If you're new around here and you're checking in from a different part of the country or a different part of the world... welcome. You might wanna hit The Archive and catch up with what's been goin' on around here for... um... the past 19 years.
My name is David. I'm a singer/songwriter who considers himself just about the luckiest man alive because so many people have shared my music and know me as "That Guitar Man from Central Park".
If you're here in NYC, keep your fingers crossed for more good weather this coming Saturday and I will be back out there at "The Hill" by the Lake with Aubrey. (My guitar.)
Click on each photo for larger image. . .
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And here's a whole gallery of photos from this season so far.
Click to visit this year's gallery
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Hey no matter how you spent your weekend, I hope you're feeling good and your Spirit is light today.
Me?
(whew)
Well, I'm not gonna dwell in the land of the negative. In yesterday's update I alluded to the American nightmare that showed itself downtown on Saturday. Well thanks to publicist Laura Manske, the night before I was asked to go downtown with my guitar (the evening of Friday September 10) and open a candlelight event with a song. That was a positive and very cool experience. Just being asked to share the song was an honor. But having the chance to open the event was very cool. You can hear the song in this report by Margot Adler. She's an NPR correspondent based in NPR's New York Bureau. Her reports can be heard regularly on All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition.
Adler specializes in in-depth features and, since September 11, 2001, has spent much of her time focused on reporting the human story in New York City.
Click on the logo for the story
Then, with a small company of good friends, I returned to Church Street and Park Place on September 11 and I think I can safely report for all of us, we had "A Tale of Two Cities" weekend.
We realized that we are, in fact, living in "A Tale of Two Countries"
By that I mean... well, here. Read the opening sentence of this great novel by Charles Dickens and you tell me if you "get" what I'm talkin' about.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of Wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of Belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of darkness, it was the Spring of Hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us... "
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What d'you think?
Sound like America today? The things we saw downtown were astounding. In the next few days I'll try to illuminate a little.
Because on Saturday I saw more people who call themselves "patriots" waving and wearing American flags who haven't nodding acquaintance with the principles upon which this nation was founded. I saw and encountered more blind fear, intolerance, xenophobia, pain, Islamophobia, cowardice, anger, hypocritical-religious-fanaticism and just plain ugliness... we walked right through the "season of darkness".
But on Friday night, I sang a song in the Spring of Hope.
Here's a little montage of some news coverage.
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I love that the reporter said, "...over and over again the refrain from New Yorkers out here was that THEY WANTED TO STAND UP FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM."
It feels good to be among the Good Guys, the true Americans, standing up for tolerance and courage rather than fear and anger.
So for today, I think I'm just gonna focus on them Spring of Hope that ol' Charlie was talkin' about in his opening line.
So let me shake it off and start off this week by making a few songs available to all of you as a free download.
Right now, here's that current song and video of mine that stirred up little ruckus last week among people who just don't "get it". (But it also brought out the best of 95% of the people who listen to my music and visit this site.)
You might wanna check out my original thoughts by hitting this link. I received an awful lot of email in response to both updates. Most of the people who dig my music are people who just "get it".
You can watch it by clicking on this image.
CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO
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Like I said, there are also some fun videos making their way around the country and around the world. Here's one about the upcoming final installments of the Harry Potter series of movies. It's a song about the character, Hermione Granger.
Here... click on the image to check out the song and watch the video.
Click to watch the video
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Now one more thing about that song!
IT IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO DOWNLOAD!!!
I'm serious!
Now you can download the song itself, and walk around with it in your ipod or mp3 player and sing it to yourself on the bus, in the subway, in the car... while you're on facebook.
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OKAY!
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Now, that other song about "Facebook... Idiot" is still rocketing around the world. As of today, almost a quarter of a million people all around the planet are passing it around. (Must struck a chord inside a few people.)
If you haven't seen it yet...
Click to watch the video of the new facebook song
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When I play in the park, I get to share my music, my thoughts, my feelings, a whole bunch of laughs, some stories... I get to share my time with people from all over. You just never know what's gonna happen out there at "The Hill".
Like a couple of weeks ago, there was a small group of beautiful women and men from Spain and Italy, hangin' out with at "The Hill" and they asked for a song that I didn't know. So I strung a few microphone cables together and let them have at it.
What a blast! I love this town!!!!
Click to watch the video
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Here is a moment from just 2 Saturdays ago!
"Hill" regular, Sid Bernstein(The man who brought The Beatles to America) was out there again and I strung a few cables together to get a microphone to him so he could sing to the crowd.
Click to watch the video
Thank you to Laura Manske for catching that beautiful moment on video forever.
As you may know I am producing a documentary about "That Guitar Man from Central Park". I would like to ask all David's fans out there to write me and tell me any stories you may have about David and his playing in Central Park and how it has affected you or what it has meant to you. I've already heard some great stories, but I know there are more that I haven't heard. So if you got a story to tell about David and his music, please briefly write it out and send it to stories@thatguitarman.com . I will be contacting people from the stories submitted to interview them for possible inclusion in the film. Thank you and I look forward to seeing everyone on the hill this summer. - Dean
Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way (CD)
I Love The Company (CD)
Common Ground
The People on the Hill
Crazy On The Same Day
It's Just Us (Live)
Talk Louder (single)
Right now in Central Park:
