A (im)perfect 10

I heard print was dead, and then (a decade later) I sold my magazine to a newspaper.*

PACIFIC launched in January 2007. At this moment, you’re reading the 10-year anniversary issue, which wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you, dear reader.

As for what year 11 may have in store, perhaps fictional heavy metal rock star Nigel Tufnel says it best (in the 1984 flick This is Spinal Tap) when extolling the virtues of amps with volume dials that go past “10.”
NIGEL: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and ...

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

NIGEL: Exactly.

MARTY: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?

NIGEL: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, 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: I don’t know.

NIGEL: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

MARTY: Put it up to eleven.

NIGEL: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

MARTY: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

[Pause.]

NIGEL: These go to eleven.

Sincerely,

David Perloff, Editor-in-Chief
*The San Diego Union-Tribune acquired PACIFIC in June 2016.

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Check out 10 years of PACIFIC covers, here

January 2017 magazine

December 2016 Editor’s Letter