I'm sorry to hear that.

Lionel moseyed through Seattle and was here for two or three weeks back in 1963 or 1964. He did a few guest shots in one of Seattle's better coffeehouses. Sang and played what he called a "Brownie bass." I never did catch on to the difference between a Brownie bass and any other washtub bass, but it worked.

He described the hundreds of times, when he was introduced to someone, that the person would cleverly say something like, "Lionel, eh? How are your trains?" This, under the assumption that they were being brilliantly original. It was so pandemic, Lionel said, that once he was introduced to someone else whose name was also Lionel. "The guy looked me straight in the eye and said 'Lionel, eh? How are your trains?' Then he sat down on the curb and cried!"

We had some pretty good song fests while he was here. He gave me a copy of one of his songbooks. Still have it. He did a gently hilarious song called "The Man Who Comes Around." Sort of talked it rather than sang it. He got a lot of requests for it.

There'll be some good singing in the celestial choir now, where they could use a good Brownie bass player. He'll keep 'em from getting too stuffy.

Funny man. Good man.

Don Firth