By:
The Dude on the Right
Little did I realize that it’s been over twenty years, last October, that this
odyssey that is Entertainment Ave! began, and thanks to the historical nature
that is The Mystery Dude, and the continuing work of Mookie,
the first review
from The Unknown Reviewers, from our days at the Illinois Institute of
Technology, incognito as we were, has been posted. With no fanfare, or
really any coolness, we reviewed a band named "1313." The Dude on the Left and
I, or actually, for our first article, me being "LEFT" and him being "RIGHT,"
well, we gave the band "Two Thumbs Up!", and suddenly, two dudes just looking
for a way to make beer money, helped to develop an internet entity that has
lasted 20 years, sometimes strong, sometimes not so strong, but in the end letting
some people have some fun.
The weird thing for me is that I can almost
remember every picture I have taken, but as I read our first review, I have no
recollection of the band "1313," sort of. Then I became obsessed, scoping
out the photos in that issue, and those in the rest of the 1988 archives that
have been posted, and can honestly say "I took that picture!" many a
time. Yup, back in
those days we had cameras, with film, and we had to develop it in a darkroom,
and I knew how.
But as I also perused those 1988 archives, and the year came
to an end, I don’t want to say one band influenced me to love seeing music, but
as I read
our
review of "Shuddup ‘N Drive," who knew a bar band would be so influential in
my appreciation for hard-working bands? Those early days instantly brought
supporters and
initial non-supporters (Barry – Where are you?), and I would like to say
that over the years we have become more polished in the review department, but
that definitely is not the case.
As the IIT Galvin Library continues adding to
the Technology News online archives, I’m really looking forward to the
progression of things, the changing of the guard at times, our online advice
column, Dear Dudes, and how we slowly transformed from just reviewing bar bands
to shifting to national acts.
More looks back at our early days will be coming
soon, but for now I can’t believe how thin I was back then.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!