(Sunday Paper, Volume I, Issue 22)

I can't take credit for this - it was 100% my wife's idea.

This happens a lot - she'll plan something out that I don't have much of an interest in...but I've come to trust that she knows what she's doing and I should go along because I'll probably enjoy it.

She had read something, I think, about some place that had really good apple cider and apple cider doughnuts and sold them at the Boston Public Market.

So last week, we spent Saturday morning there.

The doughnuts were good...but the experience was better.

I like farmer's markets.

I've told you this before - I particularly like the Natick Farmer's Market, but I like seeing what people are making and selling, I like seeing people out on a weekend morning...I like being out with the family on a weekend morning. (Because going to a farmer's market is not something I would particularly enjoy doing by myself.)

So I like farmer's markets. And I love being in Boston. I particularly like the Faneuil Hall area of Boston...and that's right where the Boston Public Market happens to be.

If you don't know - the Boston Public Market is an indoor space that's set up like an outdoor small-town farmer's market - vendors have booths and they sell their fruits, their vegetables, their meat, their ice cream, their wine, their coffee - whatever they happen to have produced. It's really nice.

(For what it's worth, if you live out by me, there are some local farms that have booths set up at the Public Market, a couple of which we had farm shares with at various times over the years.)

I had heard the Boston Public Market is somewhat overpriced...but I'm not sure it is. It's just Boston-priced...things in Boston are somewhat over-priced. We did the breakfast thing with the doughnuts and had some coffee (the girls had hot cider), but there were plenty of places that had good-looking stuff for lunch that will be worth checking out another time.

And there will be another time...one of my favorite times to visit Faneuil Hall is the holiday season. That's, obviously, right around the corner. When we go back...I can't wait to mix in a little dinner from the Boston Public Market this year.

Writing

*I've been trying a slightly different tack this week - had a quick lull after all of those deadlines the past few weeks, so I've been reaching out to a bunch of different places to see if they need my services. Sounds obvious, but it's something I haven't done much of lately. (I did it at the very beginning of my time writing, before I had a lot of published samples and stuff, so hopefully it will be more effective this time around.) We'll see if it leads to anything.

Comedy

*Got some very exciting comedy news this week...not sure when I should go public with it, but stay tuned.

*I'm excited to be doing my first storytelling show this week...that's Tuesday night and I'll let you know how that goes next week. I'm also performing in Worcester next Sunday night - you can get the details for that at the calendar link above. I'll plug that next week too, but I figured I'd mention it here in case you wanted a week's notice.

What I've Been Enjoying

*So news came on Friday that Kevin Meaney died. I'm not going to pretend I was his number one fan or I'm shattered, but it's sad because he was relatively young and I was pretty familiar with his work overall. It seems, though, that I have a lot of his work to get caught up on. Let's start with this: On Saturday a comedy friend (actually, it's Anthony Scibelli, who I wrote about when I told you about his web series...which, let's throw out there now, recently won a big award. So if you haven't checked it out yet, you should probably do it now, at this link.) OK. Back to Kevin Meaney. So Anthony shared this video:

In the mid to late 80s there was a big 'phenom' about the original "We Are The World." Kevin Meaney poked fun at it here, mocking each performer. Look for Dan Aykroid - who was the odd man out in the original video. Kevin nails him, here.

I've started this clip 2:00 in - you should watch through the end - it's Kevin Meaney's interpretation of 'We Are The World'. It's brilliant. I'd never seen it before. I watched, and it's fun to see who he's impersonating. But then it's fun to watch again with the actual video (below) for 'We Are The World' somewhat synched up and see who exactly he's imitating. And it comes across as even more brilliant. (And, if you for some reason are too young to remember the actual video, you should probably watch that first so you know what's going on.) So if you have 10 or 15 minutes, enjoy the heck out of these videos in memory of Kevin Meaney.

25.6.2009 - Michael Jackson died 50 years old.... great singer in the past, "broken soul" in the present...

Notes

*New World Series matchup! Congratulations to Cleveland and Chicago baseball fans - and me, for seeing a new matchup! (I talked about that last week, in case you missed it.) I find myself leaning Cleveland as far as who I'm rooting for, but I really don't care which team wins.

*Wanted to make sure, in case you missed it when I posted it earlier this week, that you had a chance to read this essay - My Mother Didn't Tell Me She Was Dying Of Cancer. It's really excellent, written by my friend Pamela Ross, who performs comedy all over the city and is also a talented producer.

*Another "Where Are They Now?" catch-up with one of my "What I've Been Enjoying" pieces: Remember a few weeks ago I told you about Keane, and their song for the movie 'A Monster Calls'? (I know, you don't remember...you probably didn't even read that one.) Well, this week a friend of mine tweeted about the movie - he had seen it and he says it was very good, and he linked to an article that talked about the movie coming out December 23rd in wide release. (I guess he saw some sort of preview.) Here's the article, if you're interested. And, the headline refers to it as a tear-jerker! I was right - I couldn't figure out anything about the movie from the video other than it was either really scary or really sad. It's sad! Thank goodness, because sometimes that video makes me feel like crying.

*Lots of links in this entry today. Listen, I'm not a big link-clicker myself, so I don't just throw links out there willy-nilly...I know what a burden it can be to click on them all. So understand I wouldn't put the links in the text unless it was stuff I really liked. It is with my highest endorsement that I tell you these things are worth your time.

*Follow on Facebook, follow on Twitter, etc., etc. Big comedy announcement coming probably this week. Thanks for your support, thanks for reading. You're wonderful.