Hey... welcome to the website. Thanks for stopping by. I know there are a lot of you reading this in different parts of the country, and different parts of the world. I got a nice email from Emma in London yesterday, asking if we were gonna record the "Year-End Holiday Concert" tomorrow night at Merkin Concert Hall.

Yeah, well... yes. We're gonna take a stab at using some new technology to record the gig. The webmaster of this site, James Marino, is kind of one of those geniuses in "computer-world", and he's gonna see if he can capture the whole thing in a way that we can mix it and master it for a real quallity recording that we'll be abe to share with people who can't make it to New York City this year.

Ha! Here in New York, I'm breathing a little sigh of relief. We might have dodged a bullet for this weekend and the concert. I mean, the subway and bus workers are gonna hold off a system wide strike until Tuesday morning at the earliest. So, no problem getting to Merkin Concert Hall tomorrow night!

Instead, the Transit Workers Union is planning on a series of "job actions"... like shutting down entire sections of the system at different times. So, the subway riders on entire sections of the subway and bus lines will be inconvenienced by no service every day this weekend.

My only question is this...

How the hell is anyone gonna know there is a job action taking place?

Are we supposed to notice a slow down?

Anyway, so... yeah. Tomorrow night! The Concert! Y'know? You can still get tickets! I found out that the orchestra is pretty much sold out. But, if you are reading this... shhhh. Here's a secret.

Some of the industry people on the "guest list" are not gonna show up. So, their tickets are being released for sale... today. (Probably around 1:00) So, call the box office and get 'em!

212-501-3330

There are also tickets on the sides in the orchestra. And, lots of great seats in the balcony. I mean... seriously, there isn't a bad seat in Merkin Hall. And, we lowered th price this year to give everyone a break. ALL of the seats are $20.

It's gonna be a great night... like I always say. We just all get together in on room and kick the year in the ass as it heads out the door.

Y'know, there are also gonna be some amazing artists in the audience and I'm gonna see if I can get some of them to share the stage with me. I know for a fact that Kathi Gillmore is gonna be there one mo' time before she moves to the West Coast for good. So, we're gonna sing "I Can't Wait" together again.... like we have so many times before in Central Park.

Kathi Gillmore at "The Hill"

Hey... short update today. Gotta get down to the concert hall. Meeting with the stage manager and sound guy today. Gonna run a couple of things and make sure that when I start to wing it tomorrow night, everybody comes along with me. I also hafta see if I can find a Festivus Pole.

(Yes, I've completely lost my mind in this Festivus thing.)

If you're new here and have no idea what I'm talking about, just click on the "Archive" button and go back to some recent updates. It'll help explain... well, no. Maybe it won't.

Um, also... I still get email requests for some of the political cartoons I've done. They are still available to be printed out in the update from December 10th.

Doh! before I get to work!

I've told you for weeks now about the...

...Concert in January!

And, I've told you the reason my friends and colleagues and I are putting this show on it's feet... right? And, I've also been telling you that I'm gonna have a few very, very special guests in the audience tomorrow night at Merkin Hall... right? Well... GUESS WHAT!?

Everything finally came together, and guess who's gonna be joining us in the audience?

DALAL!!!

All the way from Iraq! She's doing great, and she's gonna be with all of us at Merkin Hall tomorrow night!

.
Dalal lost her leg and her 8 year old brother in the bombing

That's Dala showing off her brand new leg with Elissa Montanti in the picture on the right... the miracle worker who is getting kids like Dalal to hospitals here in the States for help. Elissa is gonna be my guest at the gig, too.

Just the presence of Elissa with that little angel tomorrow night is gonna make the spirit in that hall sing!

See you guys tomorrow night.

Thanks again.