...if you're in Hong Kong...

..go get a tattoo at Star Crossed Tattoo. Julia Seizure, the artist there, says this:
"so here ya go, the huge hipped "ukulady". p.s i am now the proud owner of a pink flying V ukulele. it's so awesome! if ya dont believe me, swing by the studio, it's displayed proudly, and if ur unlucky enough, you might walk in on me attemting to practice playing! "

Go get it.

Absolutely the best book for beginners

Steven Sproat, that wonderful British ukulele player, has just had published the second book of ukulele playing for beginners.

Absolute Beginners Ukulele Book 2 is now available from Music sales Ltd.

£8.99 ($17.90) with CD.

It has several right hand techniques (Formby style etc) inc split stroke /fan stroke/flamenco/ Thumb roll/ Hawaiian strum/more fingerpicking.

It covers a lot of material done at his recent workshop.

Digital Duet

This is a cover of an Arthur Hamilton song from 1953: "Cry Me A River".

It's a duet with Pia Tedesco from Madrid, (and me, Craig, here in Ukuleletown). We have never met, but that doesn't mean we can't sing together...

Welcome to the new world.

Cry Me A River

Pia's Myspace

Uke's Just What He Needed

Here's a nice piece on Greg Hawkes. The article even mentions some Noir Somethingorother. And check out that sweet pineapple Talsma uke he's playing. Link

Sazerac's Super Sheet Music Competition

Attention designers:

"Sazerac the Clown, Ukulelist Ordinaire and Exterminator of Gloom and Remorse, announces his first ever Sheet Music Design Competition! ... The winner for each song will receive 5 copies of the printed sheet music, a copy of the CD "Without No Pants On: The Genial Orleanians Delineate the Complete Works Of Sazerac the Clown" (scheduled for summer release) and, this being a tough economy, a double-sawbuck."

Link

Party Like It's 1908!

This Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 6:00pm & 8:30pm, Bill Tapia will be in concert to celebrate (sever weeks late) his 101st birthday. At The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St. San Pedro, CA 90731. If you go, say hi to Tappy for us! Complete info here.

The Man Who's Making Ukuleles Sexy Again

Oh puh-leeze. LAist interviews Dent May, the Moon Martin of the Ukulele. Link

(I've always wanted to mention Moon Martin in a post...)

Sita Sings the Blues on PBS and Online

Nina Paley's Annette Hanshaw-infused animated feature Sita Sings the Blues will be broadcast (in NYC) on PBS, March 17th at 10:45 pm EST. For everyone else, the video will be streamed on the Reel 13 site beginning February 26th. Congratulations, Nina! Link

Templeton Sheet Music Archive

Julie Shedd from the Mississippi State University Libraries was kind enough to drop us a note to let us know that their web address has changed. I've updated the one link on Ukulelia that I could find that went to the old address, but if you stumble across another, do email me and I'll fix it.

The Mississippi State University Libraries is home to the Templeton Digital Sheet Music Collection, part of the Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Music Museum. It's a wonderful resource for vintage music, particularly ragtime tunes, and a variety of themed collections. What fun awaits? Well, here's Brian Heffernan playing Rubber Plant Rag (A Sketcherette), available via the Templeton Collection. Link

(Thanks, Julie!)

The Rutleleles

Lest we get overly serious with all this Beatles business, be it known that the Rutleleles exist, too. Ouch! (Ouch! Ouch Ouch!). Link

Ukulele Shirt World Benefit Bushfire Victims

For the remainder of February, Gavin Smith, the self-proclaimed "mad keen ukulele man" of Melbourne, Australia and proprietor of Ukulele Shirt World will be donating all profits from his store to the Australian Red Cross Appeal to benefit victims of the recent bushfire. And if you use coupon code 3PFBDAY, you'll save an additional 30%. Gavin has some sweet shirts. Check 'em out. Link

Banjo TAB for blind players

The folks behind The Ukulele Project have also developed a methodology to read banjo tabs via braille. If you know any sight-impaired uke players, ping the Costellos and see if they'll adapt their technique for the ukulele. Link

Faith Ako Premiere Concert Tonight

Faith Ako will premiere her new CD, Papakû, Bring It Home at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA tonight. Link

Finance World Tunes in to Uke-Based Recovery Plan

Daily Finance has picked up the lede on Warren Buffett's Ukulele-Based Recovery Plan. Link

'Nother Night of Noir

It was a night cold enough to chill a penguin. Ukuleletown after dark always seems colder anyway. At Johnny Ds Nightclub is Davis Square in Somerville, MA, the newest edition of Ukulele Noir cranked up.

Bliss Blood, her sopranino ukulele and her red outfit, started the night. Her voice was, as usual, pure honey and she did a killer set. She ended her performance with the song Mae West made famous "Come Up and See Me Sometime". Not too many performers can pull that one off...but Bliss Made it shine.

Bedroom Community was up next with Steven Swartz, ex-Songs from a Random House. He used a lot of processed sounds, samples and looping...but still managed to sing thougtful and melodic songs.

After that was...uh...Craig Robertson, ably assisted by Alice Caldwell on upright Bass. I meandered through a forest of songs with subjects as diverse as zombie horse and small town pathos.

Ending the night was Greg Hawkes. This was the first time out for his new trio, all ukes, consisting of him, Tim Mann and Greg Allison. In a lovely understated performance they did some Cars tunes and reproduced some of the songs from Greg's CD "Beatles Uke".

Were you there? I don't remember seeing you there? Oh, well, next month...

(photo by Robert Wheeler, Fedora by Tony Brouner, ukulele by Pete Howlett)