Uke Heads, Unite!

 

See that? That's my Uke Head. 

I'm proud and honored to be a volunteer mentor for the James Hill Ukulele Initiative (JHUI). James is about to launch a new project called Uke Heads, and he gave us a sneak peek over the last few weeks. 

Uke Heads is an innovative project–the first of its kind so far as I know–where an artist (James) is recording an album with the active participation of a community of player/contributors. There have been a lot of crowd-based recordings during the pandemic, but this project is different in that participating as a Uke Head is essentially part of crowd-funding the album and supporting the artist. And participating comes with a number of benefits like online workshops with James, exclusive merch, and the opportunity to record on future singles.

There are 1879 unique Uke Head avatars which are themselves NFTs. (Welcome to blockchain, ukers!) Ukulele geeks will immediately grok why there are 1879. (Which, by the way, is a swell line of clothing you can check out here.

Learn more about the Uke Heads project at the official site, here.

James also discusses the project on his Uketropolis Podcast in this episode.

And here are link to three Q&A sessions James had live on YouTube.

• Q&A #1
• Q&A #2
• Q&A #3

Finally, while becoming a Uke Head isn't free ($189.70 – notice the theme?), James has made 100 available free to deserving players. Info here.

So, which Uke Head are you?

"When St Paddy's Falls on Purim"

"You Purim for me, and I'll Purim for you..."

This ditty is by Brigid Kaelin and Gregory Maupin. Here's a little background on the song. Link

But sure and there's more! Brigid has posted the sheet music for free! (That makes here Saint Brigid in my book). Link to Music.

Happy Both Days to everyone who celebrates. And a big Tip O' the Hamantash to my good friend Adam Hanin for pointing us to this pot of gold.

O'Chaim!

Kevin Bacon's Paean to Tom Brady

 A GOAT tribute on uke with goats.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon)

Link

W. E. B. Du Bois, Ukulele Patron

In honor of Black History Month, here is a 1921 letter we recently discovered from Yolande Du Bois to her father, American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist and author W. E. B. Du Bois, thanking him for sending her money to buy a ukulele. 

“Thanks ever so much for the money for the Ukelele (sic). I went straight down-town the next Saturday and bought it. It is a ‘banjo Ukelele,’ and it’s very pretty. It is made of light-colored maple highly polished and trimmed in black. I can play two pieces on it.”

She goes on on to tell her father that she made the dean’s list at Fisk. 

Yolande Du Bois was involved in the Harlem Renaissance, and later had a career as an educator in Baltimore. 

And to her father Dr. Du Bois' many accolades, we humbly add "ukulele patron."

Du Bois, Yolande. Letter from Yolande Du Bois to W. E. B. Du Bois, March 16, 1921. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. 

All rights for this document are held by the David Graham Du Bois Trust.

Happy New Year!

 

A lot of folks have been producing ukulele ensemble videos during the Pandemic, but for me the is the most joyous and infectious one I've seen. Makes me want to fly down to Brazil to hang out with my friend Vinícius Vivas. 

Also featured in the video are Aline Kelly and Gracie Terzian. 

Happy Happy New Year, everyone!

PlayStation Ukulele

Denis Moynihan made this uke out of an old PlayStation unit back in September. He says "It's not the greatest sounding acoustically but works very well when plugged in." I'll update if I can get a video or audio recording. Link 

(Thanks, Denis!)

UKULELE '21 | Craig Robertson

Erstwhile Ukulelia editor and bon vivant Craig Robertson has a new album of ukulele music out. 

Sez Craig:

The ukulele is a great instrument, it is versatile and lends itself to many different types and styles of music. Here are brand new recordings of some of my earlier songs that were composed on the ukulele.

All four sizes of ukuleles, soprano, concert, tenor and baritone, were used on this album. A PDF of all the chords and lyrics to the songs will be sent to you free when you purchase the album. The chord charts for all the songs were done by Ukulele George.

(And btw, look for a swell comprehensive compendium of ukulele chords to be published by Ukulele George in the coming months...)

Buy and download your copy at this link:

UKULELE '21 | Craig Robertson

Farewell Fred Fallin

We learned this week of the passing of Fred Fallin. If you've been around the uke world for a while, you no doubt bumped into Fred. A sweet man, lovely musician, and captivating chronicler of ukulele and Tin Pan Alley history. 

Here's a 1996 profile of Fred from the history page of his beloved Pullman neighborhood of Chicago. For readers who weren't playing back then, this was beginning of the (current) Third Wave of ukulele popularity, when a seeming handful of Mainland eccentrics played, and it was players like Fred who had lovingly kept the pilot light on for us.

Fred Fallin on the Pullman History Site

Above is a photo from Catfish Carl's Closet (still extant!), a site hosting photos from the legendary Uke Fest West of 2004. We picked this photo for a couple of reasons. First, this image is from a workshop that Uncle Bill Tapia (then just a youthful 96) gave at the Fest. Fred was playing the role of interlocutor. We were fortunate to have been in the room for this, so this would have been the first time we met both Tappy and Fred. 

Mahalo, Fred. See you down the road. 

Jake Needs No Introduction

We found it worth noting that in his article on the online education company MasterClass, The New Yorker author Tad Friend understood that Jake Shimabukuro needed no introduction:

"The site has recently begun to attract instructors, including Amy Tan, Elaine Welteroth, Jake Shimabukuro, and Malala Yousafzai, who were MasterClass subscribers before they taught their classes."

It's remarkable that Jake has reached the point of recognition at which no "ukulele player," or "ukulele superstar" appellation is needed. 

Read  Can MasterClass Teach You Everything? at The New Yorker.

Playing for Afghan Refugees

An unnamed U.S. Airforce Airman brought out his ukulele to entertain children and adults from Afghanistan at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. I wonder what he played. Link

If anyone runs across the name of this Airman, please send a comment and I'll post it.

Photo Credit: Lt. Col. William Powell

Meet Covie

Ok. I've been sitting on this one for a while. It got shuffled to the bottom of a pile of to-dos, and then I thought (hoped?) that it wouldn't be relevant anymore. Sadly...

So, meet Covie. Created by my friend and uker, Jon Soto, and several of his advertising pals to help remind people to wear a mask, maintain social distance, and wash their hands. 

Covie has a theme song, featured in the video. Heck, he has a whole YouTube channel where you can follow his travels. 

If you'd like to sing along, write your own verses, post your own videos, I know you'd make Covie happy (and Jon would appreciate it). Here's the music:

Visit Covie's site for more info and goodies, including stickers you can download. Be like Covie and spread them around. Follow Covie on Instagram, too.

A New Old Saying

"There’s another old saying: It’s all over but the ukulele." Link

Meet Sayali Tank

I was honored to mentor Sayali Tank during her first year with the James Hill Ukulele Initiative program. She's a delightful person and it was fun to stay up late in California (while she got up early in India) for our Zoom meetings over the past year. She's now a featured Kala artist. See what working with me can do for you?!  Link

Still Strumming: William H. Macy

It's been a while since we've checked in with stalwart uker William H. Macy. Nice to know he's still strumming. Link

h/t Marilyn!

Kamaka Brothers Receive Congressional Gold Medals

I'm a proud owner of a sweet 1970s Kamaka soprano, and couldn't be happier for the Kamaka brothers and their entire family on their having received this well-deserved honor. Link

h/t Marilyn!