The spikes in the graph below are probably due to the articles we published that pissed people off.
This and
this and
this, but you may not know that these articles also earned a good number of readers too:
this,
this, and
this.
While we're here, allow me to direct you toward some other favorite articles that you may have missed over the last two years:
We're also proud to provide straight up practical info (with a sense of humor):
Though we wouldn't say that every article we've published has been Pulitzer Prize-worthy, we have tried to cover a variety of topics from a variety of angles, and the articles above are just a sampling of the 200+ articles that we think are worthy of another read. In fact, we're working on a slight redesign in the next couple days that will make it much easier for you to enjoy these archives.
So thank you for reading.
We're pretty grateful, and we're pretty amazed by you. Here's what we've learned about you from running this website. First, you're a wonderfully literate audience. You actually read this stuff. You're the kind of audience that gives senior citizens hope for the future. Because no matter your grade level, economic standing, sense of self, you've read Shakespeare, for cryin' out loud. You've read Beckett. You're passionate. You care when you like a show, or hate an article. You're diligent. And you actually have a shockingly good attention span. Here's a surprise we discovered as we went along: Far fewer people watched the short video interviews we posted with icons like
Don Stolz and Patrick Scully than watched the long interviews we did with Dominique Serrand, Joel Sass and Bain Boehlke, and four local filmmakers. Victory for the Attention Span Comes At Last!
Basically, we started MinnesotaPlaylist.com because we really like you and this performing arts community.
Leah Cooper and I are not from Minnesota, but we both felt warmly welcome by a large web of talented, thoughtful, interesting, warm people almost as soon as we arrived (her, twelve years ago, me seven). Our first editorial assistant Anna Sundberg added her energy and charm to our endeavor for a year because (she told us quite simply when we interviewed her) she just loved the community and wanted to help. And Matthew Foster, who created all the graphic design for the website (more than once), really does like this performing arts community too. He might never admit that out loud, but he wouldn't contribute all that he does to it, if he didn't feel some love.
We thought we were pretty smart when we were planning to build this. We even made a business plan with pretty charts that magically pointed upward every year. We thought we had covered every angle, and this was going to be an easy way to do something fun and maybe make a few bucks.
All of you who know drama know that those expectations are a good place to start usually only if you're playing in a tragedy. Nothing ever happens as quickly, as easily, or as smoothly as those best laid plans. The better the plans, the more they shall be laid waste. Isn't that how it works?
Let's just leave it at that.
So we're pretty happy to be here. We're pretty happy that the site keeps growing, and you keep visiting it, and talking about the articles on it, and using it for your classified advertising and performance listings and talent searches and tweets, and everything.
It has been nice to meet you, and, regardless of how much we like the website, it's nicer to meet you in person. So come on down to Joe's Garage Monday night, Oct 25, from 5:30-8:30 and share a toast with us. Free appetizers from Joe and 25% off everything on the menu but bottles of wine.
