Look above to the address for this profile. No, that number is not a typo. 1000. One THOUSAND. It's hard to say without cursing, honestly. One-Fucking-Thousand. Holy fucking shit. Sorry.

How did this happen? How did we get here? How do we commemorate this? It's all a little overwhelming.

We started with 1. In the beginning, bere sheet, there was Mel Brooks (actually, profile #1 is Lenin, of all people, but he wasn't the first one we wrote, darn it!). And it was good. Today, everything is different, but nothing has really changed. We value the same things.

We want someone who is unique: There is no one in the musical landscape, before or since, like George Gershwin.

We want someone creative: Gershwin took jazz and merged it with French ballet and the popular music of the time and made something uniquely him.

We want someone respected and admired by his peers: Gershwin's music has been, is, and will be performed by the greatest musicians of our times.

We want someone proudly, definably Jewish: Gershwin is a touchstone Jew. One of those obvious, DUH!, members of the Tribe. There is no Gershwin Christmas album.

So it was. So it shall be. From 1 to 1000. From Mel Brooks to George Gershwin.

As it should be.