Me mum just sent me this. I'm gobsmacked.

So what is it -- besides ukulele -- that I have in common with Amy Worthen (of The Mad Tea Party) and Tippy Canoe?

Well, according to the Frederick News Post (of Frederick, MD) it's Baby Gramps.

Note to self: next time I talk to Gramps, ask him why he doesn't introduce me to beautiful uke-playing ladies.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Gramps is ubiquitous. And hilarious. And monstrously talented. If he's playing anywhere in your area, and you want to avoid having "idiot" stamped on your forehead, go see his show.

For that matter, if either Tippy or the Mad Tea Party are playing your area go see them too.

Snake Suspenderz -- the whole quartet -- hasn't been able to get together for a couple of months. We've got a gig this coming Saturday night... errrrmm... that would be tomorrow night... so last night we got together for a rehearsal. It was a good one.

We worked on a couple new tunes plus added in the tuba line for a couple older ones. We came up with set lists for Saturday night's performance and, best of all, we recorded a new one for the "rehearsal tapes" series.

If you're just finding out about our rehearsal tapes series, you can click on the rehearsal_tapes tag on this post and get a listing of all the posts on the subject. We're up to five of them with the new quartet and all are available for free download.

The song is called Sausage and it's a recent one penned by Thaddeus. It's sort of a Jazz/Novelty piece with a bit of a Django feel. It was one of the new tunes last night. The time it took to learn it as a band and then record it was maybe 35 minutes total. Click the linky and you can download a copy.

Once again the Zoom H2 came through for us. We only did two takes on this tune and only because we thought the first one was a bit too slow in the tempo department.

The band:

• Thaddeus Spae on guitar and lead vocals
• Howlin' Hobbit on ukulele and band shouts
• Sketch Hare on drums and band shouts
• salamandir on tuba and band shouts

I'm playing strictly rhythm (I don't want to make it cry or sing) on this one. It's my Tiki Flea ukulele. Sketch is using his "street kit." A snare, a couple cymbals, a hi-hat and bass drum case for the kickdrum. Everything but the snare packs into the case. He can carry the whole kit on one small handcart.

Drummers dig that sort of thing. They get tired of all the other band dudes picking up the babes while they're still packing up their stuff. It's true! Just ask 'em.

Do leave a comment and let us know what you think about the tune.

Really, to be more accurate, it's half my original. And the second half at that.

Back in the late 1980's (in the case of this song, 1987) I was busking at Pike Place Market and there was another busker there named K.W. Todd. I badgered and bullyragged him into giving me guitar lessons. I paid for them, but not half what they were worth. I learned most of what I know about fingerpicking from him.

Yes, I'm going to embed the video here, but I want to tell you a bit about K.W. and the song itself first, so the vid will be after the break and a bit lower on the page than I usually put them.

75 years ago today the US government finally came to their senses and repealed the 18th Amendment (alcohol prohibition).

Though repeal day is actually this Friday, the 5th,  LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) is celebrating today with an event at the National Press Club.

Just think what we could do with the 67 billion dollars a year that we're currently spending on the War Against (some) Drugs. Not to mention the lives we'd save and the goodwill we'd engender in various third world countries where we're now jacking around because of the WO(s)D.

Also the restoration of many of our Constitutional rights.

Check it out. Donate to LEAP. Speak up.