Cover of Greg Brown's excellent song. Recorded by Richard Henzel.  http://www.gregbrown.org/. For Chinle.

Who Woulda Thunk It, a song by Greg Brown

Composed while on hold when there wasn't any hold music to listen to...

Hold Music

Mark Twain wrote about Fitzhugh Ludlow, and how much he enjoyed hanging out with him... Ludlow wrote Confessions of a Hashish Eater. I had come across that, and many other references to drugs in Twain's work. In 1985, my friend and improv guru Del Close called and said, "Hang on, Timothy Leary wants to talk to you..." Dr. Leary came on the line and asked if I could come to Del's crib and hang out for the afternoon. Leary was writing his autobiography, and said he had been strongly influenced by Mark Twain. I was there in record time, and told them everything I knew about Mark Twain and his writings about mind-altering drugs. After I got home, my answering machine picked up his follow-up call to set up a meeting later that night at Second City after my show "Rap Master Ronnie" came down. I shut off the recorder when I picked up, as there was that annoying beep every twenty seconds. We did meet later, and I was able to give him copies of my Mark Twain files related to our conversation. And he introduced me to G. Gordon Liddy. Sadly, I didn't have a cell phone to record anything more of that memorable day beyond this brief bit of audio...

"Hi Richard, this is Tim Leary."

Whenever one of the boys refers to a mean person, they use animal terms, like "brute" and "pig"--and every time they do, Satan reprimands them, and gives them a lecture about man's "moral sense." This is an excerpt from Richard Henzel's next title to be added to The Mark Twain In Person Audio Book LIbrary.

"The Moral Sense," from #44, or The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain

"You Are So Beautiful" by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher

Anytime a cowpuncher brewed a cup of java, the "Arbuckle Cafe" was open for business. Rain or shine, both friend and stranger were welcome to a hot steaming cup of coffee and a good story or two. Author Val Fitzpatrick (1886-1988) became a professional rider at the tender age of 14, and this collection of his memories shows us what it was really like to be a cowpuncher on one of the West's last frontiers.

The Arbuckle Cafe, by Val Fitzpatrick

From the new audiobook, now on sale at audible. In Chinle Miller's tenth mystery, starring intrepid watermelon farmer and sheriff Bud Shumway, deputy Howie puts together a band, The Ramblin' Road Rangers, and records "Look Who's Back!" in Harold Naylor's basement-- the song is Howie's homage to "Big Boy" -- the restored Union Pacific steam locomotive, on its return to Green River, Utah in 2019.

"Look Who's Back"

Rebirth of the Everlasting Sun, 2019. Written and recording this holiday morning.

Dies Natalia In Viete Selis 2019

NFSW: Racist language; potentially offensive acting.
Includes characters who use racist language, and a literal performance of Mark Twain's dialects as printed in his novel. Significant spoilers as well.

"Roxy Commands" from Mark Twain's novel The Tragedy Of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Thank you Covid-19 for giving me all this free time to think of some music and play it. Now back to real work. Til then, this is for you my friends... 

"My Quarantine Moods" written and performed by Richard Henzel 2020

My Quarantine Moods

John Hartford's homage to love. Sung by a duck. Ricky Duck. In 1978, I travelled up the MIssissippi River from LA to Cinci on the Steamboat Delta Queen, playing Mark Twain in a huge variety show that included the likes of Sheila MacRae, Allen Ludden, Jay McShann, and Crazy Man Johnny Hartford. He didn't sing this song in our show, but did sing, and play, and clog like the madman he was. In the intervals between shows, we played music on the deck as we chugged northward at 8 mph in the beautiful balmy spring sunshine. I showed people how Mark Twain filled soap bubbles with cigar smoke, and how if you blew them off the stern while northbound in a light southbound breeze, you could get the smoke-filled bubbles to catch in the air currents above the vast red wooden paddlewheels and hang there, spinning, for a long time. You see, bubbles pop when gravity pulls the heavier water to the bottom of the bubble until it breaks the suface tension of the soap; but if it's spinning the water remains evenly dispersed and the bubble lasts, sometimes, a long long time. Also: if you blow a nice big smoke-filled bubble off the starboard side with the wind at the labboard, it can light on the water, right on the river, and bounce once, twice, then hop onto the water and become a perfect hemisphere, twice the diameter of the bubble, which floats and bobs along on the water for some time before it pops, and a little smoke-ring floats straight up and finally vanishes.

Hey Babe, You Wanna Boogie?

During his travels since he changed places with the pauper, the Prince--now technically The King,  as his father King Henry has died during the Prince's absence--meets a kindly hermit living in a little house in the forest, who takes him in, feeds him, and puts him to bed. Then...

The Hermit Sharpens His Knife

Sheriff, watermelon farmer, and dog lover Bud's Aunt Ginger called him to drive up to see her, as she was alone and hearing strange noises from the canyon...

Bud's Bad Dream, from The Sunnyside Cafe --!!  Available on Audible!

The 14th novel in the series of Bud Shumway Mysteries continues with Sheriff Shumway's deputy Howe running for mayor of Green River, while continuing to work on his music career. Happily, for the audiobook version of the book, Howie recorded, with his band "The Ramblin' Road Rangers" with a special appearance by the Green River High School Brass Ensemble. "Bud's Song" also features Sheriff Shumway on harmonica and vocal backup from bona fide opera singer Jay Landowska, Harold Naylor, and Maureen Mc Pherson.

RichardHenzel

Popular tracks