What d'ya think? Spring is here... right?

Y'know, when I write songs, very often they come to me as blasts of partial inspiration. I get a flash for a song, an idea, and the music comes down... and, the thrust of the song tells me what it wants to be... and, then... I'm sittin' on an unfinished idea.

That's when I hafta get down to the work of the whole process. Yesterday, I took my lyric book out to Central Park and sat on a bench near "The Hill". Maybe it was the place, the weather, the thousands of smiling faces and the energy of that many people getting out into the day together... but, I finished two new songs I've been kicking around. I will play both for you at CAMI HALL in less than two weeks.

It looks like we may really be able to call that concert a kickoff for the new season. I don't know that we'll get out to "The Hill" before then.

Anyway, one song that finally wrote itself yesterday came with a kind of haunting melody... but, for me, a very interesting and revealing lyric. Interesting because of the hazy vision in which the song was born. Fascinating to me, in a way, because of the person that was in the vision, in the dream.

At CAMI HALL, just like I often really enjoy telling you guys how or why a particular song was written, I will tell you who... who inspired this lyric.

This song doesn't have a title yet.

Not yet awake, but not asleep,
I dreamed I felt sorrow as I watched you weep.
Watched you shake with shame and grief
Through a veil of disbelief.
I didn't say, "Who's sorry now?"
Instead I put my arm around you and I asked you how
I could help and comfort you

Where you are.
I've been there.
I am you.
You are here.
And, I am here,
And, you are me.

.

.

Hmmmm.

Anyway... I also wrote kind of a rocker with a little bit of an edge. (Didn't come from as beautiful a place.) I'll play 'em both at CAMI a week from Friday. And, like I said... my buddy, Roger Bartlett, (Dodger) is gonna show up and sit in. Always more fun when Dodger's on the stage!

Now, about getting tickets for the concert at Columbia Artists (CAMI) Hall in 2 weeks. I think you'll probably be able to walk right up and get tickets the night of the show. But, just keep checking back here to see if it's getting close to selling out, okay? It's a Friday night, so you can plan to make a night of it with your friends. Or, y'know, come by yourself and have a blast. (Lotsa people do.) You can also reserve a place right now by putting your name on the list that they keep at the door. (CAMI only seats 200 people.) All you hafta do is click on that thing over there on the right, under the poster that says "Add to Cart". Then, walk up the night of the concert and say your name at the door.

Oh yeah... and listen... I'm gonna keep posting news from Iraq in the Forum. (Since the "news" media in this country is more interested in personal family medical matters, old men dying slow natural deaths, and weddings between ridiculouly boring and irrelevant people.) I want to honor my commitment to writing, speaking and singing truth to power, and honor the fact that we are a nation that started a WAR, a WAR we are still fighting and in young Americans and countless Iraqis are dying daily... even though the conservative blowhards have all gone away and don't seem to give a crap anymore.

Om a lighter not, here's a...

Fun fact: By the way.. did you know that more people in the UK watched the "Grand National" steeplechase (horse race) on television, than watched the wedding that CNN devoted an entire day to in this country? (And, that 3 million British television viewers who watched the wedding actually thought they were watching the steeplechase?)

Anyway... enjoy this day. Maybe I'll see you in the Forum later.

Looking forward to hangin' out with you at CAMI HALL a week from Friday.

thanks for everything