Well, we're just a couple of days away from an afternoon of music and laughs.

It's back home to "The Hill" in Central Park.

I'm about the luckiest man alive!

Y'know? I love sharing music and stories and smiles with you guys. I love spending my time around the people with whom I generally get to spend my time... good-hearted, music-loving, kind, caring, considerate, thoughtful, generous people.

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BUT!

When I'm in a room by myself... I also like the company. (That's a good, good thing to be able to say.)

This is a quick shout to let you guys know...

No more "Sunset Concerts" in Hudson River Park

Sorry guys.

(We won't do that ever again.)

If that's news that doesn't sit well, you can write to the Hudson River Park people.

But scroll down and read what actually went down first. And be sure to check out the photos from this past Friday night's concert!!!

It's really kind of a shame. But I'm cool. Yeah, it's kind of bad news in a way. But I've had a great time over the years I've played there. We'll just do something else on Friday nights and leave Hudson River Park to... y'know... whomever.

If you guys feel the need to voice your feelings, I completely understand. You can shoot off an email. But be polite, be clear.... and then let's all move on with a smile. Everybody be cool.

Click here to share your thoughts or feelings

And then keep your fingers crossed for some great weather on Saturday, because I have a good, good feeling about this weekend in CENTRAL PARK!

Y'see... there's no record label behind me, no managers, no agents, no big money corporations.

A really nice guy named Chris Martin at HRP asked me to start singing the Sun down years ago when that park was relatively new. Now over the past 9 or 10 years of playing the Sun down we've built a regular crowd of nice people on Friday nights. And besides the mixed demographic of age, of race, of New Yorkers and visitors who love to hang with us, many families with children have come down and enjoyed the event. At times, I've even had children get up and sing with me. It's been a good, good time -- a really good time, a wonderful event in a beautiful park. I'm grateful for all the great memories.

I love kids. Kids are some of my favorite people. But kids are kids. That's why they need parents.

I mean, I've had kids get up and sing The Rolling Stones music with me. Remember this little guy? I think his name was Jacob.

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He was great!

But in just the past two weeks, a dramatic minority of parents have been allowing their children to run around other people's blankets, play ball and do cartwheels around other people who are trying to peacefully listen to music as the Sun sets. (These parents are also usually the one's with the hidden bottle of wine. But that's another story.)

Three weeks ago on a rather rainy night with a small crowd of people in attendance, after one child was running and playing loudly around the speaker stand up front, I leaned (off-mic) with a smile on my face and gently suggested to the father that the kid might be "getting a little late for the playground" -- meaning the kid was really restless and obviously wanted to be anywhere else. Well, turns out that father went home and filed an email complaint with David Katz of the Hudson River Park Trust, asserting that I had told him to leave the event. (Nothing could have been further from the truth.) Still, after a conversation with Ian Kaley the event coordinator, we determined it would be best that if this kind of thing goes on again, that it would be more appropriate for the park staff to say something. All cool. I thought it was a dead issue. I really did. Again, no big deal.

But then a very peculiar thing happened. This past Friday night, it almost seemed as if there had been a meeting at a neighborhood daycare center or some kind of community center of parents who were going to teach me a lesson about who's "entitled" to do what and where! (I have no idea if that's the case. Ha! What happened was just really odd.)

A blanket of people set up in the very front of the crowd with 4 or 5 children who were bent on playing throughout the show. (These parents actually were drinking white wine which is against park regulations anyway. But again... kind of irrelevant.) Another blanket of people with 5 or 6 children also set up in the very front of the crowd. Very unusual. Those kids were the "cart-wheelers" and the "tag-players" and the "wrestlers" and the "shouters".

Before the event even began, seeing that these children were already running around the equipment in the "stage area" of the grass, Ian Kaley made a very cordial announcement, asking the parents to make sure their children were not being intrusive or rude to their fellow concert-goers. It was simply about consideration, thoughtfulness and allowing everyone to have a good time at a musical event. He also asked them to be careful about keeping their children away from the wires and equipment for safety.

But just a few songs into the concert, it became absolutely evident that these parents couldn't have cared less about the request and ignored Mr. Kaley's announcement completely. Children were playing around other people's blankets, shouting, running... all in the front of the crowd. After a little while, I reiterated the request politely and asked that the parent's just be respectful of their fellow park patrons.

After a few more songs, one little girl who had been running back and forth in front of the musicians snagged her foot and tripped on the monitor cable.

I stopped abruptly in the middle of the song for 2 reasons... to see if the little girl was all right, but also to moved the cable out of her flight path. In all honesty, I must have been visibly pissed off. Because... to be candid, I was really pissed off... at the blatant disregard this minority of people were showing to the overwhelming majority of nice people around them. And yes, at that point I'm sure I shot a look at one or two of the "grown-ups".

I admit my next choice was in error. Despite the conversation I had with Ian Kaley the week before, I asked one more time for parents to be respectful of their fellow music-lovers. Turns out... these families took exception to my obvious frustration. Insulted by my perceived audacity, 2 complaints were submitted by these people to the Hudson River Park Trust this week.

So after years and years of beautiful music, memories, stories, smiles and laughter...

Ian Kaley called me yesterday and said he had instructions from David Katz...

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to fire me.

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One thing I find unfortunate is that David Katz of the Hudson River Park Trust made the decision to fire me after all these years based on these 3 complaints, without being actually being there to witness any of it, and without talking to me personally to hear a truthful account of what happened.

But even more shameful is that the Hudson River Park Trust is willing to allow a minority of self-centered, rude, entitled people dictate how the park runs it's events... thereby ruining a good time for the vast majority of nice families, and sweet people, and visitors to this great city and that beautiful park.

Really too bad.

But, I'm cool with it.

I write songs and I sing them for people. I smile more than I don't and I love sharing a good, good feeling and my love of this city with thousands of New Yorkers and people from all across this country and around the world.

I'll keep doing that.

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But not in Hudson River Park.

Here's the last bunch of photos from the last concert. This is funny. These are the photos from the night that got me fired!!

(Looks like a nightmare, doesn't it!?)

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Click on the photo for larger image
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Listen, normally right about here I would provide a link so that you could email me and let me know how you feel about all this. But y'know?

I'm done.

You wanna vent or voice a thought or a feeling, write to the Hudson River Park people or the letters to the editor at The New York Times, or something. But me? I'm honestly done.

ROCK ON!!!

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(I'll be back tomorrow with a feel-good update!!!)

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. 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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AND HERE'S A REALLY FUN GALLERY FROM LAST SUMMER!!!

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.

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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 ☮