It's all just a character though of course. He did some recordings with the LOTR actors, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd (Merry and Pippin) spoke a little bit about it on their podcast. He had a strict rule about no cameras or cell phones when meeting him, and they were able to hang out with him sans bucket and Herbie.

That reminds me, Pat Metheny is another instrumentalist who had some gold albums in the late 80s/early 90s.

> Heard the other day he has health issues and hope he's better now.

I had not heard that until now!