Hey guys... welcome to the ""Guitar Man" website.

Okay, thinking that this summer we will be at "The Hill" in Central Park on Saturday afternoon, and then at "The Storyteller's Hill" in Riverside Park on Sunday, if it's cool with Mr. KC Sahl. (The administrator of Riverside Park)

It's still a few months off, but I thought I'd let you now what I'm thinking.

I'm also gonna find a whole bunch of indoor venues to play between now and then. Please keep checking back and I'll let you know what's goin' on, okay?

Hey, I heard that Willie Nelson's got a song that's makin' a lot of noise... about gay cowboys. ("Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other") Well, actually Willie didn't write it. The song was written more than 20 years ago by songwriter Ned Sublette but was largely unknown until Willie, who contributed a song to the "Brokeback Mountain" soundtrack, decided to release it this week for download on iTunes.

Wille says, "The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out."

I wrote a song late last year about a cowboy with a secret... a different kind of secret.

Here. It's a FREE download for you guys. (All you hafta do is click on this picture and listen or download it for FREE.)

Pass it around to all your friends.

"A different COWBOYS LAMENT"

Today I'm gonna get a tighter mix of this song over to the webmaster of this site, James Marino. He's got a pretty cool idea for it.

What else?

Oh yeah. I noticed yesterday that the fees for the initial round of permits have been taken out of my bank account. So, the process is underway for another summer of music in Central Park. Very cool. Thanks to everybody who is helping out with this year's "Permit Fund" over there on the right.

What else?

Oh yeah.

Gonna talk to Steve Walter, one of the owners of The Cutting Room. He wants to kick around the idea of a gig in that venue. I'm also already booked to do the 7:00 show at Birdland on May 1. I'll let you know more about that as it gets closer. Right now, I'm seriously thinking about making it a night to debut a whole bunch of brand new songs. (It's way past time to think about putting together a new CD for this year.)

It's funny.

There have been times in the past when I've written new songs, played them for friends or in the park, but not recorded them in a timely fashion. I have actually forgotten about some songs that I've written until I'm reminded of them by a friend.

That happened with one of the songs on my most recent album, "Common Ground".

I had written the song, "Where's the Voice" and played it in the park and for friends of mine. But, over the following months, every now and then my buddy Dennis would ask, "How come you don't play that song about the voice... y'know the one...?"

I'd look at him cross-eyed and wonder what the hell song he's talkin' about.

He'd grope around his memory a little and feed me a lyric or two... and, then it would hit me!

"Oh yeah! "Where's the Voice"! I forgot I wrote it! That's a pretty good song! I should play that song!"

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The point being... I'd better get on my horse. I'd better start recording some of this stuff.

Okay, listen... I'm gonna keep this short today. I'll probably be back later this afternoon with a little update.

In the meantime... if you're new here, hit the "Archive" button and take a look around, okay? And, if you want to email me about anything at all, just hit the "Contact" button. Like I always say... I can't answer all the email I get. But, I promise I eventually read every single one.

There's also a "Forum" over there if you wanna say "Hey" to each other and talk about... anything you like. Just be cool, okay?

I'll leave you today with my most recent cartoon. (Yeah, I get my pen and pencil out once in a while... when something moves me to do so. This was inspired by a man, Alberto Gonzales, who doesn't know who his real boss is. Of course, his boss is us... The People of the United States... not the men who gave him a job. If he ever knew it, he's forgotten it. A US law is flagrantly being broken.... and, our top law enforcement officer is acting like a hired, political hack. Shame on him.)

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Comments?

Well, gotta get this day going. Looking forward to a bunch of fun gigs this winter. Hope you guys can show up.

And, I'll let you know what James comes up with for my "Cowboy" song.

See you soon.

Thanks again.