Ukulele Videos – Page 9

Original Video: Trailer Park Moms

I wanted to keep my momentum going, so I recorded this little video today. Before I get into the song, I wanted to bring something up. See, I guess when it comes to music and art, I'm sort of a Marxist. By that I mean, if you are telling someone they can't appreciate art correctly unless they know Art History then you are basically saying, "You can't appreciate art because you are poor and didn't go to college". That's lame. By the same token, sure if all you can afford is a $20 ukulele, then that shouldn't mean you can't make art with it!

Now, let me get off of my soapbox because I'm pretty sure I just called my song "art". Heh. It isn't. It is, however, a goofy novelty song and that's plenty good enough for me. I wrote this song for a project with my brothers Colin and Bryan and we were going to call it "Those Damned Hickey Brothers". But we never practice, so I'm not sure if we're really a band or not. You know how sometimes you get drunk with your friends and talk about ridiculous things like road trips to Mexico that you are never going to take? Well, I guess our band is like that.

I'm playing my wife's purple Mahalo ukulele in this video. I bought it for her because I was already buying two Mahalos for my little boys and she expressed an interest. For $20, it's pretty much the best Ukulele you can get, if you ask me. This is especially true if you are buying a ukulele for a younger kid. Sure, in a perfect world you'd buy Jr. a Kala, Ohana, Pono or other bitchin' ukulele. But, let's be honest, they are going to break it in like 6 weeks... tops.

So, get them a Mahalo because it's inexpensive and totally playable.

Now... on to the song and possible offensiveness.

Roland Micro Cube Ween Insanity

So, I'm actually cruising down the road at 70mph right now (thank god my wife is doing the driving) but I really wanted to do a post because it's been for-freaking-ever. Somehow, real life (especially work) got insanely busy. So, here I am in the car and I don't quite have enough room to actually play the ukulele and record myself so I need to use something I've already recorded. After a quick search I came across this crazy-ass video footage of a bachelor party I was at last week.

I'll set the stage for you here. Imagine, if you will, roughly a dozen dudes decked out in their finest Bavarian attire (think Oktoberfest). The groom-to-be has already been tied up in the middle of the farmer's market and pelted by water balloons (that were sold to passersby). Then there were at least three stop-offs at various breweries for refueling. By the time we got to our campsite there was just enough time to shoot about 3 bags of potatoes, through one of the 4 potato canons onsite, and then enjoy the campfire.

I had my Lanikai CK-TEQ Ukulele, Doug played guitar, Bryan (my brother) had his acoustic bass, I think there were some makeshift drums and Greg had a squeeze box. So, we were pretty set for merriment. Well, at least, we thought we were.

Then Greg whipped out his Roland Micro Cube amp and we realized what was missing. Loudness and total effects insanity, that's what. Ahhh yeah! There's just something a little surreal (and totally fucking awesome) about playing through a loud amp with tons of sick effects in the middle of the forest. It was like if there were such a thing as bad hobbits. You know, using their magic and whatnot to make bourbon from corn and make their music creepy and slightly evil.

After dicking around with the various effects, we launched into an impromptu version of Captain Fantasy by Ween. Here's the video:

I didn't know anything about these Micro Cube amp before, but I'm totally getting one. They're like $129 and you can power them with freaking batteries! The night in question is a little bit foggy (*cough* Bourbon *cough*) but I remember there were quite a few built-in effects. Delay, Chorus, Tremalo, Phaser and more, I believe.

Looks like they actually come in Red and White as well, if you'd prefer that over the normal black. Here's a picture:

New Aquila Strings (before and after)

Two weeks ago I was running pretty much ragged with work and family visiting, etc. I pretty much didn't know which direction I was headed. But, sometime during the two weeks window of insanity, I had the clarity of mind to order some new Aquila Ukulele Strings and then pack them into my ukulele case (for my Lanikai CK-TEQ). Then I surprised myself even further by remembering to pack my Ukulele and my flipVideo when I had to leave town for a week-long job. Long story short? I had new strings and the means to make a before and after video in my lonely hotel room. Boo-yah!

Hopefully you can tell a difference from that video, but I think it's definitely more clear during the single note stuff. On the Aquila Strings it's just so much more percussive and it really rings out. I'm totally loving these strings!

I mention Musicguymic in this video. He's a big eBay seller and I would consider him a great resource for any ukulele-related purchase. Hell, he's got almost 600 ukulele-related items up for auction right now. I'll include a few sample items at the bottom of this post, or you can check out Musicguymic's eBay Store.

I was going to make a video showing everyone how to string their Ukulele, but I'm not a big fan of re-inventing the wheel and Aldrine from UkuleleUnderground.com already made this great video:

So, if you need to re-string your uke (and if it's been so long since you've done it that you can't remember, then it's time), I would highly recommend Aquila strings!

Video: The “Screw You” song, from Scrubs

So, first off, sorry I've been gone for so long (assuming you noticed). My work schedule has ramped up into insanity mode. But, no excuses. Anyway, I'm not sure how I found this video because I haven't watched Scrubs in several years and even then I barely watched it to begin with. I think it aired right before or after something I did want to watch but I have no idea what that even was anymore. I don't even have cable these days, so it's hard to remember what life used to be like when I had to watch commercials and shows I really didn't give a rat's ass about just to watch the ones I did.

Anyway, apparently there's something to be said for watching shows accidentally because if I was still sitting through Scrubs I would have seen this super charming video. I think I remember the bald guy as the defeated hospital lawyer, but I don't recall the girl character at all. Maybe she was later or something. Anyway, watch the video and then you can learn more about her.

See. Wasn't that rad? Anyway, using my super sleuth skills, I was able to determine that cute ukulele-playing girl's identity. She is Kate "Oates" Micucci. Oates, you say? Yup, more on that later. But, first, you probably want to know how to play that song right? Yeah, me too. So I started transcribing it and then I had the brilliant thought to search first and see if anyone else has already cracked that egg. Well, of course, Woodshed over at UkuleleHunt.com has done it already. If you wanna see why I have a real man-crush on him, check out his post where he has the tabs for the Scrubs Screw You song.

Anyway, back to this "Oates" business. Yeah, so apparently Kate is in some sort of non-New Zealand folk/parody comedy duo with Riki "Garfunkel" Lindhome. You know, like Flight of the Conchords only the American lady version. Yup, they call themselves Garfunkel and Oates and I might have as much of a crush on them as I do Jemaine of the Conchords.

So, apparently the Screw You song is one of theirs, only their version is called "Fuck You" and it has a kazoo. Can't go wrong with a kazoo and extra swearing, I always say. See, take a peak.

Yup. Adorable, right? Anyway, I expect I'll be posting more Garfunkel and Oates in the coming days, assuming my work load lets up.

Video: “F you, I’m a Ukulele” by Fully Sick Rapper

Holy crap. It's almost been a month since I've posted something. How freaking embarassing. In my defense, we had family in town for a week and we built a shed, compost pile and a mess of raised garden beds. Also.... I'm lazy. But, I made myself hop on Twitter today and try and get caught up with "the gang". Minutes later, I know exactly what I'm going to post, thanks to @AnIdleDad (check out his blog at cookingwithtoomuchsalt.wordpress.com).

He sent me a link to a Ukulele Rap Novelty video by Fully Sick Rapper. I hadn't heard of this guy before, but I'm a sucker for rapping ukulele novelty acts (*cough* Mr. B, The Gentleman Rhymer *cough*). Also, I'm not sure that I've mentioned this before, but I was actually in a White Trash-themed rap band somewhere around '98. We were called PWT and we had songs about Convoy, BBQ, attractive cousins and the like.

Anyway, back to Fully Sick Rapper. The video rules and was, apparently, made from his hospital room. Unless this is a gag (and I don't believe it to be) he was diagnosed with TB and was in quarantine when he made the video. If you wanna learn more, you can follow him at @FullySickRapper on Twitter, or on FaceBook. His Youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristiaanVanVuuren.

So, without further ado, I give you "F you, I'm a Ukulele". Hooray!