I came in today, a Sunday, to get caught up on various items I need to get done and found that I’m not able to access the items that I wanted to work on. There was probably an announcement about this that I ignored thinking that outages on Sunday wouldn’t affect me.
Oh well. I’ll do what I can and then get on with the rest of my weekend; some hiking, some writing and a session in a sensory deprivation float tank. My second time doing a float and I’m looking forward to it.
I’m also ruminating on how a man influenced such a huge chunk of society by repeating a single day-name 3 times.
“Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!”
Chicago native Jan Gabriel started out as his performing career billing himself as “Chicago’s youngest teenage DJ” at record hops (also called sock hops, those informal sponsored dance events in the 50’s.) and then took his DJ skills and his love of racing and managed to get a job as an announcer for the Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale, Ill. Only, unlike most monotone announcers high up in a booth, he took his job to a stage in the middle of the track and really amped things up.
In 1968 a track owner in Hobart, IN. to promote the fact his drag strip was open on Sundays and enlisted Starbeat Recording Studios to create his advertisement. Gabriel beat out more than 50 other announcers for the job based on his deep, vibrant voice.
From there he had a syndicated show that got NASCAR on television and became “that guy!” to all of the racing fans.
His “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” promotion announcement got national attention and pretty soon it was the catchphrase for announcing anything happening on a racetrack.
This guy decides he has a love for something and follows it wherever it can lead him and then lives a life others only dream of.
But, that was then, right? These things can’t happen now.
Check out one of my personal heroes, the late Wesley Willis who had the 
ENTIRE DECK stacked against him and then some, but decided he wanted to become a rockstar and truly did. You may not know him, but he’s well known to the music industries and his fans included people like Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Mike D., Jello Biafra, members of White Zombie and Rick Rubin of American Recordings.
But, that was the 90’s. People could still act crazy following their passion and make a career out of it, it can’t happen now, right?
PewDiePie is not a hero of mine, but still a great example of doing something you enjoy and making a career of it to the shock and surprise of everyone, including and especially himself.
A friend of mine in Boulder Colorado has made an international name for himself balancing rocks in seemingly impossible ways. Check out his work and you see how a guy who stacked rocks in a creek became famous.
The world is full of potential and possibilities, even for just busting out some craziness on open mic night, playing video games, balancing rocks or repeating “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!”
It’s somehow fitting that Jan Gabriel pass on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 and services were also held on the following Sunday. Rest peace, Jan and Wesley.