Welcome to the website.

Y'know?

Um... y'know?

Okay! Okay, before I say what I have to say today... welcome to all of you who are checking in here for the first time, or from a different part of the country or a different part of the world. For any newcomers, let's start off with a little photo gallery from last year's "outdoor" season.

Click to visit last year's gallery

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In just a few weeks, I'm going to be starting year # 20 in Central Park. That's very cool. But I've got a lot of work to do between now and then on this new theatrical project. I'm really hoping that YOU might wanna be a part of this in a very real way. As always -- It's just us!

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What I'm compelled to say today...

I guess if you've been coming around at all for any length of time, you know what I'm all about. And you know how I feel about the role of art and music in the social fabric of this world. We have a lot of fun around here, a lot of laughs. But I always say it's important to pay attention. I've learned that most of the time, art is a mirror that reflects the world around us. But sometimes, it can be a hammer that can help shape the world around us.

Well, along with a group of beautiful friends and colleagues I've just begun work on a theater piece which will be driven by a lot of the songs I've written over the years. I did the first of 2 small work sessions for a small audience his past Saturday night and I'll do another this coming Saturday night. It was a blast. I think everybody there was glad to be a part of it and it was extremely helpful. After the gig on Saturday I was filled with questions about the thing... the main question seemed to me to be whether it wanted to tell my personal story or take a good look at this country and the world through the eyes of an unapologetic "possibility-junkie". Some of the songs that didn't make it into the work-session were "Can't you See?", "Tired of Being Lied To", "Where'dat Money Go?" and the song I'm about to feature here today.

Y'see... I think yesterday President Obama and our Attorney General, Eric Holder, may have helped me answer that main question for myself. They may have cemented my resolve in doing everything I can so that this theater piece sees a stage... as well as making it clear what it needs to say.

In another case of throwing "The Audacity of Hope" out the window, Attorney General Eric Holder sanctimoniously blasted Congress yesterday for inappropriately interfering in the decision over how to try Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, arguing that a federal trial would have provided the best outcome but that Congress compelled him to move forward with a military commission trial instead. Our attorney general lamented that the Mohammad case, since its beginning, has been "marked by needless controversy."

He said, "The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and his co-conspirators should never have been about settling ideological arguments or scoring political points."

AND YET -- in the way that has become typical of the men and women in our government on both sides of the aisle, including those in the Obama administration, Holder speaks of principle yet acts on political expediency. If in fact "a federal trial would have provided the best outcome"... then that's exactly what should be done. But instead, once again, principle is being abandon for politics.

The open wound of Guantanamo Bay is still open. No one in the Bush administration has been held accountable or even investigated for breaking U.S. and International Law by torturing prisoners. No one has been held accountable for misleading the American people and Congress into an illegal and colossally ignorant invasion of a foreign country. The Health Care legislation we all hoped for to care for the sick and poor of this nation serves primarily to feed insurance companies as well as the campaigns of the spineless politicians these corporations finance. And now this.

I'm fired up again. Thank you Mr. Holder. And thank you to every spineless Democrat and every hypocritical, principally twisted Republican... which is basically all of them.

Click to watch a song which will NOW definitely be in the piece.

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I'm getting a lot of email about one of the songs that did make it in. (Tom Cruise Scares Me) Yeah, I think a couple of those new lyrics will make it to the summer season... especially the verse about Snookie from "The Jersey Shore".

TCSM is kind of featured in the pitch-video from an Academy Award-winner and his lovely wife that explains the whole project!

Click to watch the video

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Get the idea?

A whole bunch of fellow artists and friends have convinced me that after 20 years of being "That Guitar Man from Central Park", it might be time to tell the story in a different way for a much larger audience. Exactly how this thing is going to evolve is way beyond me at this point. Just kinda making it up as I go along.

And here's a link to the IndieGoGo page where we're still trying to raise the money to pull this thing off.

Click to watch the video

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HIT THIS LINK TO EMAIL YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS

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THE (entire) DECEMBER CONCERT

For you guys again today... the entire concert... "The Something'th Annual Year End Concert" is here for you to watch. Go make a pot of coffee. Pour yourself some tea or a nice glass of wine and sit back and watch this thing. Plug in some headphones or some earbuds if you feel like it. You can actually jump around and watch different parts o the show.

We had such a great time again this year in that theater!

(The audio got a little funky during Teresa Reynolds' Christmas song... but I'm do everything I can to fix that sooner than later. Check back.)

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Here are a couple of different fun galleries to check out.

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HAVE FUN TODAY!!!!!! (And be cool to each other, okay?)

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Thanks for everything.

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Peace ☮