(Sunday Paper, Year VIII, Issue 22)

Last week we saw Taylor Swift perform.

Kathy is the miracle worker here - she was the one working through Ticketmaster’s issues way back in whatever it was - November? - to get the tickets.

We ended up getting tickets for the third of three shows at Gillette Stadium - the Sunday night - which turned out to be Swift’s thirteenth time performing at the venue. (On 5/21/23, which adds up to 13, which is a big deal to Swift and her fans.)

And, I think it’s safe to say, the show lived up to the expectations set by all.

Taylor Swift is calling this The Eras Tour, and the show is divided up into sections of her career - each album brings on a different look, both in decor and in costume, and as with any artist, each era has its own kind of sound.

But it’s not just Taylor Swift’s career that the different eras capture.

She talked about the show as a trip through the 17 years of her albums…which covers quite an eventful era in my life as well. (And everyone’s life…but hey, it’s my Sunday Paper.)

Here’s the parallel I’m drawing - growing up I loved Billy Joel…but I came late to his music as a fan. (Meaning listening to full albums rather than just what was on the radio.) So I only really remember ‘River of Dreams’ as a new album coming out…I guess I have a memory of the hits from Storm Front when they were new (I Go To Extremes, We Didn’t Start The Fire), but certainly not the album itself. The point here is that most of the Billy Joel music I loved was from when I was very young or before I was born.

Now, the parallel can only go so far because Billy Joel hasn’t put out new music in thirty years…but so many of the Taylor Swift fans in attendance Sunday night - my daughters included - were not born or were very little for a lot of her music. (For what it’s worth - not a lot of young boys there. All I saw were older men - my age or older - or like, guys in their twenties. Just an observation.)

But unlike the vast majority of those in attendance last week I have very clear memories and emotions connected to all of Taylor Swift’s music, especially the earlier stuff.

Just sitting through that concert I was taken back to when I was teaching and coaching and becoming a new parent and then the different people I associate with different songs…especially the newer music that I know my daughters like.

So it’s Taylor Swift’s “Eras”…but some of the music transported me right back to any time between 2006 and, let’s say, 2015…so it certainly could have been my eras as well.

I definitely enjoyed the concert, for what that’s worth…but knowing how much my daughters enjoyed it made it even better for me.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

The whole time I was re-watching Ted Lasso leading up to the new season, I saw ads for Shrinking and thought it looked like a show I’d like. The fact that it involved Brett Goldstein, who is also involved with Ted Lasso, especially made me think I’d like it. I did.

I watched all ten episodes over the past couple of weeks. It’s not my all-time favorite show, it has its weak points as well as strengths, but it’s funny, it has heart, and, as is often my measure with TV shows and movies, I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time. In fact, I looked forward to my time watching it. Also, I like Jason Segel, and I like Harrison Ford…he was great in it. Good show.

Notes

*The week of June 4th kicks off Chicago Marathon training. I’m trying to get my running ducks in a row, putting training plans together and looking at how summer plans overlap with running plans. In the meantime, I’m running and trying to build up my legs - I’m feeling pretty good. Saturday I did six miles which is the longest run I’ve done in a while and it wasn’t exactly easy…but it didn’t feel impossible, so I guess that’s good.

*And on Saturday I ran in a new t-shirt, which you can see pictured at right. I got my welcome package from Team RMHC, and tried out my shirt. I might run Chicago in it. Too soon to tell. It’s comfortable. But, while we’re on the topic, a reminder that I am running the Chicago Marathon with Team RMHC for Ronald McDonald House Charities and if you’d care to contribute to the cause you can do so at this link. (Many of you already did so through the Super Bowl squares and I thank you for it. We’re ever so close to my minimum goal…and then we’ll blast past that and raise some more!)

*Back to Taylor Swift for two notes: I had heard horror stories about getting out of the parking lots at Gillette Stadium for events, mostly Patriots games. I had never been there for an event - the only home Patriots game I attended was back at the old Foxboro Stadium. (And I didn’t drive.) I am here to tell you that leaving the parking lot was every bit as bad as people say. It’s OK…again, this was all about having the girls enjoy the night, so I am proud of myself for being calm and collected about it all. (The John of a few years ago might have handled this differently. I don’t know. But I’m happy with my performance this year.) The concert ended around 11:30pm and we weren’t out of the lot and on the road until about 1am. (Got home at 2am.) If I ever go back to Gillette I will do something differently - leave early? Talk to friends to get secret paths out? But for this event it was fine.

*This was the first major concert I’ve been to in the current era of social media and it was fascinating to watch how my daughters navigated the lead-up to the concert and knew what to expect going in and, well, for someone who doesn’t love situations where I don’t know what to expect, it’s kind of a dream come true to have all that information available.

*Oh. Bonus third Taylor Swift note: It’s nice that everyone there is so happy to be there and friendly with one another and seemingly just nice people sharing bracelets and stuff. It was a nice thing to experience.

*Last month I told you I would panic only if the Mets weren’t at 30 wins by the end of May. It’s too early to tell if they’ll get to 30 before Wednesday, but even if not I won’t panic - they’re close enough right now and a couple of weeks ago it did not look like that would be the case. Now my focus for June will be on seeing them create some separation from the .500 mark…but I’d still be OK if they’re around 45 wins in a month. I’ll do my best not to write too much about the Mets coming up but they do dominate my day-to-day brain so it’s really unavoidable.

*The social media links are below, if you’re new here or not already following. (And if you are new, welcome!) As the Chicago Marathon training gets in gear, that Instagram will capture a lot of it. Thanks for following along with it all!