Ukulele on CNN

A couple of weeks ago Sasha Herriman from CNN came down to Taunton to film the children at my school and later the same day visited TUSC. Here is the news report that went out on CNN.

It was great fun playing for the cameras and both children and adults had a wonderful time. Sasha is also a singer of some note, look out for her in the Concert for George DVD, she is in the Ravi Shankar Choir; I think we may have even persuaded her to take up the ukulele!

BSY
Nipper

Ukulele Weekend

Last weekend was a big one for TUSC with two gigs and an after party at Steve and Allison's house. It all began at Bishop's Hull Church with a village concert. I put on a small display of ukuleles and we ran through all our TUSC favourites. We also included our version of 'Spider Pig' from the Simpson's film. I videoed the gig and so here are a few of the songs.

'King of the Swingers'

'Ukulele Lady', 'Israelites', 'That's Alright Mama', 'Spider Pig'

On Sunday we played the River Festival in French Weir Park. We were joined on stage by children from local schools, who played their ukuleles and sang with us. It was a wonderful gig and every one had a great time.

We rounded off the weeked with a barrel of Cotleigh 25 and some more strumming at Steve and Allison's house. The end to a perfect ukulele weekend.

BSY
Nipper

A couple of videos to kick things off

Well here I go......... it's a ukulele blog........ the diary of a ukulele revolutionary....... and news for TUSC members.

I have loved the ukulele since I was a child and got my first one when I was 15 or 16 years old. It was that toothy northern chap that did it and my first songs involved lamp posts and window cleaning. Somehow over the years I have forgotten how to play them, age has it's blessings. Anyway the revolution really started when my first child was born and I found myself playing uke instead of the, rather too noisy for a baby, Martin 000 guitar. At the same time I heard George Harrison's version of 'Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' and the UOGB on radio 4. I resolved to get a better ukulele and a little internet surfing led me to buy a Mahalo U30 (for the child) and a Samick concert for myself. The Samick, whilst playing in tune, turned out to be a little on the 'dead' side, but the U30 was really great and costing just £10 inspired me to start teaching children to play the ukulele.

The revolutionary road has been long and winding, podcasting, collaborations with uke players from around the world, UAS, ukulele clubs and so many new friends. I hope some of the twists and turns will emerge in future posts. Check out my links to see and hear some of my exploits.

And so for the first time online, here is a BBC news report from earlier in the year featuring the children from my school. Remember the key to ukulele revolution is never mention the 'F' word when speaking to the media.

And here is how Sky News covered the same story.....they of course mentioned the 'F' word too.

BSY
Nipper