Hey... good you stopped by the site today.

Thanks.

Y'know? I'm a lucky, lucky man. I mean all summer, I'm a singer/songwriter playin' his songs in the middle of "Florence During the Renaissance", right smack dab in the middle of the greatest city on earth.... NEW YORK CITY. When you get to live like me, just makin' it up as we go along... one day very, very rarely resembles the day before. Showin' up in Central Park, I never know what to expect. But, I always expect... wonderful.

Damn! I love makin' music!

And, in a few nights, we'll all get together in one great music hall near Lincoln Center to kick 2005 right in the ass as it heads out the door. Gonna fill that room with amazing people and amazing energy like we do every year.

Yeah, this Saturday it's time again for the annual "Year-End Concert" at Merkin Concert Hall.

There are gonna be so many really cool people in the audience... and, some really fine singers. I'm gonna have a blast calling people up to share the stage with me.

Now, a great guy named Jim Caruso, who hosts a weekly gig called Cast Party at Birdland every Monday night is gonna be there. I'm gonna get him up on stage, but he doesn't know what he's gonna do... yet. And, I'm not tellin' him. (But, it's gonna be cool.)

Last night I went down to Birdland for "Cast Party". I love tryin' new stuff out there. Especially since it's not generally an audience I would normally be playing to. Well, last night I ran a brand new song by them... something I wrote this week and was planning to do at Merkin Hall.

And, oh man! It CRASHED AND BURNED!

Hot damn! It's really good to just SUCK once in a while. (Lets a little air out of the ballon, if y'know what I mean.)

Y'know what, though? NOW, it's personal! I think I'm gonna try this new tune at Merkin Hall anyway... and, see if it flies with you guys. Wouldn't it be something if it sucks again!?

We'll see.

Last night at Cast Party... fellow songwriter and new friend, Christine Lavin, did a song that was one of those great over-hand curveballs... y'know, the kind that start out as one thing, then cross over the plate as a song that is just pee-in-your-pants funny.

Then, a beautiful woman named Cassandra Kubinski did a song that drew the whole room in. (Certainly drew me in. Lost my breath in the lines of the song.)

Billy Stritch and Steve Doyle... these guys on piano and bass are... y'know, two of the best in the business at what they do.

It's a very cool and different thing, Cast Party. Another new friend, great song stylist Lodi Carr sang one of my favorite standards... "For All We Know".

(Only a few people will actually know what this next thing is... so, it won't stay up for long.) But, one of the Cast Party regulars was conspicuously absent last night. I was a little concerned. But, I was perusing the news pages like I always do, looking for material... and there he was. He was just busy last night I guess.

Bob Dolphin. (If you don't know... uh... nevermind.)

So, anyway...

So, who's gonna be singin' with me at Merkin Hall Saturday night? Um... well, you guys. Every single person in the house, I hope. But, Dave Marcus is gonna be there. And Erika Weander, Cindy Bubniak and the woman who you've all heard sing "I Can't Wait" with me.... Kathi Gillmore.

We'll keep it simple and really loose all night.

Oh, by the way.... the gig is gonna be recorded. So if you're in the house, you ARE gonna be part of the show.

What else?

Oh yeah. I'm gonna try to find a Festivus Pole for the stage. (Please, please, please God! I hope there are a lot of Seinfeld fans in the audience!)

Hey, click on this photo for a sound clip abut the tradition of FESTIVUS!

Okay, listen guys... maybe I'll be back to update this thing a little later.

We're gonna have alot of fun at Merkin Hall next weekend. Try to make it okay? Call a few friends and make plans to go out for a holiday dinner before the show, or for a holiday drink after the gig. (That's why it's so cool it's on a Saturday Night this year!)

If you're one of the people reading this website in a different part of the country or a different part of the world, thanks for stopping by. I really wish you could join us at Merkin Concert Hall here in New York City next week. But, stay in touch here at the website, okay? Maybe we'll record the show and make it available later as a Podcast or something download-able. And, if you wanna email me about anything at all... just click on that "Contact" button over there. I can't answer all the emails I get, but I promise that I read every single one.

Also... if you wanna download any of the FREE songs like "A different Cowboy's Lamet" or "JesusLand", just click on the "Archive" button over there. Everything is still here on the site someplace.

One last thing.

At the gig on Saturday night, I'll have the new brochures for the big benefit concert we're putting together for the end of January at Symphony Space.

If you get a chance, stop by that website later on, too. (Click on the logo)

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Because in January we'll be getting together again for a very, very special evening. The VOICES TOGETHER CONCERT.

I'll tell you all about it at Merkin Hall. But let me just say that my friends and I... a bunch of ordinary people, refuse to ignore the carnage that is ravaging the Iraqi people... today... now... as you are reading this. The violence is devastaing the ordinary people.. the civilians, especially the children.

We found a remarkable group of people with an organization called LIFE, who have people on the ground in Iraq... really getting desperately needed help those who need it most. And, there is a woman we've found named Elissa Montanti, an otherwise ordinary New York woman, who has made 4 trips into Iraq to get people and bring them here to the States for the medical help they cannot get in that war-torn part of the world. She is an angel... a true hero. We want to help her do the work she has chosen to do in any way we can. Therefore, VOICES TOGETHER Concert.

She has done amazing things already for so many... but, everyday there is much, much more to do.

And... she just went to Iraq again to get a few more kids to get them in the hospital here!

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Dalal lost her leg in the fighting . . . . . . . . . . . Dalal sowing off her new leg with Elissa

But, there is soooo much more to do. Please help us... help Elissa... help them.

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Anyway... just go visit that website and see what you can do to make the world a better place. It actually does take effort. It actually takes sacrifice. It actually does take more than words, or spouting opinion, or writing a song. It takes action.

Okay... I'll let you now more about that as it gets closer.

For now... see you in a couple of weeks at Merkin Concert Hall.

Thanks again.