Thank you, all my readers!

Nogo's Substack celebrates one wild year!

When I sat down on the corner of my living room couch — where I am right now — a year ago and somehow stumbled onto the idea of starting a Substack, I had no idea that 378 posts later, I’d have covered a wide range of topics from chess to baseball to all kinds of music to politics to dating, to the female brain… What did I get myself into?

And how wonderful it has been to share these nearly daily posts with an array of readers, over 600 subscribers as of this morning, exchanging ideas and the occasional comment as we wind our way through another year. It has been so much fun, more than I anticipated, honestly.

Of course, I spent a good part of my life writing stories and columns and features so I guess you could say it was a skill I acquired from lots and lots of practice. But having the freedom — and the readers — who seemed to enjoy my left-handed ideas on everything from Florida State baseball to J.D. Salinger’s very strange last story to Bryan Ferry’s new non-singing record to a former MTV VeeJay sinfully confusing the members of The Clash with the cast of The Sex Pistols to Charles Dickens’ bold opening to “Bleak House” to boxing to Paige Bueckers and the UConn women, well, it’s been a laugh and a joy. To level with each and every one of you, (some have asked) I have NO IDEA where some of these ideas come from. Really. And while it’s exciting, it’s also kind of strange.

For example, on Patriots’ Day, the day of the Boston Marathon, I hadn’t even really thought about it being Patriots’ Day, not for a second. But as soon as I heard it, I immediately thought of my own experience covering the Marathon, thought that might be an interesting Substack topic, especially how close winner Alberto Salazar came to dying, which also made me think of that Bishop Guertin baseball game, where a player’s dad died in the most dramatic moment of the game, his son’s team making the great comeback to win the state title.

It seemed to me it was around the same time in my career and I checked it out. It was. So I was able to put those two elements together in a Substack (April 21) that I was really proud of, especially how quickly it all seemed to come together.

That, I guess, demonstrated the value of working on deadline so often and maybe, understanding how those different elements could work together — if you knew how to do it. (And I’m not saying this in a bragging way. I’ve been doing this for a lot of years, written lots of words, had lots and lots of practice.)

To be able to share these ideas, thoughts, dreams, imaginings with a very kind, often encouraging audience, well, that’s a pretty nice and very fortunate way to spend your “retirement” years. I’m on my third retirement year starting next month.

And it’s been incredibly productive so far; updated editions of “Last Time Out” and “Bob Dylan” out in 2022, “Nashua: How Ronald Reagan led us to Donald Trump” in 2024, “Diamond Duels” in 2025, a book on Neil Young targeted for 2026 (if I can get the damn thing done) and a lotta, lotta Substacks in-between.

Looking back, which is appropriate to do on an anniversary, what are the Substacks that I remember best? Do you mind me sharing? My Substack on Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells A Story” (January 31) was one that was different because, while I love that song, have heard it more times than I can count, the process of writing about it revealed something to me about my own life, something I’d never noticed and wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t sat my ass down to write about it. That felt different to me.

The Substack about my narrow miss of a life of crime, “The Final Snowball” (January 29) was an absolute blast to write and many of my readers seemed to get as much of a kick out of it as I did, which is always pretty cool.

My recent post about the “feud” between Larry David and Bill Maher over Maher’s dinner with Donny (April 30) was a lot of fun to write and one that I think captures where we are right now, where so much is happening so fast, we can’t process it quickly enough and things happen and we look back, at Alan Dershowitz actually arguing that a President can do whatever he wants if, in his heart, he truly believes it is in the best interest of our country keep himself in power — I mean, as Dave Barry says, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. How could anybody have the nerve to say something so asinine? And people weren’t OFFENDED by it?

A good friend of mine recently wrote to me about my Led Zeppelin piece (May 6), noting that there was an element of autobiography there, which I suppose is true. All the things we go through in our lives, some stick in our brain, some don’t, they shape us one way or another, don’t they? The guy who’s writing these Substacks, I would hope, is a different character than the guy who was writing columns for the Tallahassee Democrat or the Middlesex News before that or the Nashua Telegraph before that. So, yeah, there’s a lot of autobiography woven in here.

I’m immensely grateful to have an audience, one that seems to keep growing day-by-day. I’ve tried to give you my best when I sit down at my battered ol’ HP where the “a” and the “d” paint is about worn off. At this point, I’ve had 10 posts with over 1,000 views, three Dylan-related, two Dylan-Band related, one on Bruce Springsteen’s perfect album side, one on The Beatles improving Sgt. Pepper’s, one on The Stones’ Exile On Main Street and maybe the biggest surprise of all, one on baseball scouts, which drew 1,440 views. Glad to see there’s still so much interest in baseball.

The all-time leader and the post that I’m sure I’ll never top is “The Sadly Silent Paul Westerberg” post, which this morning had 11,708 views. Of course, I’m flattered and also mystified. I knew it was a good story and also that a lot of people loved The Replacements. But that’s more people than grew up in my hometown. And while the number of views, like subscribers, don’t necessarily explain how impactful you are as a Substacker, it sure is quite a number.

One last thing: As my number of subscribers continues to grow, one really nice thing I’ve seen lately is people wandering through these 378 pieces and sometimes, noting they liked it, or sent a comment for something I might have written six months ago. Any writer is always grateful when someone takes the time to read something you wrote or even drop a note or two. Like that post I saw a while back that seemed to touch a nerve. A guy wrote, when people read you, they’re choosing to spend time with you. Sweet.

As I head into Year Two, let me say, I sure do appreciate the company. Happy Reading, all. And thanks for making my first Substack year so terrific.

Q: What were your favorites? Any particular ones stick out? Drop me a note. I’d love to hear what you think - as always.

Thanks, friends

NOGO

MY TOP TEN FOR YEAR ONE:

The Sadly, Silent Paul Westerberg (Jan. 10, 2024) 11,708

I’m Not There - The Sequel (Aug. 27, 2024) 1,970

Bob’s finale at Royal Albert Hall (November 18, 2024) 1,830

Series Of Dreams (July 10, 2024) 1,730

Exile On Main Street (April 8, 2025) 1,580

Bob and No Band (September 16, 2024) 1,500

Improving Beatles’ album (March 27, 2025) 1,470

Baseball Scouts (March 10, 2025) 1,440

Garth Hudson (January 22, 2025) 1,430

Springsteen’s Side Two (March 5, 2025) 1, 390