Weird. The Des Moines "alternative weekly" Cityview has been around fifteen years this week.
I used to write for them, Jesus, twelve, eleven years ago. Very few of the staffers from those days are still around, the paper has changed owners, and the retrospective piece running in the latest issue implies Cityview in those days was a bit undisciplined, tended to shock for the sake of shocking, was some kind of rag.
Maybe, but it was a hell of a lot more fun to read than it is now.
Cityview's online archives don't go back far enough for me to link to any pieces I wrote back then, and I have copies of only a few of those columns myself. I don't remember the person who wrote them. He still had two parents and three brothers, hadn't been married, much less divorced, and he wrote every word like his life depended on it. He was scared life was passing him by, but somehow determined to archive every minute of it.
Prior to writing for Cityview, I mostly wrote fiction, none of it ever published. I agonized over every word. Then I started writing for my hometown paper, TV and movie reviews, mostly, but it wasn't until I got the gig at Cityview that I finally just let the words flow. I remember knocking out many columns with the assistance of a six pack of Rolling Rock and The Replacements cranked full blast. It'll never be that easy again.
Here's an amazing clip of The 'Mats in '86 running through Bastards Of Young at a soundcheck. Time goes so fast. Memories fade. Whatever. Enjoy:
