Very cool.

Hope you guys are all enjoying the holiday today. It really does commemorate quite a remarkable event... the birth of a progressive, forward-thinking, secular nation of free people. (Well, okay... started out with a few big problems like slavery and women couldn't vote. And, our present elected officials as well as a large percentage of "The People" have lost sight of most of the basic, founding principles. But still, the reason behind Independence Day is good to remember and celebrate.)

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Wanna say right upfront today... we had another truly amazing day in Central Park on Saturday! If you were out there with me... THANKS AGAIN!

I'm gonna post photos from this weekend tomorrow and later in the week. There are a few already in yesterday's update. And I wanna touch on something that happened last week in this country that should concern all decent human beings of conscience everywhere.

Seriously -- tomorrow I'll post a big bunch of photos from this weekend's happening in Central Park. We did another "Hot Dog Day". I was joined by Teresa Reynolds and special guest Frankie Dindo. It was an amazing day. Check back tomorrow to see the photos and check the galleries all week to see if our smiling face showed up on this website!

Now, as promised...

HERE'S MY LITTLE FOURTH OF JULY TWO CENTS

Seriously... I'm so grateful that I was born in a country that was founded, not all that long ago, during a time in history known as "The Enlightenment"... when people began to reject the idea of government or rule by the "divinely appointed" and created a system of government based on basic human goodness and fairness, English common law and what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature".

I mean, it's hard to believe, but it isn't all that long ago that people were governed by kings and emperors and warlords. Many places in the world are still living in that dynamic.

This idea of a democratic republic is a good, good idea. And yet so many people, especially who call themselves "Tea Party Conservatives" or the "Religious Right", have twisted the basic principles upon which this nation was founded.

"The Enlightenment" was also called "The Age of Reason"... when Reason began to shine a light through the darkness cast by the dogma of institutionalized religion. It was a time when science and reason began to replace mythology and superstition. (Tell that to the likes of Michelle Bachmann.)

You can tell principally-challenged people like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity that it was John Adams who said, "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."

As an independent Spirit, an independent man, an independent artist and a registered "Independent" politically, I would like to say this today...

If you call yourself a Christian or a Jew, good for you.

If you would like to live in a "Christian Nation" or a nation founded upon "Judeo-Christian Values"...

Sorry.

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You don't.

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That's just the way it is. And it's the way it should be. Grown up people of Reason know that still. In this country you are free to "worship" in any way we see fit... or not at all. We are free to believe that our imaginary friends are better or stronger than another person's imaginary friends. Go ahead and teach your children that a woman was formed from a man's rib, or that the Universe was formed in 6 days about 14,000 years ago... or that the Red Sea parted, or that the Sun stood still, or that dead people can walk again, or that a mountain moved because someone commanded it to move.

But keep it in your home or in your building and out of my town square.

Some of America's founders were Christian, many were Deists, many were Universalists, many flip-flopped all over the place... some like Thomas Paine (Glenn Beck's supposed hero) were "rationalists".

"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
- Thomas Paine

Paine also said...

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

But all of the founders were what we would call "freethinkers".

I love the sound of that. Free. Thinkers.

This country was a good idea and has been evolving ever since. It is my sincere hope that, because of shadow cast by "the religious right", it doesn't de-volve into something it was never intended to be.

Now let's move on and be cool to each other!

And let's celebrate true meaning of Independence... and free thinking.

Oh... here's a free song for you to download today!

THE RELIGION SONG
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AND EMAIL ME TO LET ME KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT ALL THIS! Maybe I'll post a bunch of your thoughts and feelings here on the website next week.

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If you're new you can always go back and browse through THE ARCHIVE as far back as you wanna go. I mean... thanks to my friend, my webmaster, and resident evil genius James Marino, you can historically go back through this website all the way back through the Bush years right up until the present. It's really kinda freaky how much content is here on this site.... cartoons, free songs, Photoshop images. Very cool.

And the Photo Galleries just keep growing. (Maybe you're in there!!!).

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Click to visit last year's gallery

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BTW -- "The Something'th Annual Year End Concert" is booked for Saturday night, December 10th. I know it's early, but I wanted to let you know if you're one of those people who travel down from Buffalo, or in from Pennsylvania, or Maryland, or Germany just for this gig.

The internet has made the world a very small campus and that's a really cool thing.

If you keep coming back to this site every day you might find you smile more than you don't and you also might find some things to think about. Who knows?

KEEP HOPE ALIVE

TOM CRUISE SCARES ME

Mostly, I hope you feel that... "It's Just Us" feeling. You're not alone.

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That "Broadway" thing...

Okay now you can find out how YOU can be a part of this new project here.

In a nutshell, we're putting together something that we hope is headed for Broadway or... Jupiter... or... I don't know. But it's gonna be done someplace. Broadway legend, TONY WALTON, a man who has more Tony Awards and Academy Awards than I have socks, is behind it 100%... so now it's just about getting the right team together and working it. I'll be inviting all of you to another one of those small, unplugged work sessions very soon, so keep checking back. The last 2 filled up in a matter of hours.

Here's a little 10-minute video from Tony and his wife... explaining the project.

Click to watch the video

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And here's a link to visit if YOU wanna be a real part of this process.

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VIDEO TIME

Here's another song that can't end up in the project 'cause I didn't write it. But it's a fun moment from last year's "Year End Concert".

Click to watch

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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 ☮