nigel, thank you.
Today is your day.
And I'm tippin' an 11-ounce pint in your honor.
"One love. One blood. One louder. You got to do what you should."