Well...

It's a beautiful day here in New York City. Of course, it's one day too late for me to sing in Central Park and hang out with all of you like I've been doing for so many years.

Damn!

Okay, so - I really missed you guys yesterday. I wound up watching the Democratic rules committee meeting all morning. And, tomorrow I'll be buying Scott McClellan's book. (Even though I still think he's a pasty-faced twinkie.) so, this is gonna be an interesting week around here. Maybe I'll hafta fire up the ol' "Podcast Machine"!

Listen, I'm gonna be back here in a little bit with a complete update a little later. But for right now... I'd like to let you all know, I'm really looking forward to the JUNE CONCERT one week from last night!

I'M REEEEALLLY GONNA NEED YOU GUYS TO SHOW UP AT THE CONCERT THIS COMING SATURDAY!!!

Why don't you go ahead and reserve your seats for the concert next Saturday night right now.

BESIDES - this gig next Saturday is gonna be a blast! And, the feeling in that concert hall next week is gonna be something typically special.

Y'see... I'm NOT gonna be able to play at "The Hill" in Central Park next Saturday for sure! The woman who runs the permit office at The Parks Department has withheld the Special Events permit we need for next weekend. (Yeah, that's pretty sucky, I know.) But, I'm not the kind of guy who lets sucky things get in the way of good times and music.

So, I scheduled the next indoor concert for next Saturday night, June 7th!!!

I hope you call a few friends this week and make the decision to show up at this thing. The tickets for the JUNE CONCERT started to sell this week. Y'know, I'll explain the reason this Saturday Night Concert Series came about, and why your attendance at these things is gonna be so important to me.

I'm really lookin' forward to the next "indoor" gig at H.I. New York Performance Hall. My special guest this time is a young singer/songwriter who I think you guys are gonna fall in love with... again. Like you did with Galia Arad at the last concert. Her name is Julie Kathryn.

Anyway, the tickets went on sale a few weeks ago and just this week they're starting to sell.

So if you wanna reserve your seats now, you can do it by just clicking this link. (Reserving seats this way puts your name and the number of seats on the list at the door that night. All you hafta do is SHOW UP!)

DON'T GET SOLD OUT OF THIS ONE! Seating at H.I.N.Y. is general admission and ALL the seats are only $20.

SATURDAY NIGHT, June 7th - 8:00

Roger Bartlett will be there, and Janet Kirker and Dave Marcus. And hopefully YOU. It's actually less than 2 weeks away!

This brand new music venue is also really easy to get to from, like EVERYWHERE in the city. The #1 train stops at 103rd Street. And, the C & B lines also stop at 103 on Central Park West.

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H.I New York Performance Hall - Amsterdam Ave @ 103rd Street

Okay!

NOW!

Here's a little repeat of this weekend's extensive posting.

This week I watched Scott McClellan's first interviews since the word about his book was released (I am going to get it and read it early next week.) ...just as I read Bob Woodward's books and Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies". After watching all the White House flunkies and parrots hit the airwaves with identical talking points, looking pathetic as they try to work damage control and kill the messenger, I had a broader thought. (It was also inspired by a brief email exchange I had earlier this week.)

If you can, put all partisan ideology aside and let's look at the insiders who have come out to verify EVERYTHING people like me have been saying, writing and singing about this corrupt and wholly un-American oligarchy that is the Bush administration.

Paul O'Neill

First, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill leaves this administration after 2 years and reveals at cabinet meetings, the president was "like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection," forcing top officials to act "on little more than hunches about what the president might think."

This is what O'Neill says happened at his first hour-long, one-on-one meeting with Mr. Bush - "I went in with a long list of things to talk about, and I thought to engage on and as the book says, I was surprised that it turned out me talking, and the president just listening... As I recall, it was mostly a monologue." He also says that President Bush was disengaged, at least on domestic issues, and that disturbed him.

Me? I've just always thought Bush to be a shallow, intellectually challenged, incurious frat-boy with a brand name.

But most disgusting... "From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," says O'Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration - - eight months before Sept. 11.

"From the very first instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this regime. Day one, these things were laid and sealed." As treasury secretary, O'Neill was a permanent member of the National Security Council. He says in the book he was surprised at the meeting that questions such as "Why Saddam?" and "Why now?" were never asked.

"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this,'" says O'Neill. "For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap."

And that came up at this first meeting, says O'Neill, who adds that the discussion of Iraq continued at the next National Security Council meeting two days later.

4,083 Americans are now dead and more are dying every week in Iraq. Untold thousands of Iraqi men, women and children have been killed.

NEXT UP!

For all you "religious types"... all you Good Christians out there who support this administration and their war!

David Kuo

David Kuo, a former official in the Faith-Based Initiatives program, leaves the administration and reveals that you people on the religious right have been used and mocked by this bunch of Spiritually bankrupt individuals. Kuo says the aides recognized the religious leaders' political use in securing election victories and decided to reach out to them to use them to win elections. But in private, the former official says senior aides to the president described the evangelical leaders as "nuts" and "goofy", while acknowledging their political use in securing election wins.

NEXT UP!!!

Richard Clarke

All I can say is, if you haven't read "Against All Enemies"... READ IT!!!!

It's an honest and straight-forward assessment of the failures, the lies, the blindness, the misjudgments, the arrogance and ineptitude of the Bush administration before 9-11 and since.

AND MOST RECENTLY!!!

Scott McClellan

I'll be back here next week after I read his book which I'm assuming will verify so much that any sentient, fair-minded person already knows.

YOU... if you voted for this president, in the face of the death and destruction in Iraq and the shape this country is in today, after looking at our decayed standing in the world, after the ceding of any moral high-ground we might have enjoyed, and after the abandonment of any of the principles we ever even attempted to live up to.... after all of that, I have one question.

Are all these people lying? Or is it at all possible that YOU have been mislead and driven off the cliff - - manipulated by fear, blind party loyalty and a misguided notion of patriotism.

Just a question. Answer it if you care to. Hit the "Contact" button up there and I'll publish any intelligent and reasonable statement right here on this site.

Cool?

(But I'll lay odds I don't get one response from a responsible person who admits they were tragically wrong in their support of this bunch.)

If you still defend this war and this president, I can say upfront with a smile... at this point you ain't lookin' so good. Kinda silly, actually.
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'nough said!

IF YOU'RE NEW AROUND HERE... go ahead and click on this link to hit the "Archive" page". There's a lot of cool stuff on this site. (Photoshop images, political cartoons, FREE songs to download. A whole bunch of podcasts to catch up on.)

Knock yourself out. Also... I wanna give you guys some FREE downloads of a couple more songs I'm working on. Y'know... works-in-progress. AND, a couple of the more socially-minded or socially conscious songs I've done recently. (Click on the links and they're yours, okay?

Crazy on the Same Day (re-mastered) - Tom Cruise Scares Me (A recent version)

JesusLand - Bill O'Reilly: The Legend of the Big Giant Head

And, another new one....

Click on the image.

Okay... well, that sure was a loooonnngggg update today. But now, I hafta get to work doing what I'm supposed to do... writing songs that - -

Comfort the disturbed and... disturb the comfortable.

Hope I see you at the gig next week.

but, RESERVE YOUR SEATS FOR THE CONCERT!!!

Thanks for everything.