SoCal Trad Music Festival
The California Traditional Music Society will hold its 21st Annual Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival on June 20-22, 2003 in Calabasas, CA. This year the theme is Hawaii, with a focus on ukulele performances and workshops. And check out the cool festival logo designed by Mindy Lee. Sort of Franz Marc-meets-Piet Mondrian-meets-Tiki King! Link Discuss

Ukulele Patent Museum
Ukulele virtuoso and historian John King's site has an entire page of ukulele patents. Everything from the ridiculous (uke destroying capos) to the sublime (Sam Kamaka's Pineapple). Link Discuss

Stars and Stripes Uke
Michigan luthier David Talsma crafted this lovely flag-draped soprano. A little eye candy for you, just in time for Memorial Day. Link Discuss

Enthusiast Alan Johnson has created this little site that seems to be growing nicely. I learned about it several weeks ago, but waited to blog it until there was enough information to make a visit worthwhile. Check out the Music Room where you'll find a couple dozen downloadable pdfs of ukulele arrangements. The Parlor Room contains a discussion board. Link Discuss

Meet Marzipan!
I'm probably the last person on the planet, but I've just discovered Homestarrunner.com, a hilarious cartoon site. One of the characters is Marzipan, a ukulele-playing lass. Here's a link to a video called "The Luau" Great fun! Discuss

Professor Joel Eckhaus shared the bill with Yoko Ono at Maine College of Art's recent commencement ceremony. That woulda been something to see. Well, that, and the chairman of the board of trustees singing an a capella rendition of Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up." Sounds like a cool school! Anyone's mom and dad take a video?
Link Discuss

A New Ian Whitcomb Songbook!
Ian announcez: "The Cat's Meow", my long-awaited third ukulele songbook/CD which contains songs from the movies, 'The Cat's Meow' [directed by Peter Bogdonavich and starring Edward Herrmann and Kirsten Dunst] and 'Last Call' plus lots of other Roaring Twenties favorites (and obscurities). To launch this book we're having a concert at The Coffee Gallery's Backstage venue right here in Altadena." Ian's books are great, so I'm looking forward to this one! The event is Saturday, May 24 at 8pm. Cost: $15 (cheap). Address and reservation information here. (I've listed the table of contents in the Discussion link.) Discuss

Ukuleles in Wonderland?
Recently, one of the fine folks over at the Flea Market Music Bulletin Board happened across this photograph taken in 1860 by C.L.Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll. It shows Ina Liddell (sister of Alice, who inspired Alice in Wonderland) playing a decidely uke-like instrument. Taken in Victorian England years before the ukulele's "birth" in Hawaii, the photo sparked a lively debate about the identity of the instrument (a machete, mayhaps?) that quickly evolved into a discourse on semantics (semantics?). To read the discussion at Flea Market, use the Bulletin Board search function to look up "Lewis Carroll". The photo in question can be found here. Another of lesser quality of all three Liddell Sisters can be found here. Discuss

Check out this hawaiian glossary and you'll know your way around the 'ukulele from ka puka to ke kaula o luna loa. Link Discuss

To support their swell "Ukeblitz" educational outreach program, the Key Strummers have published a companion songbook to their CD, "Are You Havin' Any Fun?" The songs in the book are in the same order and key as the CD so you can play along. Plus some surprise bonus songs! The songbooks are available for a $7.00 donation + $2.00 shipping. Contact Key Strummer director
Geoff Davis for details; info on the CD is posted on their web site. Link Discuss

See if you can guess who this young uker is, then click through to Catfish Carl's Ukulele Freakshow to see if you're right. Lots more inside the tent...This way, folks! Link Discuss

Frank Ford, luthier extraordinaire and publisher of frets.com has posted a gallery of photos of Kamaka's "Ohta-San" model 14-fret concert ukulele. These are sweet ukuleles and have a great tone, but I still don't have the hang of playing with a low G-string. (Okay, commedians, I've set you up with the perfect straight line. I expect some good retorts in QuickTopic.) Link Discuss

Anyone out there an aspiring "Ukulele Reinhardt" or "Django Ike"? Here's your new axe! An acoustic archtop jazz tenor ukulele made by German luthier Stefan Sonntag. Link Discuss

Interesting photo from an article in yesterday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin about Korean War photographer Al Chang. One of his photos shows Sgt. 1st Class David Kauanui relaxing with buddies from the 25th Infantry during the Korean War. How's this for an MRE: canned poi and dried squid? Washed down with the dulcet tones of Sgt. Kauanui's ukulele. So ono! Link Discuss

Attention all you Lone Star ukers. Don't miss the 2nd Annual Ukulele Festival, April 24th in the Ukulele Capital of Texas, San Antonio. Link Discuss