Ukulele Guy

Here's the deal. I have 10 ukuleles in my house. I'm starting to feel like one of those weird cat ladys (you know, like from the Simpsons). The plus side of this, though, is that there is always a ukulele when I want one. And, I always want one. The down side of this..... hmmmm... you know, I can't think of a down side right now.

As a result of this abundance of ukuleles.  I've been walking around our house with a Mahalo in my hand for weeks.  When  it's time to give my boys their bath, I'm playing a ukulele.  When I'm kicking their dirty clothes down the hall and into the laundry room, I'm playing a ukulele.  When I'm reading them a bedtime story.... umm... ok, it probably doesn't help with that part.

Anyway, there are three Mahalos in my house.  My wife has a purple economy mahalo, my oldest son Simon has the green and little Gus has the blue.  I'm sure there are lots of ukulele experts (i.e. elitists... or snobs) who can tell you why you don't want a Mahalo ukulele.  But, I'm not one of those guys.  I've always been a bit of a Marxist when it comes to the arts.  If you tell people they can't afford the right tools to make their art then you are just trying to take art away from the normal guy.  Uncool.

So, let's celebrate the cheap ukulele!  Having a cheap ukulele beats having no ukulele any day of the week!  Just start playing!  Anyway, here's a video of me on Gussy's ukulele.

Related Items:

Mahalo U-30Br Painted Economy Soprano Ukulele (Brown)

USN-30 Mahalo Ukulele Strings

Heh, I forgot I was uploading these videos. I think there are two left and, as you can see here, the stakes are going up. This video takes places literally seconds after part 2 (where I touch the fence for the first time). What we didn't know at the time (although I suspected) was that it takes some time for the capacitor in the fence to fully charge up. So, if you touch it and then touch it again shortly thereafter, the shock isn't so bad.

So, after this video was taking, Colin decided he wasn't paying me $20 for my touching of the fence. However, we do come up with a compromise that you'll see in part 4 of the video. Let's just say that Colin attempts to "double up" by touching the fence again.... with a more sensitive part of his body. Ahhhh yeah!

You might be asking yourself, "What the hell does this have to do with Ukuleles?". Yeah, I'll admit, it's a stretch, but in part 2 of the video I was holding my Eleuke electric ukulele when I touched the fence. I say that counts.

Related Items:

Eleuke Tenor Ukulele, Solid Body, 19 Fret, Flamed Red

Oscar Schmidt OU2 Concert Ukulele

Ok, so it's not really that much of a quiz. My wife and I were just watching this show the other night and we both commented that we really dug the intro music. I thought I recognized it from someplace but I just couldn't put my finger on it. So, I spent a few minutes unraveling it enough so I could sort of recreate it on my aNueNue Banjo Ukulele.  It's a little rough, but this is about as polished as anything I do.  I'm not really much of a perfectionist, I just want to capture and idea and then move on.  Anyway, the theme song is a condensed version of a Brian Jonestown Massacre song.  And, if you aren't already watching this TV show, you need to be.  It freaking rules!

Related Items:

aNueNue aNN-BU2 Banjolele - Concert

Kala Mahogany Tenor Travel Ukulele

Well the good thing about my new aNueNue Banjo Ukulele is that it doesn't take much convincing to get myself motivated enough to do a video.  I mean, chances are the uke is already in my hands, so I just have to turn on the camera.  I seriously cannot get enough of my aNueNue!

Anyway, the song I did today was You Must Be Out of Your Mind by The Magnetic Fields.  This is definitely my favorite song of the Realism record.  On an only somewhat related note, does anyone know when the Magnetic Fields movie is supposed to come out?  When my wife and I saw them in Seattle they had some cameras with them so I'm kind of hoping the footage from that show makes an appearance.  Maybe you'll even be able to see when Stephin Merritt walked offstage and right over to the person who had just finished videotaping "Papa was a Rodeo".   That guy got some harsh words, no doubt.

Anyway, you might notice that I switched the 2nd and 3rd verse.  This wasn't intentional, but I didn't feel like doing it over just because of that.  So, consider it an alternate rendition.

Here's the tabs:

You Must Be Out of Your Mind
by Magnetic Fields

F  - 2010
C  - 0003
Bb - 3211
Gm - 0231
Dm - 2210

INTRO: F  C  Bb  F

F           Bb            C         F   C   Bb   F
You think I'll run, not walk, to you

F           Bb            C         F
Why would I want to talk to you?

Gm                Bb
I want you crawling back to me

F                   C
Down on your knees, yeah

Gm           Bb
Like an appendectomy

C
Sans anesthesia

F         C       Dm          Bb
If you think you can leave the past     behind

F           C            Bb    F
You must be out of your mind

F         C     Dm      Bb
If you think you can simply press rewind

F           C            Bb
You must be out of your mind, son

F           C            Bb    F
You must be out of your mind

You want what you turned off turned on
You call it sunset, now it's dawn
You can't go round just saying stuff
Because it's pretty
And I no longer drink enough
To think you're witty...

You want to kindle that old flame
I don't remember your real name
It must be something scandalous
Lurks in your shallows
If you need a Santa Claus
To buy your gallows...

Related Items:

aNueNue aNN-GBT Gig Bag for Tenor Ukelele

aNueNue aNN-U900Bear Ukulele

Holy smokes.  These guys are real go-getters.  I had an e-mail this morning asking to post something about the video they made for the EleUke 2010 Contest.  Also it looked like they posted a video response to one of my EleUke videos (although I couldn't approve it because it wasn't in my Youtube inbox for some reason).

So, of course I checked out the video today.  Dang!  It's wicked professional looking.  These guys take ukulele contests seriously!  Anyway, give it a look and a listen.  It's a catchy little song and the giant animals are pretty great.  Best of luck in the contest, guys!

Related Items:

Eleuke Tenor Cutaway Jazz Mahogany Electric Ukulele with MP3, Solid Body

Eleuke Electric Ukulele Soprano Mahogany 12 Frets Solid Body w/MP3 Feature

Ok. If you just came into this sequence of drunken buffoonery, make sure and check out Part 1 so you aren't lost. Actually, I guess you'll probably get the gist of it.... unless you are currently drunk, in which case you probably better watch Part 1.

Anyway, I should fill you in here.  My brothers and I are pretty competitive.  I can't really explain it because none of us really did much in the way of sports growing up (Bryan, your football season doesn't count).  Yet, if you get all three of us in one place, playing cards or (God forbid, Monopoly) and there is bourbon nearby, you can expect it won't end well.

As part of this we have a running gag about staging an eating contest.  So, let's say we're at a BBQ or picnic or something and one of the brothers remarks, "Man, I love deviled eggs!"  Within seconds, one of the other brothers will respond with "Yeah?  How many do you think you could eat in an hour".  And off we go.

So, with all of this in mind, it should come as no shock to you that as soon as I put an electric fence in my backyard (to keep marauding black bears from effing up my compost bin and childrens' faces) it was less than 20 minutes before the conversation steered to, "How much money would it take for you to touch the electric fence?".  If I recall correctly, Bryan started high with something like $1000 and then worked his way down to $125 or something.  Colin started at $85 or something.  I said $40 and then was somehow talked down to $20.  And so the story begins.  Don't worry though, there's quite a bit more video to come still.

To make this video acceptable for UkuleleGuy, you'll notice that I'm holding my Eleuke Electric Ukulele. Ahh yeah! Apparently I should have been playing it though, Eleuke is having a contest right now.

Related Items:

Eleuke Tenor Cutaway Jazz Mahogany Electric Ukulele with MP3, Solid Body

Lanikai LU-21CE Concert Acoustic-Electric Ukulele

Damn, I nearly broke my "e" key on the title there.

Ok. I'm not going to say much about this video.... yet. Consider this a teaser of things to come. I know this doesn't appear to be especially ukulele-related, but rest assured that I was holding my Eleuke electric ukulele when I actually touch the electric fence. So... it's legit.

This video series has more cursing than you've come to expect from my videos. But, don't worry, it also has more drinking and slurring. So, it balances out, right? Heh.

Related Items:

Oscar Schmidt OU6LCE Acoustic Electric Tenor Ukulele

Badaax Acoustic Electric Soprano Ukulele

Ok.  Now that we got that damned guinea pig quiet, I can actually play my new aNueNue banjo uke.  I picked this standard because I feel the Warner Bros. frog would appreciate it.  Now, I just have to remember which corner stone I buried him in so he doesn't bankrupt some poor bastard in the future.  Expect many more videos with this particular ukulele.  It is my new favorite.  When I finally get my novelty band off the ground, I plan to play this aNueNue for most of the songs. Something about it paired with a stomp box and possibly kazoo... I just know that's gonna sound bitchin'.

Related Items:

aNueNue aNN-U900Bear Ukulele

aNueNue aNN-L1L Lani I Koa - Soprano - Long Neck

So, during the same lunch hour in which I recorded my introductory video for the aNueNue concert banjo ukulele, I also needed to record a song.  During this particular take, my son's guinea pig had something to say.

I guess I could have moved to a different room, but I've never a recorded a video in here before and I wanted to showcase my son's sweet Star War sheets and pillows.  So, I just put a pillow over the guinea pigs face and everyone was happy for the second take (which I'll upload later today or maybe Monday).  Jokes!

Jimmy the guinea pig is just fine and dandy, don't worry.  Besides we could always replace him the a Zhu Zhu Pet, right?  Gross.

I guess he had a reason to be pissed at me.  I had clipped my Flip MinoHD to his cage using my gorillapod, afterall.  Honestly, though, I don't think he was scared.  I just think he thought the gorillapod was food and he was mad that he couldn't reach it.  You see, he's a real lard ass.

Anyway, the real take is coming soon, but until then, enjoy the guinea pig sabotage:

Related Items:

aNueNue aNN-BU2 Banjolele - Concert

Oscar Schmidt OU5 Concert Ukulele

Well, after my broken string problem yesterday (NOTE: you should probably triple knot your strings before you slip them through the tailpiece on these bad boys) I got this baby tuned up last night and then I ended up drinking wine, playing banjolele and singing too loud until about 1am.  That would have been fine and dandy but my wife is out of town and I have both the boys.  So, 7am came earlier than I remembered this morning.  But blurry-eyed and happy, I still managed to get food in them, make a lunch and get them to school and Grandma's house (respectively).

To celebrate, over lunch, I made some videos with my new favorite possession.  First off, I once again want to thank Rich of ABetterGuitarStore.com for the screaming deal on this banjo ukulele.  Also, I think the aNueNue folks had something to say about it, so huge thanks to them as well!  I would have gladly paid $500 for this ukulele!  If you want to get one for yourself, check out my newly added aNueNue section on the website.

Anyway, here's the video introduction:

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll make another video.  I've also recorded a video of me playing Five Foot Two with this baby (because it really seems to lend itself to standards like that).  After I post that video, I just remembered that I never posted the drunken escapade that became the escalating electric fence wager.  So, just wait for that.  It's barely ukulele-related at all, but it's pretty funny.  Happy weekend all!

Related Items:

aNueNue aNN-U900Rabbit Ukulele

aNueNue aNN-OK2 Oahu Koa II - Concert