Summer uke Project ~ Take One

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…” ~ Susan Polis Schutz

Some years ago I was called upon to recommend a ukulele for some cute girls from my sister Deb’s in-law side of the family. I ended up buying a nice LU-21P pineapple uke made by Lanikai. You can get a cheaper one in soprano size, but I wanted mine a little larger.

Pineapple-shaped body top, back, and sides are of nato wood, which is similar to mahogany construction, with a smooth rosewood fingerboard and bridge. It has geared tuners for precise tuning. A binding adds the finishing touch to the top. The distinctive pineapple 14″ scale length is in-between soprano (13″) and concert (15″).

Lanikai ukuleles apparently have great playability, sound, and aesthetics at a price that made it a slam dunk for me. This ukulele is strung with Aquila Nylgut Strings.

LanikaiLU-21P

So this summer I am going to try to learn my first song, memorize it, and make it the one I always play. I selected “The Cowboy Song” that I first heard on Joe vs. the Volcano.

It only has two chords so that’s a start.

The Cowboy Song

Joe vs. the Volcano

Ee he o he-o [G]cowboy

Ee he o he-o [D7]oooo

Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy

Under the [G]moon.

I was ridin’ my [G]horse

by the Rio Grand[D7]ee

and all o’ them coyotes singing

in a prairie [G]symphony.

I was ridin’ my [G]horse

down by the Rio Grand[D7]ee

when I seen me a cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,

ridin’ toward [G]me.

Ee he o he-o [G]cowboy

Ee he o he-o [D7]oooo

Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy

Under the [G]moon.

He was twirling his [G]guns

And he had a gui[D7]tar

And we sang us up a sweet old

song about love

Under the [G]stars

Ee he o he-o [G]cowboy

Ee he o he-o [D7]oooo

Ee he o he-o cowboy, cowboy, cowboy

Under the [G]moon.

[G]Giddyup!

The song was written by John Patrick Shanley for the movie Joe vs. the Volcano. The strum pattern is up to you. A simple “down down up down down up” would work nicely, or even “down up down up” is okay too.

Listen for the chord changes. They’re fairly obvious, and learning where they come in is part of learning to play. But here’s a hint… listen for the change on the last syllable at the end of every other line in the lyrics.

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I called my brother Pete, the Luther to see if he had any easier chords to recommend for a beginner like me and he sagely said, give it time. He also recommended I learn this song next:

Right … (Note, I can’t get WordPress to link to YouTube anymore, so thus the picture.)

Posted in Music, Music Instruments, My World | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Some More Kitty Pictures

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. ~ Albert Schweitzer

I was just on a friend’s blog site and enjoying yet another cat picture. What is it about these furry creatures, creatures who for the most part want to be left alone, that draws us to them. Sigh, just giving in …

CatzGlasses   CatzEyes2

catwalk    CatzEyes

Here are my top three reasons why Suzy and I have cats.

1. Suzy has never not had a cat. When I met her in high school she had Dharma, a Siamese catly so named by her brother. We are now on Dharma III. Of all her catz, the Dharma’s have been around her the most, sleep with her almost every night, and follow her like she was the mother ship.

2.  They purr. This weird rumbling soothes us when we’re melancholy, lulls us to a calm place when we’re frustrated and makes us smile even bigger when we’re happy. This simple built-in motor cats have will give any mood a tune-up.

3. They give you someone to talk to. Cats are some of the best conversationalists. Sometimes they just sit and listen; sometimes they speak up and give you their opinions on things. It’s nice to have someone around to always lend you a furry ear.

Be well my friends.

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Sax Pinkie Key Madness

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” ~ Bob Marley

Practicing for an upcoming concert and this little pinkie key run (at milepost 92) is kickin’ my hindermost. Still, it’s a lovely line, very moving.

PinkieKeyMadness

Well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Eh?

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YouTubeage Joy: The One O’Clock Lab Band Plays Yesterdays

Can’t stop playing against this. So many good ideas, multi-tones, edgy-ness, vibrato techniques, and just good sound. Expand the window to fill the screen, turn up your sound system. Listen to it a couple of times. Then grab your sax and fill …

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Maceo Parker – We Do This

Scott’s at it again and blowing us away with this transcription.

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Brass and Winds ~ A Quinn the Eskimo Company

We rolled out a new web site this month. I blog there periodically and work to get my bestest friends and family as good a deal as I can on their instrument purchases. Check us out and let me know if you have any questions.

image

From my boss:

Welcome to Quinn The Eskimo Vintage Horns! We specialize in the sale of woodwind and brass instruments.

Quinn The Eskimo Vintage Horns has been serving the musical community through the sale of Fine and Vintage musical instruments for over 15 years, and we are proud to now offer New instruments to serve your needs.

We are authorized dealers of Armstrong, Bach, Buffet, Conn, King, Jupiter, Selmer,Yamaha and Yanagisawa instruments. 

When you call or email us, you will be talking to me, the owner – not the faceless employee that you might reach at a larger operation. We will give you the lowest prices and the best service.  You have my word on it, and I guarantee it. 

~ Quinn

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Hawaiian Vacation – 2016

“I can’t even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it’s so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It’s very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven’t been to paradise if you haven’t been to Hawaii.” ~ Bruno Mars

luau in Hawaii

Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, peace, compassion, and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello. “Aloha” is also included in the state nickname of Hawaii, the “Aloha State.”

Suzy, my sister Deb, and I just returned from Hawaii and it was an amazing trip. Our first time, there was so much to see, hear, taste and experience. So we did the Norwegian cruise hitting many of the islands. I really enjoyed learning about the language, the history and more.

Here are some of the highlights that we recommend:

Luau Kalamaku (Kauai)
Some would say that if there’s one thing you can’t miss out on while cruising to Hawaii, it’s a true luau experience. The beautiful hula dancers, the fire performers, the knives, the pig and, of course, the smiles—we couldn’t miss this.

DSCF3777   DSCF3778Welcome   Welcome2   Menu

Road to Hana
We took a limo van and was blessed with a very knowledgeable guide who really knew the history and had a lot of stories. He even told us how the Hawaiian language was documented by the Protestant church after the Catholic church demanded conversions by the islanders before they’d do that.

Nice highlight vid with Hawaiian music background.

The best part was the company, living the dream, and exploring.

ShipTwo    BrownYellowPalm    FootPrintsInTheSand    DebSuzyFlowers

Hanging out, enjoying the views, and seeing the random gigantic bikini girl, this was a trip that will never be forgotten. The 8 daze went by so fast. I ate too much and didn’t gain a pound, probably because of the walking we did. One day I did 20 up flights (stairs) in one day!

HawaiiSun     RandomBikiniChicks

One last note, everywhere we went we heard music from the Hawaiian’s best known contemporary musician, Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole aka Iz. For us in 2016, he was the voice of Hawaii.

Iz sings his most recognizable song.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I’m recommending that my newest fav Hawaiian musician is Jake Shimabukuro. I first heard him (and I swear this is a recording of that session, but since the vid is from Tokyo, I guess the green couch is a common stage prop) when I was working at Amazon in Seattle. Never a Uke man myself, this session left me loving the instrument. Yes, I know own a Uke.

Mahalo. a word meaning thanks, gratitude, admiration, praise, esteem, regards, or respects.

Posted in My World, Vacations | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bicycles: Making good women go bad since the 1800s

Fascinating look at our recent past, thought I’d share this here.

Sam B's avatarFIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

 

I’ve been working on a project on women and cycling, which begins by looking at the role the bicycle played in early feminism. One of the things I’m interested in seeing is whether the attitudes to women on bikes in the 1800s have entirely gone away.  What I argue, in the course of a longer paper on the subject, is that they haven’t. In fact, I think some of the same attitudes pose an obstacle to getting more women on bikes now.

(If you want a terrific book on the history of women, feminism, and bikes suitable for children you need to get National Geographic‘s Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). It’s reviewed here with some great photos and an interview with the author. There’s lots to like about it but one of the striking features is…

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Warning! Rant in Progress

A most excellent rant from author LaMonte M. Fowler on Facebook this morning.

RantI feel the need to drop a little truth on y’all. So buckle up…I’m about to be politically incorrect.

We don’t need to take America back. No one stole it. It’s right here…you’re sitting in it. Chillax.

Mexico isn’t going to pay for the wall and we’re not going to deport millions of people and break up families. If you think either one is a good idea, you’re not smart and probably not a person I want to hang out with.

We don’t live in a democracy. Technically we are a Federal Republic. But in reality we are ruled by an oligarchy. If you don’t know what that is, look it up. Reading will do you good. You probably need to do more of it.

FoxNews, CNN, and MSNBC have an agenda and are not “fair and balanced” or in any way unbiased. I’ll reiterate…read more. Read newspapers (even online ones). Read lots of opinions and sources and then (stay with me here), THINK! Form your own opinion based on as many facts as your can brain can tolerate.

Speaking of facts…there actually is a difference between facts, opinions, and propaganda. You should learn the difference. (Another opportunity to show off your mad reading skills.)
Science is real. We know things because of science. Don’t be afraid of it. You have an iPhone and Facebook because of science. It’s your friend.

Global warming or “climate change” as the cool kids call it IS REAL. Anyone who tells you it’s not real is not a smart person and probably should not be dressing themselves or caring for children.

Racism exists. And you are probably a little racist and should work on that. Seriously.
American Christians are not under attack. We are not being persecuted. We wield so much power in this country that politicians pretend to be Christian just so we will vote for them. No one is trying to take your bible away from you. The gay people are not destroying our families—we don’t need any help from them, thank you. We do a fine job of that by ourselves. So stop saying we are persecuted. You sound stupid.

Poor people need help. If you’re not helping them but complaining about how the government helps them with your money you are not a nice person.

Be nice to the people who teach your children. Don’t send them nasty emails or yell at them. Their job is 10,000 times harder than your stupid job. You are not a professional educator so just shut your mouth and be thankful someone is willing to teach your offspring.

You don’t know what Common Core is. You think you do, but you don’t unless you’re a teacher. So stop complaining about math problem memes on Facebook. You can’t do the math anyway.

ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States. We do not need to rebuild our military. Our military is the strongest, scariest, most badass killing machine the world has ever seen. So stop being afraid and stop letting politicians and pundits scare you.

Guns do in fact kill people. That’s what they are designed to do. If you feel you need a gun to protect yourself in America, you are probably living in the wrong neighborhood and should move before you go out and buy a gun. There are like a billion places to live where you won’t need a gun, or even need to lock your front door.

If you do own a gun, then make sure you know how to use it really, really, really well. Seriously…get some training because you still don’t know how to record stuff with your DVR. Go to the gun range and shoot the thing a lot. Learn how to clean it properly and be able to disassemble it and reassemble it with your eyes closed. It’s a freaking gun and it deserves that level of care, proficiency and respect. And for God’s sake, keep it locked up and away from your kids.

If you are even a little bit crazy, sad, or pissed off…you shouldn’t have a gun. And the Founding Fathers would totally agree with me.

Stop being suspicious of American Muslims. I guarantee the guy sitting next to you in the cubicle at work is probably more of a threat to you than any Muslim. He has to listen to your uninformed ranting day after day and has probably already imagined very colorful and creative ways to end you.

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and all the rest are ENTERTAINERS! Stop getting your opinions from them. (Here’s where that reading thing can really be an advantage.)

Stop sharing Facebook memes that tell me to share or else Jesus won’t bless me with a laundry basket full of cash. That’s not how prayer works. And I don’t want money delivered (even from God) in a laundry basket. Nobody ever washes those things out and they just keep putting nasty dirty clothes in them. Yuck!

We are the United States of America and we can afford to house every homeless veteran, feed every child, and take in every refugee and still have money left over for Starbucks and a bucket of KFC.

Unless you can trace your family line back to someone who made deerskin pants look stylish and could field dress a buffalo, you are a descendent of an immigrant. Please stop saying that immigrants are ruining our country. Such comments are like a giant verbal burrito stuffed with historical ignorance, latent racism, and xenophobia all wrapped in a fascist tortilla.

That’s all for now. I feel better.

Posted in advice, Community, Politics, Tips and Tricks | Tagged | 2 Comments

MJJO: First Gig of the New Year

Music is a gut thing. You’re working in a medium which is more in touch with
the primal than the modern. A gig is a ritual. There’s a congregation.
~ Siobhan Fahey

Ah yes, the first gig after a long break. I try to take November and December off as it is family time for my band. When we convene again, there is often personnel changes. So it was as we went into our first gig for 2016. Two subs sitting in, a new lead alto who was basically sight reading 80% of our charts, and a very loud venue. This can be very stressful.

But I didn’t let it get to me. My fav photographer was in house and taking some incredible pictures. This one came quite by accident as he went back stage to hid his gear and bags. It is my favorite picture of the set.

FromTheBackRow

Look at all those dancers, I think West Side Swing Dance was in attendance too.

Posted in Big Band, Dancing, MJJO, My World | 1 Comment