His Name is Sniffs

by ocularinvasion (emory allen)

His name is Sniffs and you better not mention that he's got the sniffles.  With his long arms in tow even Sniffs likes a walk and uke.  A walk and uke is so enjoyable for him that even his sniffles go away for the smallest of moments.

This very interesting illustration was once again found on the pages of Flickr, my favorite haunts (as my mother would say).  Ocularinvasion (Emory Allen) is the artist and I would say that his other pieces are just as wonderful.  An interesting mind, and interesting vision.  Please check out the other pieces in his photostream.

I hope everyone was able to enjoy Sniffs as I did.  I just wonder what sort of fabric is used on that coat to keep the elbows from tearing right on through?

Radiohead and Ukulele is like Lamb Chops and Mint Jelly!

Courtesy of the artist

I loved this blip on the NPR radar.  I took a listen earlier with great elation.  Mixing two of my favorite things in the world, Amanda Palmer is my new hero (musically).  I REALLY RECOMMEND A LISTEN TO HER VERSION OF IDIOTEQUE!  Moreover take some time to either listen to or read the article on NPR.  If you do your day will not be the same, which is true of everything all of the time.

Amanda Palmer sings a beautiful version of 'Idioteque,' which is immediately recognizable but recreated just enough to make it her own.  With all the other ambience happening it's hard to pick out the ukulele, but I believe that's why I love it.  So comfortable with making music with the ukulele Amanda Palmer doesn't need to display the ukulele  but rather uses the ukulele as a part of the piece.  I loved this version as anyone can tell and can't wait to hear the rest of the album, especially 'Fake Plastic Trees.'

Comeback?

courtesy of Tony Coleman and NPR.org

I just got done reading an older article on npr.org titled 'The Mighty Uke': A musical underdog makes a comeback.  What I've always wanted answered when talking comebacks, whether in sports or otherwise, is when does a comeback and the person or object is just back (with a vengeance)?  Moreover, why is it that the ukulele pendulums from unpopular to popular?  When will it just be established?  When will it be less novelty and more legitimate?  Is it already all of these things?  When will you be able to play ukulele without having to play Tiny Tim by request (but I suppose you can't play guitar without having 'Freebird' requested by every Joe)?  Time will tell I suppose.

Sounds like I'm disturbed or anxious about these things, but really I'm not.  I am just a poor ukulele man in search of answers.  Ha.

Play Ukulele Like You Eat Melons

Flickr finds me another ukulele!  Illustrated by Torso Vertical.  I wish I was fat and happy playing an ukulele.

Halfway and Ubu played on

With friend and girl and white scooter in sight

Ubu walked on and on

Step not in fright

Why would the man walk a red rope so tight

Ubu played on and on

Each note so right

Plink chord after note late through the night

Ubu sang high and lone

photo from Mark Klotz's Flickr page.

Black Ukulele Red Beats

Balance on my stump
Black boots.

Red ukulele strum
Back beats.

Mulch needle litter
Black beats.

And there was never any real good reason for me to be up here.




Photo provided by Lolanova's photostream on Flickr.

Andi's Music

The setting was the Elbo Room in Chicago, Illinois.  The program for the night was an after party for the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival.  The acts for the night ranged from funky jam band to the usual songwriter-folkish stuff.  Before the band that I play in took the humble stage (corner of the room) a group called Woodruff played a set.  What caught my attention was first the array of toys they had to play with and tickle the listener's ears.  Second was the female vocalist singing a song of metaphysical subjects mixed with bar song themes, always a good combo, accompanied by an ukulele.  I loved the song and wanted to show it on the old blog.

Her name is Andi, she is half of Woodruff, and before venturing into a duet group she came out with a recording titled Humble Pie EP.  The recording exhibits several songs beautifully sang and amply accompanied by her ukulele.  The YouTube video above is a recording of the song "Ghosts Like These" from the Humble Pie EP.  This is the song she sang at the Elbo Room and caught the attention of this ukulele blogger.  Listen.  Listen again.

Fly, Fly, Away

When shirts invoke an emotion, perhaps the shirt is doing more than it is supposed to do, which is namely to hide nakedness and to keep a body warm.  Nonetheless I am one of the many millions that loves an image on my t-shirt.   A picture is worth a thousand words is it not?

Upon visiting the Red Bubble site I ran across this shirt depicting a caricature of IZ.  Now what I am curious about is what others thought of this shirt, because I can not seem to settle on my opinion.  Is this illustration of an angelic-post-death IZ inappropriate, tacky, slightly tacky, humorous, completely acceptable, the best darn thing that ever happened to you, etc.?  Please leave a comment and let me know what thoughts this shirt design arouses.

Contemplate the Circus

Travel a line from background to foreground and you'll have an adventure that comes to a worthy end.  Enjoy.  After enjoying please visit the the artist's Flickr page.

Clowning Around

Once more I have found an amusing illustration on Flickr.  While perusing the selections of great photography and images I was able to find this newer illustration by Custom Paper Toys.  The name may be familiar to some who know of the paper monkey on a moon playing an ukulele.  This particular illustration is for a calendar project featuring a KC artist, which I take to mean an artist from the Kansas City area. 

I suppose I would never post an illustration I don't like, so it may be redundant for me to mention that I like this illustration.  Nonetheless I mentioned that I like it.  The use of color, pattern, line variation, color of lines, etc., all come together and capture my attention.  All of this drivel probably sounds pretentious when talking about a pink clown playing an ukulele.  Yes, it does.  Still the "Get Down Clown" will happily be posted to my blog accompanying all of my opinions.  Moreover, take time and study the illustration.  Perhaps the pattern and color placements will grab at the visual senses.

Is Ukulele the Devil's Instrument?

For a long time I have pondered whether the ukulele was and instrument of Satan.  Apparently the Devil enjoys a little strum every now and then.  Now I'm not intending to imply that the ukulele is inherently evil, it's just so good the ukulele has to be evil.

Check out more illustrations at www.joshuaellingson.com.

Queens of the Uke Age

Rolling along, minding my business, trying not to burst into song because of what I just wrote. Pow! It hits me like me like an aimless cicada in the summer. A new find for me on Flickr, fabulous. Yes another, and there will be more, this I promise! However! Please keep reading. I want to know if someone has a full length version of this performance (video below) out there on the web? If so please let me know. Either way I will find this video in full length if it is one of the things I do in this life. Queens of the Stone Age on ukulele, albeit distorted electric ukulele, is entertaining to say the least. In my opinion it also works together for an intriguing sound.

I end with a second quest. If anyone could post some comments and let me know of any ukulele punk groups to check out. This area of ukulele-dom interests me and I would like find more information.

I Cute Lil' Uke Pin

Here's a new treasure for myself. My wife is a little bit of a crafter, in fact she loves crafting. The other night I asked her, some may say commissioned her, to make me a ukulele craft. The picture that is seen to the right is the end result (hard to capture due to the small nature of the pin). I love this little pin. Every small, literally tiny, detail is great. Beads for pegs and thread for courses make this pin the best little ukulele pin a man could want. Soon this pin will grace my ukulele gig-bag with its presence.

Speaking of "little" everyone should head on over to Humble Uker's blog to read the latest on Lil' Rev. He is a great player with a sweet strum. His name may be familiar to you since he's the brains behind Hal Leonard's Ukulele Method Book series. Again head over to Humble Uker's blog to read about the Milwaukee native (Milwaukee, the Chicago of Wisconsin).

Simply Put

Another illustration from the pages of Flickr. This particular black and white was posted by the artist Austin Kleon. He has a large portfolio found on Flickr and as far as I can tell no other ukulele subjects. Nonetheless the other images are great (especially what he does with signs and newspapers, check it out). I love this image, which is aptly titled Ukulele Illustration. I'm thinking this image needs to be a sticker, perhaps a patch. I think someone needs to ask his permission.

Also recommended is going to Austin's website, www.austinkleon.com. Austin's personal site is a bit easier to navigate compared to the flickr site, plus it is personalized (great look).

On a sad note, Yankees just won the World Series. Sorry Yankees fans, but I would have rather seen the Phillies win. But who wants to be known for what they dislike? Let's go White Sox!

People in Uke History: A short discourse on King Kalakaua

In a formation of an idea or the creation of an object there are different ways to observe the progression. Oftentimes people observe formation/creation in a linear fashion, which is understandable when considering our concept of time is often thought of as linear. Other times people observe formation/creation in a tree like fashion (one idea branches off into additional ideas). I am no historian, nor am I any philosopher, but I like to think of ideas as both root and tree diagrams (especially when isolating a single idea/object as the trunk). Certain person have an integral part in legitimizing an idea/object (roots) and then others have an integral part in then advancing that idea/object (branches).

What I am hoping to do here is start an new occasional blog topic, People in Uke History. These posts will not worry about presenting persons or events in chronological order. Moreover these posts will not include all original research done by myself. I will be quoting more often than giving my own dialogue . All I intend with these posts is to bring up different important persons in the history of the ukulele. Another possibility with these posts is some fodder for good conversations.

Now to our subject, King Kalakaua whose reign over the Hawaiian Islands was from 1874-1891 (16 years, 342 days). Many say that his great love of the ukulele made it the symbol of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture. Here is the legacy segment from the wikipedia.com page for King Kalakaua.

King Kalākaua earned the nickname "the Merrie Monarch," because of his love of joyful elements of life. This was a reference to the nickname of the pleasure-loving Charles II of England. Under his reign, hula was revived, which had been banned by Queen Ka'ahumanu in the 1830 after converting to Christianity. Today, his name lives on in the Merrie Monarch Festival, a hula festival named in his honor. He is also known to have revived Lua, the Hawaiian martial art, music, and surfing. He commissioning the statue of Kamehameha the Great in front of Aliʻiolani Hale and one that was shipwrecked near the Falkland Islands (eventually recover). Politically he tried to restore the old monarch system in giving more power to the Hawaiian Nobles. He and his brother and sisters were known as the "Royal Fours" for their musical talents. He wrote Hawaii Ponoi, which is the state song of Hawaii today.

In Waikiki, an avenue is named after him, "Kalākaua Avenue"; this is in fact the main avenue of Waikiki taking people from the Ala Wai Canal to the famous Waikiki beach as it continues almost until the Diamond Head crater.

It is said that it was King Kalākaua's ardent support of the then newly-introduced ukulele as a Hawaiian instrument that led to its becoming so symbolic of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture.

What Happens When I Keep Watching

I have been sitting here for several minutes trying to conjure up the words to describe this video. I really can not think of what to say. I subscribe to this show on podcast. I was a little behind on my podcasts and decided get caught up today after work. What happened after hitting play I could never have predicted. This group is completely unique. Just to bring this post into relevance a tenor ukulele does make an occasional appearance. I can't even remember the bands name...wait...I'll check it again. If you have time check out more from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Moreover, travel to NPR and read the rest of the article on these musicians.

Fiction Flickr

Once again I have found an intriguing piece of art containing an image of the ukulele on the plentiful pages of Flickr. Oh what wondrous finds I've been finding floundering to be found. This particular piece was posted by the artist Kollage Kid. Ted "Wiggy" Pook is a humorous piece. Furthermore it made me curious as to who Ted Pook was and why he was wiggy? My search took me on an adventure to another blog, Scrapiteria. According to folklore, which I now understand to be fictitious, Ted Pook was a famous musician who was known during the 1920's. Exactly what he was known for makes the greatest story of all. Ted Pook was famous for being the only musician to "play outdoors for several Eskimos." Moreover his wig "was insured for a staggering three thousand pounds", thus the "Wiggy" nickname. Lest I forget, Wiggy also had a whale blubber ukulele (not sure how that works). What an imagination. Loved every second in my research to find the real Ted "Wiggy" Pook.

"I am Ted Pook."

"No, I am Ted Pook."

"I am that Wiggy Pook! Yes, the very one who played for Eskimos. I have a whale blubber uke! Do you?! No! For I am that Pook!"

I digress. Please check out both the artist's page on Flickr and the story on Scrapiteria.

Not Sure What to Say

As the title of this post has already stated, I am not sure what to say. Strangely capturing my attention are two squid. One of the bug-eyed creatures is posing for a hula. The other more relaxed squid delightedly plays ukulele. With an empty background the picture of two cartoon-like squid has plenty for me to muse over. I am not familiar with squid anatomy but this pictures leaves me with questions. See if you know what I mean.

I can not help but laugh when I look at this picture. I have even thought of what a great claymation film this would make. However, despite all of the innocence found in this photo of clay stills I find it slightly eerie.

Find more about this artist, Articulate Matter, at their Flickr page. Leave a comment. Leave a question. I wonder what song the uke squid is playing? Not a question a person asks every day.

NPR: Ukulele Love #1

I do appreciate the amount of coverage the ukulele gets on NPR. This is a clip of All Things Considered on July 26th, 2009 where Zee Avi was interviewed. She is very well spoken and gives a good report of what the ukulele means to her. Beyond a good interview are clips of her music. Once again, oh yes, here is a beautiful voice being accompanied by an ukulele (do not let me forget, please don't let me forget, that the ukulele is also a beautifully voiced instrument). Backed by more than just ukulele, I believe Zee Avi is a new voice with old tone who does a good job of showing that ukulele can be used in pop-music without all the weird quirky/gimmicky stuff. She is a legitimate voice with a legitimate stringed instrument.

Here is a link to the NPR page with full text and audio. Enjoy.

Illustrate the Ukulele

Interesting illustrations and pictures always cross my eyes when I browse the Flickr pages. I love seeing what the artists that are found on that page have to share. I came across this little illustration of a stump band. Wonderful little environment that gives me warm feelings of what a community of music can do. Pure and simple. Art and music for the enjoyment of everyone, not a commodity for retail. I hope you enjoy this illustration by Laura George. I am pretty sure there is an ukulele somewhere in that ensemble. I wonder what song they are playing?Please check out her other illustrations they are great.

This post was written while listening to the new album from David Gray, Draw the Line. I have always been a fan of David Gray and I am still a fan.