Aaron Kuehn - Ukulele Typogram

Artist Aaron Kuehn has created a clever typogram: an illustration of a ukulele almost entirely out of type. Sez Aaron:

"A tiny mas­ter­piece of typo­lutherie, the UKULELE TYPOGRAM tunes and con­di­tions your ‘uke-abulary, and upgrades the orthog­ra­phy of chord shapes for aspir­ing vir­tu­osi. A muse for the re-entranted."

.pdf files of the art are available for $5. Check it out.

Link

Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.

Stien Bovijn

Meet the mysterious Stien Bovijn, Belgian beatboxer and ukulele chanteuse. We haven't found much about her, but she has a lovely voice. Her tracks "17" and "Slow Down" are real standouts. Listen here.

Photo credit: Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove

Magic Fluke Ukuleles and Violins

Finally! The Magic Fluke Company, makers of the terrific Fluke, Flea, and Firefly ukes now has a website. They're making violins now, too. Say Hi to Phyllis and Dale Webb.

Link

S'Wonderful, Mr. Godfrey

Having a stressful week. This helped. Hope it does for you, too.

Rhymes With "Darling" Ukers

Check out this charming shot by Spidra Webster from the recent Cheap Suit Serenaders show at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. Link

Do these kids remind you of Jeremy and Jemima from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? They do me.

This impressive duet must have certainly been a tough act to follow. That's Ukulelia Perfesser Emirates Robert Armstrong on the musical bedpan behind them.

I checked with the kids' mom, who tells me that video of their performance was shot, but didn't make the grade. As a consolation, imagine they're every bit as good as Joel Eckhaus and (pastor) Rachel Manke. (I'm certain they were.)

The Jamie Oliver of Music Education?

Richmond, VA based music educator Samson Trinh hopes to become the Jamie Oliver of music education. And the uke's his stock pot.

Check out this nice profile of Samson and his Uke'N'Roll program in today's USA Today.

And learn more about Samson's programs on his website.

Happy cooking, Samson!

The Booming Business of Ukuleles

The (ahem) idiot-proof ukulele is being credited with boosting small, independent music stores across the country. Read all about it in this CNN Money report, which also features a nice video interview of uke maker Mike DaSilva. Link

Greatest Ukulele Gift of the Year

I'm not sure if the link below will work for you, as I'm not sure what the FB permissions setting is, but I'll repeat the story.

Earlier in 2013, Alan "Ukisociety" Brandt sold his custom Tom Guy maple tenor (the one he's playing in the above video) to raise money to adopt a child. The ukulele changed hands several times during the year until the last buyer, Edwin Gilkison, noticed Alan's name inside and, after finding out why Alan sold it, gave it back to him.

Hats off to Mr. Gilkison, Official Ukulelia Hero of 2013. What a loving gesture.

Link