By La Cieca 
So La Cieca was thinking back, what with the end of the oughts and all, and she found herself wondering how parterre.com has changed in the past ten years. Here’s a screenshot of the site (not yet a blog) circa December 1999, and what nostalgia to think of the days when we still used “frames!” (About the faux-brick background image, perhaps the less said the better.)
For a peek at what the site looked like late in the 20th century, try the Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive.
James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni. He also contributed a regular column on opera for the New York Observer. James died in October 2023.
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Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
