ON 311 DAY

Today is March 11th, or, to fans of music that was much more popular more than ten years ago, 311 Day. The band 311 is playing a huh-yooouuuuge concert in New Orleans, as they have for the past howmanyever years (excepting the post-Katrina show, which was somewhere else).

I enjoy the music of 311, but I'm not the superfan my friend Beth is. She is to 311 what I am to Pearl Jam - just one fan, nerds for the bands we like. But I know that today holds a special place in her heart, and since she just learned how to read*, I figured I'd share my thoughts on 311.

In the song "All Mixed Up, off of 311's eponymous 1995 release, the boys deliver one of the greatest lines in music history - "F--- the naysayers, 'cause they don't mean a thing!" As I entered college during the height of this album's popularity, that line became a rallying cry for floor members. When we had to deal with lousy professors, lousy other students, or lousy louses, we would dub them a naysayer. And then we would go ahead as planned. The line allowed us to support one another through any number of situations, most of them light, but occasionally serious, like when we thought a guy was going to drive five hours to beat me up.

I realize I've been a non-proponent of profanity in this space, and that the aforementioned 311 lyric contains profanity. But just because it's not phrased eloquently doesn't mean there isn't truth behind the statement. Sometimes in life, we need to ignore the people telling us we can't do something and go out and do it.


* - not true.