Reflection
is a funny thing. If you had told me this blog would have passed the
three-year marker when I started it, I probably would have ignored
you. Especially since by statistics, most blogs never make it
past the first and rarely overcome the second. If they last three,
either there's something special about it, or the writer is just
stubborn as shit an refuses to quit. ...I'll settle for a
mix of both.
--- This year was actually filled with a lot of
experiences that are difficult to describe in full, but I'll push
some highlights out. Got to see the rise of several businesses and
bands, the 2010 CWMA's were an awesome time to have with those
musicians. The highlight of that, seeing Nolens Volens piss off the
Circle Lounge crowd because he wouldn't play Black Eyed Peas for the
umpteenth time that night. Watching SLUG
turn twenty-one while becoming a partial contributor later on, having
K.A. Brown and Sister Dottie Dixon become lunch buddies, seeing the
rise of the podcasts, the largest interview to date (word wise) being
with Radio From Hell, capped off two days later with a reader's
choice Best Of Utah award for the blog. Again, special thanks to
those of you who voted. Witnessing the rise of the mini-galleries
around downtown, Pride doing its thing in clearer weather, plus the
insanity of four days coverage at the Utah Arts Festival.
Speaking
of festivals, the Alt Press Fest, Dark Arts, Salt Lake City Film
Festival, GEEX and Craft Lake City all rising up and bringing more to
the table. Our local comic book scene pushing itself to have several
booths at ComicCon, the return of Artie Fufkin, getting a nod from
the Utah SPJ's, writing about Jon Paxton's hair... which
is still a totally true statement. The theatre scene returning to full form
with new additions, writing award nominations for all the City Weekly
stuff – especially the Arty's which were a blast, Halloween blowing
up, one of the biggest years for local music in a long time, the
trials and tribulations of not having a job, and about a hundred
different things left to talk about that would take a day to get
through. To all those who were able to be a part of the blog and
participated in interviews, a special shout-out and thank you. I'd
give you a hug and a kiss, but I'm pretty sure that would be awkward
for all involved.
Usually every year there's a promise to
change or fix or improve something around here. Mainly because the
blog, from the very moment it started with website problems at the
hole KUTV's old management left it in, to moving it over to City
Weekly's
server in full, to updating it for new formats and styling... its
always been in constant disrepair. I've been told that was part of
the charm for a while, always in a state of improvement. Well, for
the first time since inception, its all good! Not just good, but
golden. Totally archived and backed up for all three years, available
for your viewing pleasure. I'm sure many sections are largely out of
date by now, but another part of the charm is that it's slowly
becoming an archival tome. I'm not so egotistical to believe it will ever be an
all-encompassing historical record of the Utah entertainment scene,
but its got a good chunk of it on record.
What I can do is
show off more of these collages you see that have taken up an entire
wall in my apartment. What once was a side project for all the stuff
I collected has now become its own exhibit in my home that guests
can't help but stare at. I can also promise to do my best to keep
this blog going through good times and bad. Aside trying to get a
proper interview with a strip club down (which I didn't forget, it
just isn't something the clubs want to do), I'll keep pushing for
interviews over local music, art, film, theatre, comics,
broadcasting, printworks, tattooing, and anything else I can get my
hands on that comes down the pipe, all for your reading pleasure. At
least, until the day comes you find this boring or Bill Frost wants
to expand The Ocho into The Ochenta y Ocho. ...At least at its worst
this blog is still a better alternative to whatever the Deseret
News
is calling their “entertainment blog” section. Did you know
Carmen Rasmusen Herbert is losing weight as her new year's
resolution? You didn't? Did you know she's a "writer" for them now? No? That's cool, no one else did either until now.
As for the blog itself, over the next few weeks
we'll cover the last concert from 2010, hit up an artist and video
game graphics designer, check out the works from a print artist, talk
recording with a locally owned studio, his the slops for the next
SLUG
Games and chat with one of the legendary figures of local music. Or
at least that's the plan. We're only a few hours into 2011 and
already things have changed around on that list. As always, we'll see
what happens this year.
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