Okay, aaaaannnnddd... we're back.

Man!

Winter!

Okay, I know this is what winter is... but, damn! It's cold here in town.

Feels like a loooonnng way from afternoons with all of you in Central Park.

Y'know what is so cool? (And, I say this often.) Suddenly we live in a day when people from all over the country and all over the world can hang out with us for one afternoon in Central Park, and then stay in touch through a website like this. I mean, I get emails from people all around the planet.

It's very cool.

But, if you live anywhere near New York City, or are going to be in New York in two weeks.... please, please, please. We need you... and your friends, and your relatives, and anyone else you care to bring. We need you to help out with something that is very, very important.... to all of us. And, all you will hafta do to help, is come to an amazing concert and enjoy a great night of music with some of the most gifted people and funniest people I have ever met. It's the Voices Together Concert, and it's coming up fast.... Saturday night, January 28th.

More about that in a minute.

First, a little caching up.

Last night, I was asked by Chris Lavin to stop by a recording studio and sit in to do a little voice over work on one of her new songs. I will always jump in on the chance to work with someone like Christine Lavin. She's nuts. I don't wanna give this tune away... but, it's a great send-up of the memoirs written by that guy, James Frey... in which he invented a large portion of his life. I'll let you know if you're gonna be able to hear her song here in town soon. (Maybe at Jim Caruso's Cast Party next week. Keep checking back.)

Speaking of that, after helping to record the song, both Chris and I stopped down at Birdland for an early version of Cast Party.

As usual, Caruso was just right on top of his game. The guy is really good at what he does. And, I got to share my song "Just Hafta Trust Me" with a new crowd. Lotsa wonderful people got up into the light and sang... Natalie Douglas, the incomparable John Wallowitch, so many others.

Cassandra Kubinski sat at the piano again, and sucked the air out of the room with a song she wrote called "You Make Me". I'm tellin' you, this town's gonna find this woman. She has a kickin' voice. But in my opinion, she is also a good, good writer. (Click on the picture to visit her site.)

Also, last night at Cast Party, I ran into a good, good friend from my childhood, Michael Valenti. AMAZING! Alotta years have come and gone, and it was soooo good to see this man again. He lives up in Cape Cod now. But, like I said, with the internet and all, we're gonna really try to stay in touch.

By the way... here's one of those FREE song downloads I'm alkways talkin' about. I actually wrote this to sing at Cast Party a while back. It's yours for free. (When you pass it around though, just tell people where you got it, okay?)

It's a new song about a cowboy who has a... a secret. ("Brokeback Mountain"?) Ah, go ahead. Click on the title and download the song for FREE.

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A different Cowboy's Lament

Okay... what else?

Y'know, I never shy away from singing what is in my heart, and I certainly never shy away from writing about what's on my mind here at the website. (I mean, you can just go back through the "Archives" and grab some of the other updates, the original political cartoons, the articles... even the FREE song downloads.) And, as soon as this next concert is over, I promise I will get back to having fun, kicking up a little musical dust about some of the things that are going on in this country and in the world.

I mean, yesterday... I heard Al Gore (Remember him?) make a speech on C-Span.... about Iraq. He also addressed the illegal witetapping authorized by a sitting president, the disgraceful lack of courage on both sides of the aisle in Congress, the over-reaching of presidential power, Bush's disregard for checks and balances in our Constitution, the corruption in Washington, this administration's disdain for the Geneva Conventions regarding the torturing of other human beings... all of it. In my song "None of the Above" Gore is referred to as Cardboard Al.) Whew! Yesterday this man hit the nail right on the head. If you can, go look for the transcript of the speech and give it a read. Now, I don't know where this Al Gore was during the 2000 election, but the son-of-a-bitch got it right yesterday! Maybe because he's not running for anything and doesn't hafta say what he thinks people wanna hear. (I'll try to find it and post it here later.) But, I'll ge back to that kinda thing a little more after the Voices Together Concert is a memory.

But, right now... here. Click on this logo to find out about the...

Y'know, Bob Dylan wrote, in the timeless song "Blowin' in the Wind"...

How may times can a man turn his head,
And, pretend that he just doesn't see?

Well, for some people, the number of times might just be countless. Last night at Birdland, I handed a pamphlet about Voices Together to a guy because he seemed genuinely interested in the idea of seeing a concert with me a Christine Lavin in it. But, he opened the brochure, saw what it was about, saw that we were trying to help the civilian people and children in Iraq, closed the brochure, tossed it on the bar and grunted. My heart sank.... but, only for a moment.

How may times can a man turn his head,
And, pretend that he just doesn't see?

For some of us the answer is... no more.

So, a small group of my good friends and colleagues decided to get together... Voices Together... to try to make a difference in the lives of the people who are suffering terribly as the result of the war in Iraq, and are being largely ignored by our country and the world.

Yeah... there is a real war going on on the other side of the planet. And, the greatest number of deaths, injuries and heartaches are being inflicted on the civilian population.

They are the ordinary people, the civilian families, the men, women and especially the children of Iraq who are taking the brunt of the violence and destruction unleashed as the result of the war in their part of the world.

How may times can a man turn his head,
And, pretend that he just doesn't see?

Join us in getting direct help to the ordinary people of Iraq who are living through the daily fear and violence.

We can make a difference. YOU can help in a very real and direct way. There is a remarkable woman in Staten Island who has made 4 trips to Iraq already to get children who are in desperate need of help, and has brought them back to the States for the medical treatment they need. And, she's goin'again! She is Elissa Montanti and she calls herself the Global Medical Relief Fund.

So, we want to make her work easier.

Pleeeeez help us... to help her... help them.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BUY TICKETS TO A GREAT CONCERT!

It's gonna be a night of smiles, purpose, laughter, some tears.... but mostly an evening of music.All you hafta do to be a real hero and maake a real difference for the better is buy tickets tickets. You can get tickets, right now... today... at the Peter Norton SYMPHONY SPACE website.

We also have a very limited number of VIP tickets available. But, if you want to order those and be invited to the reception after the show, you have to contact the Voices Together Group at:

Get VIP Tickets

The VIP section will get all kinds of goodies, and the artists will all hang out at the reception after the gig.

HERE'S THE LINEUP OF ARTISTS SO FAR!

(Click on each photo to visit their websites.)

. . . .

They are... Christine Lavin, Karlus Trapp, Modern Man, Roger Bartlett, Sam Leopold... and me.

Like I said, we are keeping our fingers crossed for a little miracle to happen.... so, that we can announce a special guest or two.

Keep checking back okay?

Okay... that's it for me today.

Gotta hit the sidewalk!

If you happen to see me on the streets of Manhattan today, say "Hey"! And, if you feel like emailing me about anything at all, hit the "Contact" button okay? I can't possibly answer all the email I get, but I promise I ead every single one.

Thanks for everything.