This past Thursday I recorded a solo version of the song Sausage, written by my friend and bandmate, Thaddeus Spae. It's off of our new CD, Serpentine. Here's the full-band version from the album:

Check it out here if the embedded player doesn't work for you.

I'm using my Ohana sopranino ukulele in the video and doing it in Dm instead of Am.

If you can't see the video, try here.

I'm particularly fond of the scene where Darwin the Mutant Kitten tries to climb the tripod.

John Stossel has written a very concise take on the idiocy of the so-called War on Drugs and the violence it engenders. It's on creators.com and is called Prohibition Spawns Drug Violence.

An interesting side-effect of this is how "A war on drugs inevitably becomes a war on guns. Yet conservative Second Amendment advocates refuse to see the connection."

This doesn't stop our Democrat gun-grabbing friends from lying about it, as per usual.

"The president says, 'More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border, and that's why we're ramping up the number of law enforcement personnel on our border'." And Hillary Clinton is happy to spout that in her speeches as well. Even though the number has been repeatedly been shown as bogus.

The truth is more like, out of the 27,000 or so guns the Mexican authorities have seized, they've identified about 5000 that they thought came from the US. They then sent them to the US for investigation and 90% of those guns indeed came from America.

"Once again the politicians show contempt for the truth as well as for freedom."

In other words, politics as usual.

So why do so many of the people I know keep wanting to hand more power over to the feds?

"Some security experts say viruses are moving toward Mac as those computers become more popular."

That's a quote from an article on CNN.com about a bot-net virus that's targeting Apple computers. While I'm pretty sure that they'll adjust accordingly, it's interesting that they're finally getting enough market penetration to attract the scumball spammers and such.

On a side note, I wish the folks in the media would stop writing things like "Mac computers are known for their near-immunity to malicious computer programs that plague PCs." You'd think that the so-called tech writers would know the difference between a platform and an operating system. Viruses plague Windows boxes. I'm running Linux on a PC and have been virus free for... well, since I started running Linux.

I originally posted this tip in the Ukulele Tips, Tricks and Techniques section of the Ukulele Underground forums on May 30, 2008.

Those of you with those jug-eared, guitar-style geared tuners, ignore this.

For any of the rest of you who're having trouble tuning with friction tuners, when you get close to the note you want, pinch the tuning button rather than twisting it. In other words, don't turn your wrist trying to get that last few cents off, just pinch the button between your thumb and the side of your index finger.

Yeah, it's still a knack to develop knowing how to set your fingers so you're only pinching the very tiny bit that's needed, but you can do it.

It definitely helps to have the tuning pegs little set screw tightened just right as well. You want it just tight enough. There should be no slop in it but it shouldn't be so tight you work up a sweat trying to turn the thing.

I often read on the ukulele forums where someone feels they've hit a plateau and aren't making any more progress. I've had the feeling too but just the other day something happened that made me rethink that whole scenario.

Busking season is starting to ramp up and so I've been going back over some tunes I haven't played in a while.

It's always nice to have some extra tunes when, like me, you're playing in a public market setting a lot. The folks that are set up near the busking spots appreciate a change up occasionally.

In any event, I was brushing up on the I'm Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody medley I do when it hit me. One of the difficult chord changes in the tune was suddenly quite easy, even though I haven't worked on this particular change in a long while. I call this phenomenon Ukulele Cross Training. I have been playing other tunes with tough (for me) changes in them and my finger flexibility and general "chord grabbing juju" has gone up.

So the moral of the story is... if you feel you're not making any progress, you're probably wrong. You are making progress, it just may not be in the area you're currently working on.

So don't give up.

This is the first in an irregular series of uke tips. (Because I suck at scheduled postings, that's why!)

I'm going to gather them up from all the disparate places I've posted them and put them on my blog — under the tag "uketips" of course — so that they're easier to find. I'll also be featuring other peoples tips here, with full accreditation where I can. If I'm using one of your tips and haven't properly credited you, let me know!

Oh, and in case you're curious the chord change — with lyrics — is: [F]There will [Fmaj]come a [F7]day... as in "There will come a day when youth will pass away." The chords look like this:

I finger the F major with my middle finger on the 4th string, second fret, and my index finger on the 2nd string, first fret, and leave both in place for the next two chords.

The problem arose because on the Fmaj7 I need to use my pinkie finger on the 3rd string, fourth fret and my ring finger on the 1st string, third fret, which is the exact opposite of how I hold the F7 (pinkie on 3rd fret, first string and ring on 3rd fret, third string). I use that F7 shape all up and down the neck — huzzah for movable chord shapes! — and my fingers fall into it without much thought. Suddenly having to go to the other shape, and only holding it for about a beat before going to the "normal" shape, caused me all sorts of grief.

But not anymore.

Lastly, just because I have to do it that way does not mean you do. That's just the way I can comfortably grab these chords with my broad, square paws. You work out whatever's best for your hands.

Now go practice. You are getting better!

I got home later than usual tonight (long, hard day of busking and then a longish meeting of the buskers guild) to find a note telling me that Sabrina, the crotchety little old lady cat who's been visiting us since before we moved completely in has died.

According to her human, she had a growth in her abdomen and passed quietly in her sleep.

I has a sad.

According to Gullible Info:

"The average public building in the United States has 42 'Exit' signs."

And we still can't get out of the fucking mess the feds have got us into for the last... oh, century or so.

The so-called 'teabaggers' so prevalent in the recent news are a joke. But the best jokes contain a grain or so of truth.

Unfortunately, the joke seems to be on us.

An interesting sociology experiment, with a pleasantly surprising result. Tweenbots are small, low-tech (cardboard), smiley-faced robots. The experiment is to see how the humans who encounter it react.

From the website:

"Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal."

Don't call us, we'll call you.

(Click here if embedded video doesn't work.)

Last week I dropped my nice custom Glyph ukulele while busking at Pike Place Market. I tweeted about it, but haven't gotten around to telling the whole story.

I had just finished my 11:15am set and was trying to clear off the spot so the next performer could get set up and wailing. When I'm not using the full-blown busking kit -- with its fancy, raised tip bucket, CD display and assorted signage -- I have a sign that just fits into a ukulele case. That's it pictured to the left. In the pic it's resting on the National reso uke's case -- indeed, it was made by tracing around the National -- but it also fits fine into the Glyph's case. I had taken the sign and mashed it, face down, onto the money, to protect the ukulele from being scratched up by the coins I'd gotten. I then put the uke into the case and closed it, but didn't zip it up nor did I wrap the little velcro strap around the neck of the uke. I set it on a nearby garbage can so I could grab the little Ohana sopranino, my jacket, chair, bag, etc.

Now, before you even ask, no, I wasn't worried about somebody coming along and bumping the garbage can in such a fashion as to send the ukulele plummeting to the ground. The garbage can sits up on a little island, completely enclosed in a very heavy cast-iron cage. You'd have to run into it hard enough to do yourself a damage in order to make the can wobble. That's neither here nor there though, as someone bumping it was not the cause of the uke crashing to the ground.

Here's Susan Boyle on her audition for Britain's Got Talent. If you haven't heard of it, it's sort of like American Idol, except with... well, talent. Plus, they have things going on besides just trying to find the next boy toy or pop tart singer. Dance troupes, dog acts, whatever.

But this is simply phenomenal. If you can watch this without tears coming to your eyes, I quite frankly fear for your humanity. The song is I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables. It is not a tune to be attempted by the faint of heart. And Susan Boyle is anything but faint of heart. Just watch and listen and you'll know what I mean.

Click the link above if the embed doesn't work. Do not miss experiencing this.

Ms Boyle, you are fabulous. May the dreams you dream come true.

According to Gullible Info:

"Only one in 300 people in the United States has never read a Dr. Seuss book, nor had one read to them."

That's a good thing. On the other paw:

"Information about poet e. e. cummings is blocked by nearly two-thirds of public school web filters."

*sigh*

I'm sure that none of my readers who're also ukulele fanatics have not heard of Victoria Vox. But I also know that not all my readers share my passion for my little 4-stringed friend. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy some great music. I think she's simply fabulous, so I'm taking this opportunity to introduce her to you.

Here is Victoria's song, Oh I Wonder. It's a demo from her upcoming album, expected to be released in 2010. All proceeds (after processing fees) will go towards recording costs of her new album. She sings all the vocal parts, including the mouth trumpet, and plays the ukulele, bass, shakers, and organ.

In case the embedded player doesn't work for you, check out the song here.

Learn more about Victoria Vox on her website.

I had a nice day today, both while busking and afterwards. Even counting in the (blessedly brief) adventure with the police.

I packed up two ukuleles — my Glyph soprano and Ohana sopranino — grabbed my campstool and walked down to the Ballard Sunday Market at around 11:30 am. I should have gone a lot earlier. It opens at 10 am and being there prior to its opening is your best bet for getting a prime pitch. I had been up since 7:30 but the coffee was holding me back.

No. I'm serious. I've been out of coffee for several days now and just last night was gifted a bag of french roast. So this morning I'd think about leaving and then I'd think about how little of the coffee pot I'd emptied and go pour myself another cup. Or at least warm up what I had.

When it got down to less than two cups in the pot, I was finally able to tear myself away. Didn't cry at all. Barely even sniveled.

But I digress...

I walked up and down the two block stretch of the market to find that pretty much all the good pitches were occupied. The only ones left were at the far diagonal corners of the market from each other. I decided on the spot right behind the table where the market masters set up. As it turns out, this was a fortuitous choice.

I thought that I might kick off the tuner drawing with a post that points attention at a terrific ukulele player from Germany, WS64. Here he is on Vimeo doing a terrific version of Take 5. This song was written by Paul Desmond, the Dave Brubeck Quartet's saxophonist, based on drummer Joe Morello’s 5/4 beat.

Vimeo kindly provides their own text links with their embed code. Good on them!

A lot of you folk who play ukulele have probably already seen this video but it bears another watching. And those of you who read my blog who aren't ukulele phreaks, I'd especially like to hear what you think of it.

There is also a WS64 YouTube channel and a website. Check 'em out!

Here's a chance win this FZone FT-800 chromatic tuner in my first ever contest (ok... it's a drawing this time, but there will be contests too!). This drawing is sponsored by myself and Ohana Ukuleles.

This is a brand new, still in the box model. The little gold sticker on the box says "Q.C. PASSED" and I believe 'em as I own four of these and they work like champs.

For the few of you who might not know about these things, you clip them to your instrument — usually to the peghead but instruments of the violin family and similar will sometimes clip it to the bridge — and use the gauge to tell when you're in tune. Being a chromatic model — i.e. using all the notes of the scale — it will work with just about any stringed instrument in any tuning.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty here...

Terms and Conditions

1. Over the course of April if you leave a comment three (3) or more specified entries in my blog you're in the drawing.
2. Your comments must be on a post with the "ukulele" tag. This shouldn't be hard, I write a lot about ukulele related stuff. This entry, announcing the drawing, does not count towards the drawing (but you can comment if you want).
3. You must write a comment that has something to do with the post. In other words, let me know you've actually read it don't just type "nice entry" or something. Conversation in the comment section is a good thing. This doesn't mean you have to strive for novel length postings, just something that'll let us all know you're paying attention.
4. You must leave your email (or I won't know who to contact). Note that you can check the box in the comment form to hide your email so it won't be published along with the comment. Also note that your email is not going on any mailing list. I'll be tracking the entries in a spreadsheet and will delete the spreadsheet as soon as the drawing is over.
5. You may use your actual name or your nick/screen name in the comments.
6. It's possible to sign up for an account here as a commenter. This is mainly for regular commenters to keep other folks from poaching their screen name. Feel free to sign up if you'd like but it is not required for the drawing.
7. You don't necessarily have to agree with the posting — i.e. no points for doing the "yes man" thing — but you do need to keep it civil. Troll comments will join spam in the great bit bucket in the sky.
8. You don't have to be a ukulele player to enter the drawing, though I suspect the majority will be. The tuner works on pretty much any stringed instrument so come on guitarists, mandolinistas, lutenists, fiddlers, whatever... Or enter the drawing even if you don't play a stringed instrument and give it to a friend who does. Especially if that friend is out of tune a lot.
9. Since lots of you don't check blogs daily I'll end this at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time, on May 1st, 2009, to give everyone that one last chance thing.
10. The winner will be announced on May 8th, 2009, probably by a YouTube video.
11. I'll pay the shipping of course, but if you're in a country with weird import taxes, VAT or other such things, you're on your own for those.

I think that covers everything. Happy commenting and good luck!