Interview of Tiny Tim I was surfing the web several weeks ago and went to the website of Music Boulevard.

An artist's name appeared (not Herbert Khaury) and I wondered if that name might be the real name of Tiny Tim. Obviously, it wasn't, so I did a search by artist for Tiny Tim and found several of his CD's listed.

Some months ago I heard a taped interview with him on NPR (I think), during which he was having a wonderful time with the interviewer. In that interview he talked about his CD, "Girl" and they played (or he performed) an excerpt from "Sly Cigarette." His great sense of humor and the entertaining value of that interview had stuck in my mind, so when I discovered the CD, "Girl" at Music Boulevard, I just had to have it.

So, I ordered the CD and listened to it innumerable times, each time hearing and learning more of his entertaining genius, if you will.

Now, for the real surprise: I was born a Catholic and my parents named me Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes. For years (before the Beatles' hit, "Hey Jude," people always had a problem with my name. They didn't seem able to spell it or remember it. Funny, isn't it, a simple one-syllable, four-letter word: Jude? They would call me Judd, Jade, Jute, you name it. After the Beatles made the name a household word all I had to tell people was just to think of the Beatle's song, "Hey Jude!" It seemed to do the trick, and for that, among other things, I thank the Beatles.

Well the BONUS I received when I got the "Girl" CD was the song Hey Jude, performed by none other than Tiny Tim. It is a hoot. Absoutely hilarious. I love the Cha Cha Cha beat!

I work at a department store here in Omaha and the thing, "Hey, Jude" catches on. When I am walking down the aisle, one of the other employees will holler at me: "Hey, Jude!" Last night we had a power failure at the store, so it was closed for several hours, but employees were not allowed to go home before normal closing time, in hopes that power would be restored. When I returned to the store from my car after supper, there were about 10 or 12 employees sitting on the floor inside the plate glass doors. As I entered the second set of glass doors they, in unison said, "One, two, three - HEY JUDE! So I did a little dance for them and told them the story I just told you. They loved it. I was tickled that the vast majority of that group (all ages represented) who knew of him, were aware of him, had heard him, etc. You would have enjoyed that, too.

I also use it as a screen name whenever possible, but many times it has been taken by someone else, so sometimes I use HeyJude1 or HeyJude2, etc. Sometimes it is case-sensitive, so I can usually scramble around enough to find a version of spelling that works. I remember him from Rowan & Martin, many years ago.

Just wanted you to know that I loved that NPR interview with him which must have been taped & replayed and that it "stuck." Also wanted you to know how much I am enjoying the CD, Girl. Best of luck to you!

Sincerely yours, Jude Gardner
Omaha