Ukulele Guy

Andy Smetanka posted a link to a video today that I figured I could get away with re-posting here. For one, I just need to start posting again (stupid real life getting in the way of my blogging) and for another, I'm actually playing Ukulele in the music of this video.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Andy is a long-time friend and full-time Renaissance man.  I met him around 1997 or so when he was fronting Humpy, a great Missoula hardcore band.  If you've seen any Volumen videos, then you've seen his work before.  He made videos for Sexy Astronaut, Snakes and Lost in the Baltics.  Heck, he's even made videos for The Decemberists.  Heck, he even officiated my wedding, if you can believe that.

This particular video was made for Big Sky Brewing, a local Missoula Brewery.  However, the music that's featured in the video was recorded, I think, for another project.  I think he was making a Tolkien-inspired video for Le Force.  This music was supposed to be for the Hobbit's merry-making and whatnot, I think?  Anyway, besides me on the Ukulele, Al Pils is on the jawharp and I think Bryan Ramirez and a few other folks (Andy as well) are stomping, snapping, etc.  I'm actually a little surprised that there is no musical saw in this song because Andy is also the king of musical saw, if you can believe that.

Oh, hang on!  I just found a link for the Le Force video as well.  I'm probably stretching it by including this video here, but hay, it does have some ukulele in the beginning.   Besides, the video is freaking RAD!

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So, this morning I hopped on the ole computer feeling a little bit groggy (I'm not a morning person).  I headed over to twitter to see if I had missed anything, and I notice that @valcam1 has tweeted a Youtube link at me.  The morning is starting to look up.  So, I made my way over to Youtube to see a  Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain video that I've never seen before.  Huzzah!  Now, I don't know if I'm just slightly emotional today, or maybe slightly hungover, or what, but when they all come in together at the end, I definitely teared up a little bit.  Yeah, I'm a sap, I'll admit it.  Enjoy!

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I finally got a few free minutes during lunch to make a video showing off the

I think that the powers that be must have known I only had a few minutes, though because they kept effing with me.  I'd play the song perfectly and the cat would run by and mess it up.  Or, the shot was great and my brain turned off.  It seemed like it was something every time, so finally, I just decided that I was going to do one more and that was it.  Of course my freaking knee was covering the pocket uke the whole time though.  Doh!

Next time I'll be more careful to let you see the uke while I'm playing it.  Anyway, this song is one of my favorites to play (even if I can't always remember all the words) and my son Simon really loves it as well.  He usually sings the chorus with me if he's anywhere near while I play it.  So, that's pretty fun.  He and I have a Ramones cover band also, (we're called "Second Verse, Same as the First") so maybe I can convince him to make some videos with me of that action.

Anyway, if you have ever watched George Formby play this on Youtube then you'll notice that he uses different chords.  I learned it this way and I guess it just stuck so there's no undoing it now.

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So, while I'm still going to make a longer video showing off the adorable Kala Pocket Ukulele, I wanted to answer your biggest question first.  So, while I could have just told you that it's 16 inches long, it still might be hard to visualize that, right?  Well, hopefully that won't be an issue after this video.  If it is, I don't want to hear about it .

Video Notes:

• In case you were wondering, I rolled a natural 20 with that die.
• The Rubik's Cube I show you actually has 6 sides (it's a cube, after all) but each face is 4x4.  Sorry for any confusion about 4-sided cubes and whatnot.

Anyway, here is your size comparison video for the

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Ya know I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said "You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream."  To prove that the reverse of that is also true, I'm not going to say anymore.  Just let the goodness wash over you from this video.

P.S. Thanks to @Gmorks on Twitter for this one.

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Somebody was nice enough to send me a link to The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra's web site recently.  However, they sent it as a Twitter Direct Message so it's a miracle that I ever saw it.   Seriously folks, Twitter DM-land is just auto-responder-spammer hell.  I have to be pretty drunk to go there on purpose.  However, if you tweet @ukulele_guy, I'll pretty much always respond.

Anyway, I was check out the WIUO site and it looks pretty classy and professional.  Heck, they've got T-shirts!  Even kid's sizes, I think?  Awesome.  I always get pangs of jealousy when I see all these towns with their own Ukulele Orchestras, but I suppose I should just get off my ass and make the Missoula Montana International (because Canada is so close) Ukulele Orchestra.  Maybe one day it will happen.

Well, my jealousy was compounded after I watched this video.  I mean, they do The Coral covers?  I freaking love The Coral!  Any band that makes a video inspired by the 1973 version of Wicker Man is tops in my book.  Anyway, enjoy The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra doing The Choral's "Dreaming of You".  The claim the video was made in 11 minutes with a budget of $5.98.  But, for my $.02, I'd gladly watch this over and over again.

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So, as you might have noticed this morning, if you follow me on Twitter that is, I discovered a rad little solid body electric ukulele.  Or, that is to say, I discovered a whole bunch of them made by EleukeUSA.  Frankly, I was a little embarrassed that I hadn't discovered them much earlier.  Especially considering that they sell them on Amazon and, again, if you follow me on Twitter you will know that I'm obsessed with tweeting random Amazon ukulele-related items.  (Ukulele Salad Tongs anyone?)

Anyway, I've talked with the good folks at EleukeUSA and they are going to send me one to test drive!  I think I'm getting the K-Series Blue Ukulele.  Here's a picture of this little beauty:

Eleuke Solid Body Electric Ukulele Concert MP3 - Blue CCK100BL-MP3

They have quite a few styles available, though, check out all of Eleuke's Solid Body Electric Ukuleles on Amazon. Another one that really dig the look of, is the Eleuke Mahogany Electric Uke.  It looks like something that Les Claypool would play (that is, if he played  Ukulele).  Here's a picture:

Eleuke MP3 Solid Magogany Concert Solid Body Electric Ukulele

I know what you are thinking, though?  What does a $200-250 electric  ukulele sound like?  Well, here's an answer, in video form.  This is Pedro da Silva pretty much melting faces with an Eleuke (Mahogany, I think?).

When I get my hands on my Blue K-Series, I'll definitely make some videos for everyone to check out. Don't expect such proficient wizardry as Pedro, though. But, I think I will test drive it through my Fender SuperAmp and all of the effects pedals I use when I play guitar in my Heavy New Wave band. So, that'll be fun! It will surely be my loudest video to date, anyway.

Anyway, expect more posts about Eleuke in the coming days.  I'm pretty intrigued by the MP3 input on the Uke.  I'm trying to think of weird ways in which to make use of that.  So, hopefully I'll have it figured out by the time I test drive it.

Here's more information for those who are interested.

EleukeUSA Website: http://www.eleukeusa.com
EleukeUSA Twitter: http://twitter.com/eleuke
EleukeUSA Facebook: http://facebook.com/eleuke

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Peter from Easy Music Center, in Hawaii, just sent me an e-mail with a link to a video showing off the Seeing how small it actually is in the video is a little bit mind-blowing.  Especially when you see it next to the Soprano (which completely dwarfs it).  The guy who is playing the pocket ukulele looks like he is struggling a little bit, but I suppose that makes sense. It's probably a bit of an adjustment to get your hands used to that tiny thing [insert your own joke here].  But, at the end of the video, the poket uke player really starts kicking out the jams.  Anyway, enough of my yakking.  Check it out for yourself.

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So, yeah.. it's been over a week since I've done an update. The holidays makes me lazy, I'll be the first to admit it. It's all the food and bourbon making my brain slow. But, today I saw a great video that I wanted to tell y'all about. I know almost nothing about Sophie Madeleine and I'm not sure exactly how I found this video, but I am glad I did.

This is a live performance from The Crypt Sessions (something I knew nothing about until today).  The song is called "The Stars" and I believe it's from an album titled "Love.Life.Ukulele".  Can't argue with that title either.  I really dig the classic Casio-style drum beat underneath and the really simple and open arrangement.   I'm also pretty envious of her gorgeous Pono Ukulele!  I think I'll go back for my 4th listen today.  Happy Holidays everyone!

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So, unless you've been avoiding twitter for the last few weeks, then you've definitely seen at least one video of this little guy. Perez Hilton tweeted about him and suddenly the whole world went apeshit. I think the video that Perez mentioned (I'll be honest here, I don't even know who Perez Hilton is) was the following cover of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours".

This kid is literally made of charm and cute. Heck, he's like a supernova of cute. Also, considering that he was about 4-5 years old at the time these videos were made, his ukulele skills are incredible! Heck. Even if he was 45 years old, he's still got some mad skills. He hardly ever looks at his hands, it seems like the ukulele is a natural extension of him. So far, I think my favorite video is Ma-i-na-ku-ma-na. Check it out!

As the father of two precocious boys, I thought I'd seen every kind of hamminess that little boys could do. Was I ever wrong! This kid is always on! My favorite is when he "accidentally" slaps his head as the result of a wild strum. Then he repeats the move a few times to squeeze all the laughs possible out of it. Brilliant!

I searched around and I couldn't find much information about this little fella. The youtube videos were posted as uke3453 and there is a little information at the profile for that account:

He is 5 years old now.
He speaks Japanese.

He and I started playing ukulele only one year ago.
We first learned the uke by watching a TV program(NHK).
The program lasted three months.

Camera : Panasonic GF1

※Our English isn't very good so I'm sorry if the grammar is wrong.

Thank you for all the kind messages and comments!

Hmm.. so, he's 5 years old and he's only been playing uke for a year?  And.. he learned by watching TV?!  Child Prodigy anyone?  If you still don't believe it, check out his version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps:

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