Ten Questions with Rick Henry Christopher

Back in March 2020 life was very different for me. With the pandemic surging and my body in the throes of a growing prostate cancer I didn't think things could get any worse.

The world went into lockdown due to the uncertainty of the burgeoning virus that lurked around every corner we turn. I conferenced with the management team on my job and it was agreed that due to the cancer and asthma that I would take a nine week paid leave of absence effective immediately. That was March 17th. I would be coming back to work on May 19th and we all believed we'd be on the downside of COVID.

During this leave of absence I had a desire to create a new YouTube show. Years earlier I had an experimental comedy show called "Mr. Hank's World," in which I portrayed this borderline psychotic indivdual named Mr. Hank. The show did okay for a little no-budget production. I ended up with about 1,500 followers.

I really didn't know what type of show I wanted to produce. I mulled over a few ideas. Maybe an informational show or a show where I review various products. Then it came to my mind that I have a lot of well-respected friends and acquaintances in the music industry. Some of them have been very successful. I can do interviews with them.

I started out with my longtime friend Mike Boul and hís band White Pee which has a following in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

From there I produced episode after episode.

I went back to work for about five weeks but then went back on a seven week leave of absence in order to have the radiation treatments for cancer.

Being on yet another leave of absence I was able to direct a good amount of time to my interviews.

As we inched toward the end of the year I had some great interviews scheduled - Vinnie Zummo (guitarist with Joe Jackson), disco diva Claudja Barry and others.

But then the unthinkable happened… things did get worse. In November 2020 my mom began experiencing major hallucinations. This was scary for my brother and I. We had no clue how to deal with this. The hallucinations got worse and worse. I made the announcement that I would be putting Rick Henry's Talk Show on hold indefinitely. I had eight interviews lined up taking the show into January 2021 but none of them would happen. Everybody was understanding.

You recall that at the beginning of this story I commented, "With the pandemic surging and my body in the throes of a growing prostate cancer I didn't think things could get any worse." Well, I was wrong. Please read what follows:

It's now the middle of January 2021. My mom is now two months into being in an advanced stage of dementia. She is also diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, OCD, and is completely blind. My mom has now gone from needing light supervision to needing round the clock assistance with everything from feeding to toileting to bathing and so forth. She is now declared a hazard to herself.

All of a sudden caring for our mom has gone from an easy task to a very complicated, confusing, and physically challenging task. But my

But then things took a turn for the worst. My brother got sick and he did not make it. He passed away on January 31, 2021. All of a sudden my life was turned upside down. And it did get much much worse than it had been earlier this year.

I was faced with a very tough decision. Sell the house and put Mom in a home or quit my job and take care of Mom full time. Either way I go it would be a major upheaval in my life.

Ultimately, I couldn't put my mom in a home. I know how shoddy the care can be in those places. I decided to quit my job - the job I loved and in which I excelled. I was heartbroken but my mom means more to me than my career or even a paycheck.

I kept thinking about Rick Henry's Talk Show and how much I missed doing it. But there was no way I could resume it now that my partner in caring for my mom was gone.

In the meantime I took up writing with Vocal Media. This has been a great outlet for me. In two years I have written more than 130 stories and poems. Many of them are music lists. Everybody knows how much I love my music.

But now Vocal Media is beginning to wear on me. It's becoming way too competitive. More and more people are drifting away from writing for the art of writing and instead they are writing for that next top story or to win that challenge. Everybody is trying to come up with that perfect formula of what will get them a win. But, if I'm honest I like getting those wins every so often.

Therefore I took a break from Vocal Media in order to refresh my attitude towards it. I am back because I am invested in Vocal Media because I love the platform and I have created the Facebook group Vocal + Assist which is an active and popular group.

In the meantime my mom has recently received a whole lot of hours from In-Home Supportive Services. This means we are now going to have a full-time caregiver for my mom throughout the week. This is going to give me time to resume my first love, my talk show. I know that I'm not that good of an actor, and I'm certainly not a great talk show host, and I know that my singing voice stinks but I love doing all three. I love being in front of the camera as well as behind the camera.

For the 2023 season I am going to have some great guests including the French model and disco diva Madleen Kane. She had five songs make it into the top 10 of Billboard's dance music charts - actually mine if you include the four B-sides that chart it along with the A-sides. Bruce Sudano will also be a guest. He is a founding member of the popular trio Brooklyn dreams. They are best remembered for performing on Donna Summer's mega 1978 hit "Heaven Knows." Bruce was also Donna's husband from 1980 until she sadly died in 2012.

My first guess for my comeback show is Vinny Zummo. He was the guitarist for Joe Jackson on many of his classic albums such as Night and Day and Body and Soul. His episode will appear on YouTube on Tuesday May 2nd

I am looking forward to doing my talk show again and I hope that those of you here will tune in and enjoy what I love doing the most.

Here is a list of my five most popular episodes:

5. Rick Henry Talks with Robert Grant (aka O'Mega Red)

4. Rick Henry Talks with Mike Patton

3. Rick Henry Talks with Jimmy Michaels

2. Rick Henry Talks with Russell Javors (Billy Joel's Band)

1. Rick Henry Talks with Terry Draper (From the Canadian band Klaatu)

Enjoy my friends! I will be seeing you here on Vocal and also on Facebook and YouTube!