UH Manoa Ukulele Uke Ad Archive

Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin points us to this flickr set of vintage ukulele ads posted by the University of Hawaii Manoa. Link

UkesterBrown: The Sun Studio Session

Between the Elvis and the Blue Suede Shoes. The stuff of legends. Link

'Apanhei-te Cavaquinho' Ukulele Episode

Here is part 4 of a 4-part Portuguese documentary on the Cavaquinho, a relative of our favorite 4-stringed instrument. This segment explores the Hawaiian branch of the family. Narration is in Portuguese, but the interviews in Hawaii are in English. Because he's talking to a musicologist and not a reporter, Jake actually has some insightful things to say about the way he thinks about orchestrating strings in his arrangements. Link

Behold The Ukesicle

Sadly, not available from your local Good Humor Man.

Link



(via Pizza by the Slice)

Quilted Ukulele Case Tutorial

Do you sew? Here's a great tutorial on how to sew a custom uke bag.

Link

Subscribe to the Ukelist

Rhan Wilson calls The Ukelist "THE source of ukulele information for everyone in California and beyond." It's true. Events lists, teachers, classes, classifieds.

If you're on the Left Coast, we highly recommend signing up for Rhan's email feed! Link

Lil Rev's / Harmonica Americana CD

Marc Revenson, aka Lil Rev, is crowdfunding his upcoming Harmonica CD. Rev assures me there'll be plenty of ukulele on the album.

I use Rev's method books with all my ukulele students and recommend them highly! Join me in supporting this big contributor to the wonderfully small world of the of wonderfully small ukulele.

Donate Here (Sponsor Gifts Available!)

Uke Nerd of the Day

You Know Who plays TV and Movie Theme Songs

Ukulele Boogloo Lives!

In the wonderfully small world of the ukulele department, I bumped into Jerrold Connors, creator of the Ukulele Boogaloo site, yesterday at a taqueria. I first met Jerrold at the NoCal Ukulele Festival in the early Aughts not long after Mark Frauenfelder invited me to help edit Ukulelia.

Back in those early days, there wasn't a ton of ukulele information on the web, and Ukulele Boogaloo had one of the first big song libraries. It still does.

Jerrold's gotten busy on some other projects, so it's been a while since he's been able to update Boogaloo. If you've never visited, pop on over. It still ranks high on Google, a testament to Jerrold's vision and effort in building it in the first place.

Link

Slayer: War Ensemble on a Ukulele

Rob Scallon shreds.

Digg sez the ukulele "might be at the direct intersection of 'painfully trendy' and 'lame to begin with'". Agree?

Via Digg

Pohaku Ukulele: The Movie Epic

Here are the next best 27 minutes of your life. Watch as Peter Hurney goes from rough-sawn blocks to a finished soprano, masterfully strummed by the inimitable Steven Strauss (inimitable, I know, because I've tried).

Peter's production volume is extremely limited. In part, because he's such a methodical and persnickety builder. In part, too, I suspect, because he's invested so much time in engineering and building a bewildering array of custom ukulele building tools and jigs. You can't tell it from this video, but Peter's shop is a modest garden shed, with the space utilized as cleverly as his tools. Kind of the Studley Tool Chest of workshops.

Peter is truly a maker's maker. Someday I'll be lucky enough to have him build one for me. Link

Gary Zimnicki's Sweet Ukes…from Abandoned Homes

Here's luthier Gary Zimnicki talking about building the instruments he's making out of the wood from abandoned housed in Detroit. Proud to say that I helped him with this idea (in the video he credits his son and "a friend"--I suspect I'm "the friend"). And thrilled to hear Gary's reclaimed wood ukulele played by Rob Bourassa.

More at the article on Detroit Performs.

Gary Zimnicki's Sweet Ukes…from Abandoned Homes

Here's luthier Gary Zimnicki talking about building the instruments he's making out of the wood from abandoned housed in Detroit. Proud to say that I helped him with this idea (in the video he credits his son and "a friend"--I suspect I'm "the friend"). And thrilled to hear Gary's reclaimed wood ukulele played by Rob Bourassa.



More at the article on Detroit Performs.

Still Time to Catch Rev in California

Catching up on a few things. Missed a few dates (apologies, Rev) but there's still time to catch Lil' Rev on his 2014 California tour. Make the trip: you won't regret it.

Modesto on the 11^th (Workshop and concert w/ The Fun Strummers)

Grass Valley on the 12^th  (House Concert @ Dan Scanlan’s)

Sacramento on the 13 of March  (Workshop and Concert at The Strum Shop)

Home

Outdoor Ukulele BOGO

This is cool: be among the first 200 to pre-order an Outdoor Ukulele tenor model and they'll include a matching soprano with your order. $150 for two ukes!



Link