"Daydream"

We're getting a taste of summer this week. The sun's bright, the streets are humming and there's a welcome breeze blowing outside. Hemlines are edging their way north, overcoats are being left at home, and lo and behold, people are smiling! Perhaps it may also have something to do with the blissful silence in the skies above.

And as if by karmic instruction, this song pops up on my iPod, as if my inner devil was telling me to take the rest of the day off.

"I'm blowing the day to take a walk in the sun,
And fall on my face on somebody's new-mown lawn."

But before I do skip out of the office, there's time to finish this.

Back here, I was saying that Evan Dando has this effortless ability to write terrific tunes. Well, I stand by that, but I have to add John Sebastian to the roster of "impossibly talented songwriters."

"Summer in the City," "Do You Believe in Magic," "Welcome Back," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice".... each one so simple, so elegant and irresistable.

I'm sure we each of us know an irrepressible optimist, a friend for whom the glass is always more than half full. Someone whose laughter we've almost come to hear in our sleep. John Sebastian is probably one of those. First guy in the bar, first one to crack a joke...

In an age where rage and discontent seem to own more than their fair share of the landscape, it's a real treat to have a friend like that.