(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 1)

I often wish I was a better musician.

I can play the piano fine.

I’m grateful for that - that I had lessons and retained the ability to play because I can read notes.

But I don’t have a great ear and I have no idea how to write music….

And I have very little rhythm.

I also don’t think I sing well and would never ever do it if people I’m not related to were around.

I say all of this so you know where I’m coming from when I tell you how much I enjoyed watching The Beatles work in the ‘Get Back’ documentary.

Not The Beatles’ work, though I enjoy that, but watching the band work.

I think the thing that stands out to me most after watching all 8-plus hours of that documentary is the working element of it.

There was the lack of work, and just messing around, which Paul McCartney tried to staunch but often joined in on, though not without commenting often about how they needed someone sometimes to kick them in the butt to get their work done.

And there was the workday element of the whole production, where everyone would come in in the morning and it was just like an office setting - they would greet each other, grab a cup of coffee (it was probably tea, or in some instances something alcoholic in a mug, probably), and sit down at their instruments like they were sitting down in a cubicle somewhere.

It was all so ordinary - until it wasn’t.

And it was really those extraordinary moments that were the other things that wowed me.

So many people have written or commented about this that I don’t know if I have anything else to offer. Obviously it was cool to see Paul just start riffing on what would eventually become ‘Get Back.’

But I really enjoyed watching them work on ‘Two of Us’ - I like that song a lot and I think I enjoyed seeing its development more just because I like the song more.

And I liked watching the collaboration throughout. It made me realize that so much of what I have done these past seven years - almost eight, really - has been solo.

Stand-up comedy, writing…teaching on-line…very solitary.

And it’s gone fine…but I used to do very well working with other people. I wonder if I still would thrive in that scenario…and that was part of what I enjoyed watching, especially between Paul McCartney and John Lennon but sometimes with Ringo Starr and with George Harrison in different ways.

I might like to explore less solitary work and more collaboratory work in the new year. (Spell-check seems to think collaboratory isn’t a word but I feel like it is. Maybe I’m spelling it wrong.) Just bouncing ideas off someone might do me good.

But back to The Beatles.

That picture above is my collection of Beatles DVDs. I thought it was a good picture to use because that was the final thing I’ll say about the documentary:

I don’t own the ‘Let It Be’ album.

I got big into music right around college. Up until that point it was almost exclusively sports - sports radio instead of music stations - really my only exposure to music was once in a while on MTV/VH1 or on the radio…but only riding in the car with someone else.

Then around junior or senior year of high school I started to dive in a bit deeper into music, and started collecting albums on CD, and the Beatles were one of the bands I tried to listen to everything with.

But I never understood how ‘Let It Be’ fit in - I didn’t understand how some of it pre-dated Abbey Road but it was released after.

I didn’t understand how it came out after the band broke up.

But the documentary really educated me on all of that and I appreciate the fact that I now have that knowledge…even if it still doesn’t really appeal to me because I don’t love those songs.

I’ve mentioned this before - there are so many things that I watch people do and, for better or for worse, I think, “I can do that.”

Songwriting has never been one of those things - I’m kind of in awe of it, and to see it happen right before my eyes in this documentary is an inspirational gift.

Notes

*Here’s a crazy thought I had this week - what if I watched a movie a day in the new year? I don’t think I actually have time for that, but I did think that I might keep a list (you know how much I love lists in the new year!) of media I consume in 2022 - whether that’s movies watched, books read, TV shows watched, albums listened to…I’m not sure where I draw the line, but maybe I’ll keep you posted on that.

*Two things contributed to this idea - one is that because I enjoyed the Beatles documentary so much there are a bunch of other music docs out there that I know I would probably enjoy, and two, Kathy and I watched ‘Don’t Look Up’ this week, which was pretty depressing (and though parts of it were filmed in Framingham not enough of it was featured for me to feel so sad - though it was a good movie)…but I do enjoy watching a movie with her or the whole family and want to try to make that happen more often.

*The pitfall with that idea is that if I watch a lot I might be dismayed that I should have spent that time doing something more productive with my time. (Though the germ of the idea comes from the fact that I get so inspired when I see something good that I might end up more productive than ever.)

*Next Saturday night, January 8th, is the return of Comedy Night at Exhibit ‘A’. I am pretty divided on whether it should happen with so many other things canceling, but we had a really thoughtful discussion about it this week and I know Exhibit ‘A’ has made decisions about opening or closing for all the right reasons and it will be as safe as can be, so I’m feeling OK with it. I’ll be hosting - I hope I’m not rusty. You can get tickets here if you’re interested.

*You can keep tabs on me through social media - Like my Facebook page here, follow me on Twitter here.

*You can also let me know if you’re interested in a Super Bowl square - I am going to make that the first fundraising push for the Boston Marathon. I’ll be telling you more about it all over the next few months but this time around I’m running with Team Framingham for the Wonderfund of Massachusetts, which works with the Department of Children and Families to help children in really tough situations. The squares will be $25 each and at least with this fundraising ask I’m giving you a chance to win some money back. ($1000 will be awarded through the pool, and $1500 will be given to the charity.)

*Running Update: Saturday I did 8 miles in the Newton hills. It’s all been shorter runs up until now, so this one felt like work. But it was also nice to settle back into the routine of a long run early on Saturday and then kind of relaxing the rest of the day. 15 more weeks of that, I guess.