Hey, thanks for stopping by the website today! And, if you were out in Central Park yesterday... thank you, thank you, thank you!

That was an amazing day, wasn't it?

I mean, I love doing what I do every weekend with you guys. (You know I do. I'm such a lucky man.) But, we had some special guests yesterday, and the spirit out there was flying all day.

"The Hill" in Central Park

Our guests, Elissa Montanti and the kids from the tsunami disaster that she's helping get medical treatment (Tara and Hamdani) and their families who travelled with them, all came out to "The Hill". It was their first trip to Central Park. (Well, thanks to Elissa, this is their first trip to the United States.)

Now, neither of these kids speak English. But, music is music... and they were smiling all day. And, I think they were all amazed to see that many grownups who don't know each other singing together in the middle of New York City. There was a look in Hamdani's mother's eyes and on Tara's father's face all day that I will never forget. In the future, Elissa will be heading back to Iraq to get some of the innocent civilians who are being hurt in the war and the daily violence there and bring them to the states for help. Please go check out her website and see what she's all about.

Global Medical Relief Fund

Y'know what? If you're watching channel 4 (NBC) here in New York today, you'll see commercials for the show TODAY in New York. Tomorrow morning (Monday), I guess between 5 and 7am, they will do an amazing piece on her and the kids she helps.

They are highlighting Elissa's work tomorrow... show you what she's all about. But...

This is what Elissa is all about.

Elissa and her friends (That's Hamdani mugging in the front)

What a sweet group of people. That's Elissa on the left. The woman with the light hair in the back is Mimi Evans... the fund raiser who is helping my buddy Dennis and myself to make the VOICES TOGETHER benefit concert a reality.

Tara

I'm so grateful they came to hang with us, yesterday. Just fires up my soul to get this concert we're planning for January on it's feet. It really does. Hamdani kept flashing me great smiles all day, like he really dug the music even though he didn't understand one word. That's him, playing guitar for the first time. Rock on, Hamdani!!!

If you wanna get your heart around the spirit of the VOICES TOGETHER concert, here's a link to a recent update. Go ahead and click on this link for the update from July 27th. And, then come back and go ahead and click on this link, too.

Click here to get a general idea of what we're planning and why.

Anyway, hopefully all week I'll be getting pictures from yesterday sent to me by you guys. I'll post as many as I can here on the homepage, okay? (Besides... we HAFTA post at least one picture of that dog that came by!)

Today... I don't know... rain?

Don't know.

But if it doesn't rain, I'm gonna head to Riverside Park, to the same location we held our little storytellers concert last week... all the way down by the river, just a little bit north of the 79th Street Boat Basin. Probably start the music around 1:00 or 1:30... okay?

Listen, if you're new around here, take a look around. Browse the recent updates in the "Archives".

Then if you feel like it, especially if you're reading this in another part of the country or another part of the world like a bunch of people, go ahead and jump in the "Forum" (message board) and say "Hi". Talk about what ever you want in there. If it rains... maybei'll see you in there later today or tonight. (I'm more of a reader than a writer usually. But, this past week, I had to jump in.)

Anyway, listen...

...thanks again.