these go to eleven

No one is more surprised at my life than I am. Sitting around with some of favorite people this week in my cough syrup-induced haze was bringing out some deep thoughts.

Mostly how did a shy farm girl from Boone County, Indiana come to be sitting in a living room in Nashville, TN with three amazing musicians and all-around swell people?

Part of the reason I often feel like a fraud is the big gaps in my education, both traditional and social.

• I don't know my multiplication tables.
• I've never had a manicure or pedicure.
• I didn't watch much television as a youngster. I'm a whiz at Brady Bunch and Partridge Family trivia, but most episodes of Gilligan's Island, MASH and All In The Family are new to me.
• I couldn't diagram a sentence if my life depended on it.
• I have not seen a lot of movies. I decided a few years ago that I'd never catch up, so I try to stay current -- but I've thrown in the towel on a that lately also. AVS used to tease me "there are these things called movies, they tell a story..."
• I didn't own a record until I was 16 and hardly ever listened to the radio. I was a freshman in college when John Lennon died and I didn't know who he was.
• I have the sense of direction of a donut.
  

Most of the time when the conversation centers around something I don't know about I just nod and try to soak it in. That happened to me several times in Nashville. I enjoyed the recounting of a Sanford and Son episode I have not seen, talk of a book I have not read and I kept myself entertained checking out Scott's collection of records and DVDs.

I've yet to see the film This Is Spinal Tap, but when I was thinking about todays post the phrase "these go to eleven" popped in to my head. If you hang around enough band sound checks, musicians and movie buffs some stuff just gets burned in to your brain.

Here is the scene:

“ Nigel Tufnel: [pointing to a customized Marshall amplifier head unit] This is a top, to, uh, you know, what we use on stage, but it's very, very special, because, if you can see...

Marty DiBergi: Yeah...

Nigel Tufnel: [pointing to the control dials] ...the numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board: eleven, eleven, eleven, eleven...

Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is that any louder?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most... most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up... you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know...

Nigel Tufnel: ...nowhere! Exactly! What we do is if we need that extra... push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel Tufnel: ...Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder, and make ten be the top... number, and make that a little louder?

Nigel Tufnel: [pause, blank look and snapping chewing gum] These go to eleven."

Maybe its time for me to get a Netflix account...or cable television.
Of course then, I might not ever leave my house.