Yeah... I'm gettin' ideas for the concert at Merkin Concert Hall. More about that in a minute.

Last night, I sat in at Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland again. Decided to run a new song by 'em. I think it went over pretty well. I'm telling you... that gig is just a great time. Jim is so good at what he does. And, every once in a while in the middle of all these musical jewels, a diamond shows up. Toward the very end of the night, suddenly from out of nowhere, there was an African-American man named Tony with the soul of the American ages in his voice, who got up and sang.... no, not sang... was the song... "Georgia on My Mind". One of those live performances that are here and gone, but I'm glad I was there. This man Tony could not possibly know it, but he created a fine memory in my musical soul.

Fellow singer/songwriter and new friend, Christine Lavin showed up with a new song she wrote for another Cast Party regular... a passionate torch song about... "Whipped Cream". (Don't even ask! You just hafta hear it!)

And, y'know... now that Jim Caruso is a friend, I can't wait until the summer rolls around again and I get to ask him to share my.. um... stage (Well... patch of grass) the way he's been so cool about inviting me down to share his.

"The Hill" in Central Park... our patch of grass

I know that Jim is gonna be in the audience at Merkin Hall, so I have a feeling I'm gnna hafta get him up on stage... for something.

By the way, both Christine and Jim have new CDs out. You guys oughta check 'em out. They're both great! Both very different from each other, and both really different than the stuff I do... that's what lovin' music is all about, man!

(Click on the CD cover to check 'em out.)

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Okay now! the "Year-End Holiday Concert"!

It's a week from this Saturday! On December 17th! (It's on a Saturday night this year, so get some friends and make a night of it! And, we lowered the price to give everybody a break. All of the seats are only $20.)

I'm thinkin' that, with so many fun people in one place and so many really cool and gifted people in the audience, I'm just gonna have a blast callin' people up on stage. I'm also writing a couple of new songs for this thing. It's always agreat way to kick the year in the ass as it heads out the door.

If you've ever been to one of these annual "Year-End Holiday Concerts" you know what I'm talkin' about.

I'm gonna check and see how the ticket sales are going later today. If you're thinking about coming and you haven't gotten your tickets yet... dont worry. There isn't a bad seat at Merkin Hall. There are only 450 seats and it's a very intimate space. Even the balcony is right on top of the stage and the sound is great everywhere. But, if you're gonna show up with a whole bunch of friends, you might wanna get tickets this week. Here's the phone number for the box office.

212-501-3330

Or, you can order tickets online by clicking on the link that James Marino (webmaster) put near the poster on the right.

And, y'know what? There's even a chance that my long time friend and partner "Dodger" Bartlett will be coming through town that weekend. If he does, he promised he'd show up and sit in with me. That would be sooooo cool!

"Dodger"

Hey listen, there are people visiting this website from all across the country and in different parts of the world. I'm HUGE in Germany!

(Kidding.)

But, seriously... if you're new here, take a few minutes and browse thrugh the "Archives" over there. See what we've been up to in recent weeks. There are FREE songs to download, FREE cartoons to print out and pass around the internet. (As long as you tell people where you got 'em.)

Cool?

And, if you need to email me about anything at all, just click on that "Contact" button over there and I'll get the message. I promise that I read every single email I get, although I never have time to answer them all.

So, have fun today... and, maybe I'll see you at Merkin Hall in about 12 days.

Thanks again.