Good for what ails ya

Boredrum. It happens. It happens in any relationship & there's no shame in it happening to us & ukuleles. It doesn't mean we don't still love em- there's no need for new comers to ::gasp ZOMG:: about it. There's no reason to lie about it. We should say it loud, say it proud- "I'm getting bored!!"- cause that's when other people can jump in with suggestions & help renew interest.

My recommendation for today is: change tunings. So fun. I dropped my fluke down a half step & I played every song I knew. Then I dropped it another half step & did it again. Some songs sounded fantastic- better in my opinion. Others... sucked. All were fun. It's a bit of a challenge to sing tunes you've gone through a million times in a different key- finding all the right notes. Before I knew it- I'd been playing for a couple hours.

Now I have a burning desire to do this to all the ukuleles I own & see what sounds good how... or something ;p

Grumpfest, now with 100% more Hobbit!

So if any of you remember, half of UCB had a little gathering up in Seattle this past January. Booze and Grump kept making fun of me for running the video camera all the time like a stereotypical Japanese tourist (Jokes on them, I'm not Japanese, I'm 80/20 Columbian and Persian). Anyhow, I've been sitting on all this random footage plus the only actual performance footage we got while we were hanging out with Howlin' Hobbit. So here is "Girl from Ipanema" performed by Howlin' Hobbit, Boozelele and Grumpy on lead lute cut with random footage from that weekend.



Notable moments:
0. "Taint song" jam on the bleachers (old footage from previous Portland trip)
1. Visiting the Fremont Troll
2. Buying fried things at Ivar's on the waterfront
3. Pike Place Market and street musicians
4. Some tool in a Subaru
5. Shopping for beer with Howlin' Hobbit
6. Cheez-its
7. Booze cutting the 3rd or 4th pizza of the night
8. Jazzzz handzzz
9. Booze forcing us to "walk" on the Burke-Gilman trail
10. Two clowns film each other for ultimate act of geekdom
11. Grumpy stares at bubbling swamp water
12. Getting hype by the edge of the lake
13. Giant bird's nest
14. Outtake from Spanish Harlem video
15. Malt liquor

Mandalyn May - "Come Again"... wow.

I can't stop watching this. Great playing - wonderful voice. Just perfect.

Deach's dog?

Methinks the dog heard "I'm Yours" once too often.

Am I late for the interwebz?

So the other night I was trying to visit Hulu- slightly drunkish- mistyped by one letter- a K instead of L aaaaand: Holy Freaking Crap My Head Exploded (Need volume on) Totally SFW, SFK- just.... I... I can't explain it. There is an ending. I know. I know because I waited. (To be honest with you, in my state at the time- I found it freaking hysterical).

I also almost forgot to show everyone this completely awesomeness squared video I came across a couple months ago, and I thought it would balance out the other thing I showed you, whilst also included ukuleles :)

The "Best"

Ok... Pet Peeve Wednesday.

We’ve been over this theme in general, but this specific version makes me nuts. When posting publicly on forums and such why is it some people insist on asking for advice on the “best” whatever it is without any context?

For example:

“What’s the best amp I can get for $x?” or “What‘s the best uke for a beginner?” Or my favorite “best stringz??” with no qualifier of any kind.

Although I know our readers understand it – I’m compelled to reinforce… “Best” is totally subjective and largely meaningless without a great deal of limiting parameters. There is no such thing as the “best uke for a beginner”, or expert for that matter.

If you find yourself typing the word “best”, try this instead:
Tell people what you want to do (I need it to be able to blaablaablaa…), tell them what you like (I prefer amps that blaaablaablaa) tell them what you DON’T like (I hate plain looking ukes that blaablaablaa) and then ask what type of X may fit well. That’s context. That’s asking for help with some hope of actually getting advice you can use. That’s actual communication between humans.

Asking for the “best” without specific context of any kind is the equivalent of a football coach trying to tell his team how to win the game by standing on the sidelines an yelling “SCORE SCORE SCORE”. It doesn’t help anyone and it's very unlikley to get you what you want.

UWC IS COMING!

As UWC 2010 draws near it is interesting to see just how popular this thing is becoming. I blogged about the dangers of events becoming too popular back in July, right after the 2009 UWC, and looking back now I think I underestimated just how big this thing would be. Regardless it was still a damned fine blog. Aside from the popularity though, I hope I was wrong about potential problems said popularity might bring...but in case it all goes to hell I want to be able to say "I told you so", so here is that blog...

(but just to hedge my bet, I could be completely wrong...I often am)

Damned Ukulele Playing Hippies



I was lying in bed last night thinking... (as I tend to do when I should be sleeping) and my mind wandered back to the Ukulele World Congress. I don't think anyone who attended could possibly have anything but great memories from that weekend. The location the atmosphere and the hosts were absolutely perfect. As I was laying there thinking about how great it was I couldn't help but begin to worry about how its awesomeness could eventually be its undoing.

I have heard many folks who were not at The Congress talking about attending next year. In fact it seems there are many more non-attendees getting excited about next year's event than there were people who actually attended. And in my opinion, popularity can be a double-edged sword...

...READ THE REST, IT GETS BETTER

Negative Nancy...

I was in a shitty mood all week. This didn't help, but it did render me speechless for a while. I still can't feel my tounge.

Uking the Vows

Groom plays his uke for his bride during vows. In other news, prom dresses can now double as wedding dresses.

Uke + Mando + Vag = Pure Magic

Okay, so this is usually Alan's thing but I thought I'd share a Youtube video that I found particularly entertaining.



Yes, they're a novelty act, but if you watch and listen they're really good.  The song is clever and they both sing and play their instruments very well.  Coyote will especially like this because the chick with the vag on her head is rocking a mandolute. I guess it is possible to perform at an open mic without uttering the words "Hey There Delilah" or "I'm Yours".  I hope to see more from these two, music-wise.  Although this isn't their channel, so I'll just have to keep my eye out for any uke performers with pink headgear.

Song for Today

She would like some subscribers.

Great way to build up your immune system

Hate, in all its wonder and glory, has often been a topic or general mood here on some of these UCB blog posts.  I was reading the paper the other day (go ahead and take a guess where I was reading it) and this short article caught my attention.  It was regarding a homeless man in Berkeley called "The Hate Man".  If you climb to the top of the mountain to look for the wise man with the answers, this might just be him.

article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/11/BA831COQP3.DTL

If you want real hate, check out the comments on that article.  Yikes!

Nuts in your mouth, not in your hand

I was just in the kitchen enjoying a bag of pistachios.  I say "enjoy" because I truly enjoy the whole process:  dumping a pile of salty pistachios on a sheet of paper, shelling them one at a time and popping them in my mouth, coming across the occasional nut that isn't fully opened so i try cracking it with my molars sending shards of pistachio shell all up in my gums, folding that sheet of paper in half and carefully walking it over to the garbage can to dispose of the shells, slipping on a banana peel and cartoonishly falling feet up in the air while tossing all the shells airborne until you land flat on your back with a hard thud and the shells fall in your face with a few landing in your mouth and then you spit them out while saying some amusing catchphrase like "Aww, nut again!".  You know, the whole shebang.

Well I was halfway through the bag when I bit into one of the nuts and cringed at the bitter taste and unusual texture.   What did I just bite into? a bug? a bug turd? did the nut shart itself? is that even possible?  It only took a couple of seconds to realize that I didn't really want to know what it was I bit into.  I just had to keep eating more nuts to get that taste out.

What would you do in that situation?  Do you stop eating or keep going?  Do nuts shart?

By the way, I played ukulele today.  It was delightful.

It's Pronounced Oooookooooolaylay.

I haven't bitched, I mean "blogged" in a while, so I've been holding a lot inside. But "DearOldNutjob" made a comment on Russell's last blog which brought up something that's been bugging me for a long time. That is the "....it's pronounced ____" thing. As in her name is Sade but "it's pronounced" Sharrday. Or his name is Favre, but it's pronounced Farv. WTF? Here is a good one...Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski....Mike What? Well duh, its pronounced Sha-chef-ski. Well I'm not playing that game anymore. To me, Sade will always rhyme with "made."


BTW....My name is Kevin, but it's pronounced "Bite me".

Son of Guitarra

Judging by the age of my Youtube channel, I've been fussing around with the ukulele for a little over two years now. Not really fussing though, but it's been my primary means of making noise for that period of time.  I would pick up my guitar now and then but soon be right back to the four stringed bugger that is the uke.

Over the weekend, I decided to sit down and play as many songs as I could on my dreadnought guitar.  One thing I'm happy to report is that playing uke hasn't confused any muscle memory I had from playing guitar for the ten years before I got a uke.  The chord shapes still came out the way they were supposed to without mistaking a D for a G. Playing the two instruments back and forth wasn't much of a problem but I'll freely admit, I was completely sober at the time.  I'll have to try this test again when I'm three shits to the wind.  That is the term right?  Three shits?  No?  Well to hell with you then!

One thing that was a little funky was that I found myself doing ukulele type strums on the guitar and it certainly didn't sound or feel right.  Wasn't "Chunk" the name of that fat kid on Goonies?  I can't think of the last time I had a Baby Ruth, or a Mars bar for that matter.  Do they still make those?  Oh yeah, this kid in my elementary school used to sell individual Pixie Stix in the schoolyard like it was crack.  And lets admit it,  that's basically what it was.  I used to chew on a whole lot of sourgrass and that was free.  After I realized how many dogs probably peed on it, I reduced the amount from "a whole lot" to just "a lot".

LOST is on at the same time as both American Idol and Glee tonight.  Life ain't fair.

Wait, I'm not on twitter right now am I?