I know that so many of you were checking in from different parts of the country and different parts of the world to see how we made out this past weekend with that little weather-event.

Gotta say, the hurricane came and went with a minimum of fuss and bother. I think the government... city, state and federal... all did a fine job. I also feel that the American "news" media... well, y'know, did what they usually do... embarrassed themselves for the most part. But I think Americans have come to expect the "news" media in this country to act like children most of the time. Still, I'm sure the people in "hair & makeup" had to deal with a major skin-pruning epidemic with so many of them standing in the rain, up to their ankles in puddles.

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Moving on.

Here's hoping this beautiful weather holds up for the weekend.

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Hoping.

Click for the message

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We're almost saying good bye to August. So the first week of September 2011 will give the "news" media another chance at major overkill. We'll deal with that as it begins to happen. In the meantime, we have a lot of music and laughs to share in Central Park.

And this coming weekend, we'll be enjoying a little tradition that started out there, I think, about 10 or 12 years ago. so if you're gonna be in or around town this weekend, try to make it out to"The Hill" for at least a little while. (Best to get there around 2:00. I'm just sayin'.)

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NOW -- The Yankees and The Red Sox are gonna mix it up in Boston again tonight. So far this season it's been neck-n-neck all year, except that Boston has really had New York's number head-to-head. We'll see if the boys can start to turn that around tonight with CC on the hill.

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Oh HEY! I'd like to repeat this little update.

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Hey guys... y'know?

Living the Life of an artist is wonderful. It really is. It comes with rewards that are impossible to put into words. I live a life that is pretty unique and continuously fascinating... but the marriage between art and commerce sucked since the first cave drawings in prehistoric times.... hence the term "starving artist".

I often say, "making art" and "making wealth"... for the vast, vast majority of true artists, those two endeavors have absolutely no association. Not that making money is bad! I like money!!! (Someday, I hope I have a lot of it so I can do more and better work!) But real artists make one with no regard for the other. This has been true since human beings first crawled out of the swamp! I mean, the caveman who was inside doing the painting on the wall probably didn't have a whole lot to eat. While others were out hunting and gathering, something was telling him that he had to paint that bison on the wall of the cave. So, y'know... he was probably the one with the least of everything in the tribe.

BUT! 50,000 years later, all those guys are gone... and we still have his paintings!

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So, sometimes the life of an artist is fraught with economic insecurity. I can honestly say that for the past 20 years I have never been "worried" about that, though. Some people might say that's crazy, and yet I feel like I might be one of the sanest men I know. Still, like everyone's lives, there are risks.

Now, a man who is one of the finest guitar players I've ever worked with and a colleague ho also lives the life of the independent musician has run into one of those challenging times. I mean, this is kind of a guitar player's nightmare that could happen to any of us at any time.

My buddy, Roger Bartlett, is the guy who has played on nearly all of my albums. You've enjoyed his work with me in Central Park on lots of beautiful summer afternoons and he's shared the stage with me at Merkin Concert Hall a half dozen times.

Click for larger image
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Well, Dodger was doing a gig in Connecticut. He was heading back to New York on the train and when he ripped a tendon loose on the third finger of his left hand, just putting his guitar up in the luggage rack. For a right handed guitar player...that's a nightmare! That's his fret hand.

It's a fucking nightmare.

Roger was Jimmy Buffet's original lead guitar player years ago and played on all those great Buffet songs that you love. But now, like most independent artists and like many Americans these days, Dodger doesn't have insurance and doesn't punch-a-clock at a job, so there's no "workman's comp" or anything like that. If he can't play music, he can't make a living. And he's gonna be in a splint for at least 6 weeks.

(I don't know how to change the copy on the "Donate" page... so we'll just use the "Permit Fund" link, okay?)

Dodger doesn't know about this update today. But what I'm asking is this...

Would you guys click on this link and throw whatever you can in the...

HELP DODGER'S FINGER FUND

We'll just use the same method as the "Permit Fund" okay? And we'll get the money to Dodger as soon as we can. We can jump all over this I think, so I'm just gonna leave this up for this week. I'll throw what I can into the fund, but it would make my heart sing if I wasn't alone.

It's just a way to help a guy out and a way to say "thanks" for all the music over the years. Honestly, it's gotta be scary. Rent still comes due. Bills still hafta be paid. A guy's gotta eat. And without making music... well... guys like me and Dodger don't sell shoes. gotta be a scary time for Dodge.

Thanks so much, guys.

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HERE ARE SOME IMAGES FROM 2 SATURDAYS AGO, BEFORE WE WERE SO RUDELY INTERRUPTED BY IRENE.

Click on the photo for larger image
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WEATHER-PERMITTING -- I'll be back out there this coming Saturday. If you're gonna be around NYC, hope I see your face out there in the park.

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Okay, about that Broadway. While we're singing and laughin' through this show, it'll certainly be about Love and Reason and Principle. We're still looking of the right person to direct the piece.This is what we're trying to do. Maybe it's time to reach a larger audience!!!! Maybe on Broadway!

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.

Welcome to all you newcomers! WELCOME to you if this is your first time here at the website! I hope you bookmark it and check back every day. It's become a very fun, very under-the-radar little New York Secret. You can always keep up with the cool stuff that's goin' on around me and my music and all the amazing people in this circle of friends and fellow-artists.

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.

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This year's PHOTO GALLERY will include lots of great images from out season inCentral Park.

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And here's the gallery from last Summer!

Click to visit last year's gallery

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VIDEO TIME

Here's a fun song... inspired last year by America's fascination with Bristol Palin, an unwed mother and attention hound who was suddenly being called a "star" on a national TV show... a song I wrote and debuted at "The Something'th Annual Year End Concert" last December.

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 ☮