Ukulele Revolution with Steven Sproat

TUSC is proud to Present Ukulele Revolution with the UK's finest ukulele performer Steven Sproat.

Steven first played ukulele at the age of 10 when his father gave him a John Grey banjo uke. He has since gone on to become one of the most respected ukulele performers in the UK. He has supported the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and played at many venues both large and small. Last year he took the New York Ukulele festival by storm, dazzling the international audience with his strumming firework display. His new CD 'Acer Glade' is out now, along with a series of excellent ukulele tutor books available.

www.stevensproat.com

The show will be at The Constitutional Club, Bishop's Hull, Taunton on Friday 14th March.

It will also feature retro ukulele band 'The Night Owls', Uke super group 'Tony and Tom' and of course the world famous 'Ukulele Eddie'.

The show is free for club members and any guests wishing to attend should email Nipper.

I thought you may like to see Steven in action so first up here is his video for 'Alone Again' taken from his new album 'Acer Glade'.

And here is Steven performing at TUSC last year.

BSY
Nipper

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

TUSC Awards 2007

It has been a while since I last posted so here is the first of a few updates...
In December we presented the annual TUSC awards. Below are some of the proud winners .

The awards were a follows;

Ukulele Eddie - Most New Ukes And Holidays Whilst Singing Sweetly
Tony - The Harmony Doctor And The Ukulele Player Who Came Down A Hill But Went Back Up A Mountain
Tom - Having The Biggest Uke With The Coolest Sound
Carol - The Rhythm Queen And The Least Amount Of Legs
Grant - Most Improved Player With A Rubber Face
Fran - Most Improved Player (without a rubber face)
Jodie - Singer Of The Year
Susie - The Furthest Flung Uke-Club Attendee
Pat - The Best Finger-Picker And Tall-Story Teller
Diane - Teaching Gorillas To Sing
Chris - Strummer Of The Year
Scott - Being Most Like Elvis
Debbie - The Best Uker In The Back Of A Camper-Van
Jugs - Never Turning Up, Ever
Dave - Most Impressive Goatee
Sarah - The Hostess With The Mostest
Ben - Short-Back-And-Sides
Ian - Being Least Likely To Wear A Hawaiian Shirt
Nicky - Hitting The High Notes
Steve - Most Sudden Departure
Martin - Being The Keenest New Uker
Josh - Bravest And Most Romantic Ukulele Player
Alison - The Most Improved Singer & Player Despite Being A Girl
Jim - The Fret-Board Wizard Plus Entry Into The Hole Sniffers Hall Of Fame

Steve - * Consistent Attendance * Consistently Improving Playing * Organising TUSC Gigs * Being Cheerful & Helpful * Consistently Improving Singing * Buying Beer For Nipper

BSY
Nipper

The Ukulele Revolution in Taunton

On Monday the 19th November the ukulele revolution hit Taunton with the first TUSC ukulele open mic. The Constitutional club quickly filled up with an enthusiastic audience of ukulele players and locals and we kicked off proceedings with a number of classic club sing along songs. The audience included welcome guests from the latest UK club The Newton Abbot Ukulele Club.

There was also much excitement as four members of Swindon Ukulele band 'Ukebox Jury' were in attendance.

'Ukebox Jury'

At 8:30 Nipper kicked things off with the Craig Robertson classic The Leopard.

Tony entertained with his usual great taste in comic songs

Steve and Ali sang the song 'Barfly' by Ray LaMontagne

Pat led a sing along.

Jim had everyone in stitches with his ukulele stylings.

And he played kazoo.

Garold from Brisbane, Australia travelled a long way and entertained with some classic tunes.

The world famous Ukulele Eddie sang 'White Sandy Beaches' and 'It's Not Unusual'

At this point we took a little beer break and really got stuck into the Christmas special beer Cotleigh 'Raindeer' a tasty dark beer. The stage was soon set for a wonderful set from 'Ukebox Jury' led by Richard Bending playing his John Colter ukulele.

Jim, Pat, Nipper and Tom otherwise known as 'The Fabulous Night Owls' performed a rather drunken rendition of the Cliff Edwards classic 'Night Owl'

One of the many highlights of the evening was Tom and Tony playing their rendition of 'Walk On The Wildside'

Despite alcohol fatigue Nipper and Tony managed to play 'Something' and 'Life on Mars'

Bass supremo Tom proved he has a great voice and ukulele strumming style with a number of modern classics.

Unfortunately there are no photos of the star of the evening Jodie who took the stage by storm and performed a killer version of 'Paint it Black'. She wooed the audience with great strumming and singing, demonstrating she is a top performer. The show continued with a one night only lifting of the TUSC banjo ban, for Ukulele Eddie to sing us a couple of Formby classics.

In what seemed like no time at all, it was time to close the show with the usual massed rendition of 'Sweet Georgia Brown'

Thanks to Jodie for the photos and to Ron for the sound. Also a huge thanks to Garold and 'Ukebox Jury' for joining in with such great enthusiasm.

Here's to the next time!

BSY
Nipper

Ukulele Open Mic

TUSC will be hosting a ukulele open mic at the Constitutional Club in Bishops Hull, Taunton on Monday 19th November. Proceedings kick off at 7:30pm with some club singing and follow with performances from TUSC members.

We would like to welcome any guest ukulele players who would like to come along and perform or just listen in. To visit the Club guests need to be signed in, so if you would like to attend please email Nipper on the TUSC email or leave a comment and we will sign you in to the club.

BSY
Nipper

Get 'In The Mood'

Here is the TUSC ukulele arrangement of 'In The Mood' as sung by the Andrews Sisters. The song will be featuring in TUSC book 5 and is a blast to play. The TUSC arrangement is to feature boys on Kazoo and girls singing the lyric.


CLICK HERE to download the Pdf of 'In The Mood'

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