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home | buy ukulelia stuff | gary | email gary | suggestions | email craig | rss feed Sunday, February 07, 2010A Portrait of HarryA Portrait of Harry from Thomas Trail on Vimeo. "A visual portrait of Harry Feinberg, an 88 year old ukulele player. I shot this one summer afternoon in Los Angeles. Featured on the DVD 'The Best of Resfest Vol. 01'" Thomas Trail thanks,Thomas! Update: Harry's playing the DeSylva, Brown & Henderson song, It All Depends on You. Music and chords. posted by Craig at 4:41 PM permalink 0 comments :: click here to comment!
Tuesday, February 02, 2010The Cosmic Luthiers Phil Doleman, at the Ukulele Cosmos blog, has accumulated a rather nice collection of British luthiers' ukuleles. Here's what he has to say: "Whilst sorting out my uke cupboard, it struck me that I have a large number of ukes made by members of this very forum. It also struck me that many of them are very new to building, and are 'amateur' (in the literal sense that they build in their spare time), often finding their way by talking to other builders right here on the Cosmos. So here we have, ladies and gentlemen, the Cosmos builders line-up....  Left to right... Triangle soprano uke in walnut by Rob C Concert uke in cherry by urbansheepdog Soprano in meranti by ecosteel Martin style soprano in mahogany by Timbuck Soprano in English ash by urbansheepdog Peardrop concert in walnut & spruce by Rob C All of these ukes are great players and sound wonderful. They are also all very different, in sound, in design and in the timbers used, and show a heck of a lot of imagination and skill. Amazing work, fellas! " Amazing, indeed. You can find out more about any of these luthiers by heading on over to the Ukulele Cosmos and checking out their "Uke Luthiers" section. posted by Craig at 6:29 AM permalink 1 comments :: click here to comment!
Thursday, January 28, 2010Fratila+Romania=Ukulelia Stefana Fratila has a wonderful take on being a singer/songwriter:"...if one day I get paid for being me, I'll buy myself a harpsichord! retire to the hills! read kipling & eat my grandpa's fallen plums all afternoon!"Stefana Fratila- Vista Voyager from small fists! on Vimeo. link posted by Craig at 7:28 AM permalink 1 comments :: click here to comment!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010trois voix et trois tempéraments The nice thing, of course, about this "ukulele renaissance" is that the ukulele is finding its way into good musical groups as just another instrument with its own unique sound to add to the sonic mix.A perfect example of this is the French trio "Les Poupees Gonflees". Valerie Charlot handles the ukulele in the group, but you can also hear them with guitars, accordion, concertina and, natch, three lovely vocals. Valerie, Bebop and Titi. The songs are bouncy, melodic and...uh...why don't you just listen for yourself: link posted by Craig at 6:31 PM permalink 4 comments :: click here to comment!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010Sell $2 in Magazine Subscriptions, Get a Banjo-Uke Back in 1926, you could get this banjo-uke for selling only $2 worth of subscriptions to Everyday Life magazine. Was it a come on? Let's check.Are all these claims true? Is the Banjo-Uke an open invitation to join every social circle? And then, about all those subscriptions you have to sell. How much is that in 2010 dollars? Well the good new is that all the claims are absolutely true, as we all know. And $2 is only about $24 in today's dollars. Could you sell $24 worth of stuff today to get a banjo-uke and become the Jazz King of your town? Yes, you could! Link posted by Gary at 9:14 AM permalink 7 comments :: click here to comment!
Monday, January 25, 2010versus Another grey, rainy day in Ukuleletown. It's late in the evening and I'm restless so I decide to head over to Lenny's Bar and Grill for a Rye and Ginger and some cheap talk.It's kinda quite when I stroll in, not many patrons for a Friday night. I grab a seat at the bar and Lenny pours my libation. I look over my shoulder at the empty stage in the corner and raise one eyebrow in question to Lenny. "Ach.." he says, polishing a shot glass, "I hired someone to come in and play some ukulele and sing but I had ta chase 'em out when they started..." Again with the questioning look on my part. "Well," Lenny continued, "I wanted a Musician and I got a 'performer'". He said "performer" like he was spitting it out.  "What's the diff?" I asked, trying to decide if there were too many ice cubes in my drink. "The diff is..." he explained, "that dis gal was more innerested in dressing to the nines, dishin' some funny lines an' playin' goofy, slightly sexy songs." Again with the questioning eyebrow on my part. "...but she couldn't sing or play." Lenny explained. "I ain't got nothin' against a good performance, but it has to be built on solid musicianship, right?" I shrug and say, "but now you ain't got nobody to play to this massive crowd..." Now it's Lenny's turn to give ME the eyebrow. "This ain't no off-Broadway theater. I don't hire Actors...I hire musicians." "Yeah," I say, "You gotta point, an' it's your place." Lenny grins and I add, "So...'nother drink, an' not so much ice this time..." posted by Craig at 6:46 AM permalink 4 comments :: click here to comment!
Saturday, January 23, 2010"Hergonomic" Ukulele by Dave Talsma  Kay Dake sent me this; "...most ukuleles rest further away from the chest wall, causing the wrist and arm to be cocked at a less comfortable angle. This seemed to challenge my smaller hands and shorter fingers when it came to 4-finger chords and barring. The distance from my body and the angle of the uke also forced me to further change the angle of the uke if I wanted to visualize the neck when playing. My "Hergo" has the slimmer side of the wedge on top, allowing it to snug up close, and the wider section of the wedge pitches the uke so that the fre  tboard is in sight at all times. The best way to describe the fit is that it's similar to pulling on your favorite jeans. It's incredibly light and the unusual shape of the body actually gives it a very clear bell-like quality. Surprisingly even the gentlemen, who have tried this on for size, find it very comfortable and noticed a difference in the angle of their wrist.Dave made a styrofoam mockup and had me try it on for size before he built it..."
 posted by Craig at 8:55 AM permalink 7 comments :: click here to comment!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010Bay Area Uke Scene Nice write up of the San Francisco Bay Area uke scene in the SF Bay Guardian today. Tippy, Uni, and all the cool kids. Linkposted by Gary at 8:45 AM permalink 1 comments :: click here to comment!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010Ukulelia Uke? Ukulelia pal and editor of the Fretboard Journal, Michael Simmons, sent us this photo from NAMM. I hope that if they're using our name that at least they're decent plastic ukes. (Heh, imagine if they had named them Uke Hunt. They'd be indecent ukes. Jealous, Woodshed?) Click photo for larger view.(Thanks, Michael!) posted by Gary at 6:53 PM permalink 1 comments :: click here to comment!
Monday, January 18, 2010Danielle's Magic... Like many listeners, I'm moved by dead-on, heartfelt vocals. Here's a brilliant example of what I'm sayin': Danielle Ate The Sandwich doing her version of "I Can't Make You Love Me"...link posted by Craig at 4:29 PM permalink 1 comments :: click here to comment! Cool Poster  UkeBox (from Holland) rocks. I love the word 'underpants'. link posted by Craig at 12:39 PM permalink 2 comments :: click here to comment!
Friday, January 15, 2010NAMM 2010 Coverage – Ukulele Underground Aldine is blogging video reports from the 2010 NAMM show. See them all here. Linkposted by Gary at 7:55 AM permalink 0 comments :: click here to comment!
Sunday, January 10, 2010Vaud Rats The Sun Break calls K. Brian Neel's performance "The only tragicomic one-man ukulele operetta worth seeing.""The show tells the story of Cecil B. DeUkulele, a washed-up vaudeville performer whose shtick is the uke. From the beginning of his career upstaging a comic actress through his rise to the top vaudeville circuit to his eventual fall via a love-affair with a accordion-playing midget in an abusive relationship with a Russian strongman, Vaud Rats is both a charmingly executed story and an homage to the tradition of vaudeville."At Seattle's Balagan Theatre, through January 16. Link posted by Gary at 11:29 AM permalink 3 comments :: click here to comment!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010Ukulelear Blog Check out Kyle Leonard's new-ish uke blog, Ukulelear.(Glad he doesn't pronounce it Ukeular.) posted by Gary at 3:08 PM permalink 0 comments :: click here to comment! Shimabukuro/MIGM Ukulele Specs  We just received information about the new Jake Simabukuro Music is Good Music Ukulele, which will be featured at this month's NAMM Show. Still no word on price. Click on the image for a full size view.
posted by Gary at 2:52 PM permalink 0 comments :: click here to comment!
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UKE MUSIC BOOKS Ian Whitcomb Songbook Arranged for Ukulele and Easy Keyboard
Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Tips 'n' Tunes Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Favorites Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Beach Party Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Masters: Lyle Ritz Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Masters: Lyle Ritz Solos : 15 Chord Solos Arranged by the Ukulele Jazz Master Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Masters: Herb Ohta Jiminy Kokopo's Ukulele Sing and Strum Fun Book UKE HISTORY BOOKS The Ukulele: A Visual History, by Jim Beloff UKE VIDEOS Bob Brosman's Ukulele Tunes and Techniques: Hawiian and American Styles UKE CDS Cliff Edwards: Singin' in the Rain FAVORITE UKE SITES UKE DISCUSSION BOARDS UKULELE SOFTWARE UKULELE MAKERS UKULELE INFORMATION UKULELE DEALERS UKULELE INSTRUCTION UKULELE PEOPLE UKULELE MUSIC AND HAWAIIANA |
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