The Return Of The Sunday Paper

in

A friend of mine recently told me how much he used to love my sports blog.

And before we continue let me make this clear - I know that sports blog wasn't for everyone. In fact, in its heyday I was writing it basically for this friend and maybe one or two other people. Even my mom, who is my number one fan in all of my endeavors, stopped reading it. (Though she was a faithful reader of my ensuing writing project, 365 New Things In 2013.)

But I digress.

The point is, I outgrew writing a sports blog...but I think I still have enough to say that I should get the words out on a weekly basis.

Sort of catch you up on what I've been writing about, where I've been performing comedy, what I've been reading - or listening to - and enjoying lately...that sort of thing.

So, with that in mind, I'm happy to announce the return of the Sunday Paper.

I'm pretty excited about this. (I like writing about me. Hopefully you'll like reading about me.)

My friend Kevin made that "Sunday Paper" banner. (He may or may not be the aforementioned friend who loved my blog.) He made all kinds of graphics for the old blog. You'd better believe he'll be contributing to what I write now too...starting with a new Sunday Paper banner that will debut soon. We need to update the '200 Miles From The Citi' thing. 

I'll give you a quick history - one of my favorite things is sitting and reading the newspapers with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. I started my Sunday Paper as sort of a weekly roundup of what was on my mind in the sports world, a la the classic Peter Gammons Sunday Notes column. I like those kinds of notes columns because even though they're long, each item is somewhat bite-sized. As my blogging dwindled, the Sunday Paper was the one thing I consistently updated for about four years before I moved on.

So I'm happy to be doing it again.

But I don't need something else to read on a Sunday - I have my work cut out for me with the newspapers. Maybe you have some reading energy for something else - I hope this is something you'll enjoy if that's the case. And if not on Sunday, well, maybe another day.

It'll be here all week.

*John, isn't blogging a thing of the past? you may be asking yourself right now. (You're probably not asking me that, because it's doubtful we're in the same room. Unless you're my wife...but let's be honest. She's probably not reading this.) Well, that may be true. But this is a starting point. Who knows? Maybe this will lead to the 'Sunday Paper Podcast' or something. I sure would love to do a podcast. But the fact of the matter is I just enjoy writing, and this is a good little writing exercise for me to do on a weekly basis. And I especially enjoy the process when there are people reading my work..and right now I think I'm building the biggest audience I may have ever had. So I think the timing is right to start with this.

Writing

*I'll get into some of what I've been writing lately in next week's Sunday Paper. I had a bunch of deadlines that kept me really busy...which is naturally why I decided to start this new project. (Just kidding. I actually thought this would be a good creative release after a few fact-heavy pieces.)

Comedy

*Friday night was a cool show - I was in a comedy show at the Hotel Vernon in Worcester. I will definitely be writing more about that place - I need to do some exploring of the history there.

Me onstage in 'the ship room'. Photo by Shaun Connolly

Me onstage in 'the ship room'. Photo by Shaun Connolly

*Next scheduled show is on Wednesday, June 8. Details are at the calendar link above, but I'll let you know more about it next week.

*I guess you should be aware, too, that I'm doing a set as part of a Father's Day show in Jamaica Plain. Those details are at the calendar link also, but I'll start promoting that show this week so stay tuned.

*You know what, I might as well use this space to promote other people's work as well. Pick of the week for you folks west of the city: Thursday night in Marlborough, at Speakers Night Club, is a show headlined by Dan Soder, with Shaun Connolly, Sam Ike, and Nick Chambers among others also performing. Here's the Facebook event, with ticket info and more details. I'm not sure what I'll be able to make it out to this week, and I know Thursday night is busy, but if I can swing it I'll be doing this. That's a quality show just 15-20 minutes away from me.

What I've Been Enjoying

*Have you been keeping tabs on Matt Sucich? He released two new songs this week, one of them with a great video to go along with it. You can watch the video - and listen to both songs - over at his website. His work has certainly caught the eye of some pretty influential people: 

*I have a group of friends who I'm so proud of because they're so smart and so accomplished and it never occurs to me that they would be great subjects to write about. Good thing it occurred to someone else. Stamford Magazine profiled my friend Katie, who's done great work writing and reporting for years.

Notes

*A couple of quick links - first of all, the other day I posted my piece, Nostalgic No More, about my mixed feelings about this weekend's 1986 Mets reunion in New York. (For what it's worth, I caught a bit of the ceremony. The Mets did a good job of recognizing Gary Carter, so that makes me happy.) But I meant to include this link in that piece - which is what I wrote after attending that 20th reunion of the 1986 Mets back in 2006. 

*Here's the original Sunday Paper debut - this is from August 30, 2009. From August through the beginning of November I just titled these "Sunday Paper", but then I realized I could number them...and counting things is kind of an obsession of mine. So I'm glad I can start counting these again. Now the question is do I start over again with "Year 1, Volume I", or do I pick up at "Year 5, Volume I"? (I think I'm inclined to start over again with Year 1, since this is a pretty big reboot. But I'd love to know what you think. Is Sunday a good day? Any feedback? Weigh in through the comments here or over at the Facebook page, or on Twitter....and "Like" the Facebook page or follow me on Twitter while you're at it if you don't already do so. Thanks for the support everyone!)