Sunday, June 14, 2009

Ukulele madness at NPR (and at my house) Summertime news: Fiddling while Rome burns may have been a sign of Nero's craziness, but strumming a ukulele is therapy, according to NPR.  I woke up to this piece on the radio yesterday... Even in Bleak Times, The Ukulele Thrives: NPR Music Rather than wait for some conspiracy theorist declare a ukuleleftist plot at NPR by tracking down all its relevant stories, I decided to do the latter myself.  (I was about to add,  "I don't remember whether anyone pointed out that both the ukulele and President Obama hail from Hawaii...", but I did a quick search for "Obama+Ukulele" first. Glad I did!  More conspiracy: Obama got a ukulele last month, ostensibly "a gift for his daughters"...  But it may not have been his first. Was the uke (ahem) instrumental in his election? I didn't notice at the time, but there were campaign ukulele jam sessions, and even an attempt at a Million Uke March! And more:  244,000 Obama-uke links here.) That search also found a press release announcing an attempt at a world record for "largest ukulele ensemble" in Chicago this August. Has NPR had that story, or am I scooping them? Anyhow, let's get back to evidence of the NPR ukulele conspiracy: Dec. 29, 2008 Dent May And His Ukulele: Winningly Winking Oct. 7, 2008 Billionaire Buffett's Hidden Talent: The Ukulele Sep. 28, 2006 In the Hands Of A Master, The Ukulele Is No Toy Jul. 26, 2006 Ukulele Madness -- You Heard It Here First! OK, so those are all mentioned as footnotes on yesterday's story.  But what about these NPR-featured players of the uke, among other instruments? Nellie McKay Learning by Broz-mosis Crazy Cool: Nellie McKay in Concert Bassist Lyle Ritz: Father of Jazz Ukulele Ukulele Hall of Fame (NPR Rhode Island affiliate) The Ukulele: A Visual History (1997!) OK, maybe the ukulele is a legitimate story. I bought a Romanian-made uke from a Michigan traveling tent-show music store guy at the Mount Airy Fiddler's Convention last year... and he was back with more last week. A quick search for "uke fest" uncovers events in Hawaii, New York, London, Dallas, Tahoe, Portland, Göteborg (Sweden) and Stadsschouwburg of Sint-Niklaas (Belgium). Search YouTube for "ukulele" and you'll get the impression it ought to be named "uketube," headed by some virtuoso clips from the amazing Jake Shimabukuro. (Top right.) One of his clips has had more than 3 million plays.)  And the magical Julia Nunes (right) -- who has gone from harmonizing with herself via webcam on YouTube to opening for Ben Folds... I see she's at Bonnaroo this weekend. I'm not. And then there are these ukecentric sites, among many others: http://ukulelehunt.com/ http://ukulelia.com/ http://ukuleleland.blogspot.com/ http://www.theukuleleman.com/ http://www.ukuleleman.net/blog.html http://www.ukalady.com/ http://periodicstyle.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-you-like-ukulele-lady.html So far, no uke jam sessions in my neighborhood. Maybe we should start one? Inspiration? Try the two videos on this page for a start. 5:13:59 PM    comment []

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