I just finished reading Tim Szerlong’s article about his trip to the U.S. Music Corp factory in Illinois. This factory is a parent company to Washburn and Oscar Schmidt among others. Go check out the article and Tim’s new site at Ukeeku.
Leo Biovin sent me the link to this nice article on NPR (National Public Radio) yesterday. According to the article (which also has an audio version if you prefer to listen instead of read), overall instrument sales are down around 20%, but not for the uke. Apparently, ukulele sales at Elderly Instruments are up 10-15% this year.
Has the economy put a damper on your UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome)?
It was an event entirely guided by one mans karma. Mike, alias hoosierhiver on Ukulele Underground, didn’t organize this event. He just cleared the way to let the cosmos manifest it into existence. Back in January Mike, owner of the recently-opened Mainland Ukes in Nashville, posted on UU that he had a great site for a ukulele campout. There was no planning beyond this. Destiny just took over. Six months later the World Ukulele Congress happened. Read the rest of this entry »
The second Bushman Ukulele Luau turned out to be an intimate crowd again with a few more attendees than last year. Those who did come were treated to some great informal and impromptu performances Saturday by Zoe who flew in from Toronto, Jodi Mathews, Wade Johnston (who Julia Nunes has dubbed “The Boy Me”), and DaveDaveDave who flew in from Ft. Myers. This moved from the stage at the Bushman Brewhouse to what turned into Zoe’s communal cabin to continued well into the night. Read the rest of this entry »
My day job and my other site (The Gadgeteer) have caused me to severely neglect this site for awhile now. I want to turn that around ASAP and am hoping that some happy volunteers to help me do it. I’m looking for a few people that are interested in writing ukulele related news items, CD reviews, book reviews, instrument reviews and accessory reviews. Send me an email if you are interested.
Title: Monkey Swing Monkey Doo
Artist: Doctor Sparkles
Label: Kevin Patrick Baiko
Year: 2008
The Guitar Hanger is a pretty ingenious way to store your guitars in a regular closet. Just throw all your clothes on the floor (that’s where half of them are anyway right?) and dangle your Strats and Les Pauls in glorious splendor. I need 7 of these for my ukuleles!
If you’re going to be in the Southern Indiana area May 8-9th, be sure to stop by the free Ukulele Luau being put on by Bushman.
I attended last year’s luau and had a lot of fun watching all of the performances!
The Ukulele Project is the brain child of Pat Costello. He’s asking for help creating various ukulele instruction videos to aid students in Ontario, Canada to learn to play the ukulele. These videos will be made available to everyone to learn from, so it’s definitely for a good cause. Check out Pat’s site for more info.
I just received word that Jake Shimabukuro is going to be giving a concert in my home state of Indiana in a few days. Unfortunately for me, Fort Wayne is a bit too far to drive… Here are the details for those of you within driving distance: