MidWest Uke Radio

Geoff Davis, Ukulelekapellmeister of The Key Strummers has launched an internet ukulele radio station on Live365.com. I'm digging Shorty Long as I post this... Link

Ford's Hawaiians: Jumpstarted!

Noah Pollaczek from the UCSB Cylinder Project (see posts below) writes:

"I noticed your recent blog post and, as audio technician responsible for digitizing all the recordings for the UCSB cylinder project, I went digging in the archives for the Ford Hawaiian cylinders. I transferred and cleaned them today, so they should now all be online for streaming or download- five of them if you do an author search for "Ford hawaiians".

Thanks for your interest in the project, and let me know if there are any other Hawaiian cylinders that you'd like to hear. (I'm currently on "Cylinder 5200 something", which is why these Hawaiian recordings in the Cylinder 5400 and 5500 call number area had yet to be transferred, so if there are other mid-five thousand call numbers you are interested in, I'd be happy to transfer those as well.) I also love these Hawaiian cylinders, and while the sound quality is a little variable- most of the 3000 series of the Edison Blue Amberols were directly dubbed from "Edison Diamond Discs", sometimes quite poorly- the song "Kaena" by Henry Kailimai I found particularly stunning.

Enjoy."

Indeed! Aren't the Internets wonderful? Link (Thanks, Noah!)

Jake on Conan O'Brien

Program your TiVos: Jake Shimabukuro will be the musical guest on O'Brien's show on December 13, 2005. According to this article in the Star Bulletin, Jake's most recent album, "Dragon," was No. 5 on the Billboard world music chart last week. Link

Henry Kailimai and Ford's Hawaiians

We received a nice note from Catherine U'ilani Blankenship, Henry Kailimai's great granddaughter, in response to today's earlier post about Edison recordings (below):

"Mahalo for the information! And mahalo for extending the message of my great grandfather's life's work!

In June of 2004 a radio station in New York produced a show called "Thomas Edison's Attic" during which they played many of the cylinder and disc recordings Edison produced at his West Orange New Jersey Lab. My great grandfather, Henry Kailimai, and his group are on the playlist performing "Wiliwili Wai." They are about 12 minutes into the show."

Here's a link to the show: Link (Thanks, Catherine!)

Calaveras Ukulele Club Celebrated

News from the Great Central Valley of California today about the Calaveras Ukulele Club. Aloha, Angels Camp! Link

Digital Archive of Cylinder Recordings

Wonderful news for vintage music buffs and scholars. A post on Ukulelia's mother site, Boing Boing, points to a new online digital archive of Edison Cylinder Recordings at UC Santa Barbara. Try searching on "ukulele" or "Hawaii". I turned up several recordings by the Ford Hawai'ian Quintet, a group with an interesting history, and important place in ukulele history. The band was led by Henry Kailimai, and and was first heard by Henry Ford at the Pan Pacific Exposition in 1915. Ford offered Kailimai a job and moved the band to Detroit (!?).

"While in the employment of Ford, Henry Kailimai was the manager of what became known as the Ford Hawai'ian Quintet. This group of musicians would perform regularly at company functions and were booked for private parties as well.

In 1916, the group traveled to Orange, New Jersey where they played for employees of the Thomas A. Edison company. According to a letter sent to Ford's secretary by an Edison employee, the Quintet met and made a hit with Mr. and Mrs. Edison. The group eventually played at the marriage of Edison's daughter, and went on to the Edison Recording Studio in New York where they made several records.

During all this time, Ford's only stipulation was that the Ford Hawai'ian Quintet confine themselves to Hawai'ian music as they had done in the Hawai'i Building during the Exposition."

Why else should you know about Kailimai? He's the composer of the early hapa haole blockbuster, "On the Beach at Waikiki"! Sadly, it seems that the Ford Quintet recordings have not yet been posted to the web. But there's lots of great stuff nonetheless. Here's a 1916 recording of Billy Murray singing "When Old Bill Bailey Plays the Ukalele". Enjoy!

Finger-pluckin' Good

Nice article about PUA, the Portland (OR) Ukulele Association yesterday in the Portland Tribune. Link

PSA: Ukes and Babies

A reminder from Pineapple Pete about why one must never, never give a Martin to an infant. Link Or, perhaps, you might...Another Link

The Amazing Midwest Ukefest 2005

Lynn Hershberger, aka 1/2 of the Fabulous Heftones, has posted her pix from this year's Midwest Uke Fest. Looks like it was a stellar event! One year I'll make it! Link

Dodge's Sundodgers

I went to a dinner at the Oakland Scottish Rite last night, and who to my wondering ears should be providing the dinner music? Noneother than sometime Cheap Suit Serenader, Al Dodge, and Dodge's Sundodgers! Wonderful music in an amazing venue. Link

Brittni Paiva in Concert at DaSilva Uke Co.

Next Wednesday, November 9th, Brittni Paiva will be in concert at the DaSilva Ukulele Company in Berkeley, CA.:

Brittni Paiva is quickly establishing herself throughout the islands
as Hawaii’s musical child prodigy. Affectionately referred to as
the ukulele darling and slack key super girl for her
masterful command of the instruments, at the ripe age of 16, this
youngster is holding her own with the best of them. On June 3rd, the
sweet humble teen walked away with the 2005 Na Hoku Hanohano Music Award for Most Promising Artist of the Year for her debut
recording, Brittni X 3.

It's her first Bay Area performance. Aloha, Brittni! Concert information at this link.

Btw, Mike DaSilva dropped me an email to let me know about his event. We're happy to help announce events and performances of interest to the ukulele community. Hello!

National Concert "Surf" Uke

Unleash your inner Dick Dale! Or mix yourself a mai tai and relax pooside with this 2-tone turquoise & white concert resonator uke with a to-die-for duco crystalline finish. I myself am unworthy of this blue steel beauty. Are you? Link

Haul Out the Holly!

Every year I promise myself that I'll memorize a bunch of Christmas songs, and then whoops! it's New Year's.

So this year, dear readers, we'll post our annual list o' links to online Christmas music early. I'm in the process of aggregating an updated list of links. In the meantime, here's a link to a page with last year's list. If you've stumbled across any that you don't see, please email me and I'll update the list. Mahalo! Link