HowWasTheShow turns 10 on February 14th

Screenshot of HowWasTheShow.com, as it looked in September, 2002

10 years is a not such an insignificant chunk of time in the web world. Think of the web 10 years ago. No MySpace (founded 2003), no Facebook (founded 2004), no YouTube (founded 2005.) Imagine.

But there was HowWasTheShow!

HowWasTheShow’s very first review appeared on Valentine’s Day, 2002, a review of the Craig David show at First Avenue that’s since been lost to the ether. But the site grew year by year with a revolving cast of writers, some of whom have gone on to make names for themselves at Spin, Pulse Twin Cities, City Pages and 89.3 the Current. Most notably, Andrea Swenson, now a music writer for “The Current” was one of the most important people in HowWasTheShow’s past, as were writers like Pat O’Brien, Bob Longmore, David Rachac, Steve McPherson, Jon Behm, Jen Paulson, Zosia Blue, Donette Ambrosy, Cyn Collins and photographers Stacy Schwartz, Sara Montour, Jenn Barnett, Meredith Westin and Erik Hess. There have been so many dozens of contributors over the years it could fill this whole page.

As HowWasTheShow turns 10, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the changing face of the site over the years via the WayBack machine. (Click the links to see the various face-lifts of the site and even read a few of the old articles if you so dare.)

I learned a lot about journalism and working with writers over the past 10 years, and I truly enjoyed being part of the vivacious arts and music scene in the Twin Cities and having my own contributions to it acknowledged by artists and other members of the media. Now, as I take more and more of a back seat with this site, I want to thank all the past contributors to HowWasTheShow and acknowledge writers John Olive and Janet Preus, and photographer Pamela Diedrich who are ushering the site into its second decade.

– HowWasTheShow founder, David de Young

This post is the first of many “short takes” to come that don’t fit the category of reviews or photo sets.

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