Jul/25/08
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Kiwi Ukulele, ezFolk and other Uke Links

Mike’s ukulele book Kiwi Ukulele is out now. You can buy it here. The book has endorsements from Age Pryor and George from the UOoGB, to which I can add my whole hearted supported (more on that in the not too distant future).

ezFolk has a new blog look. As an aside/hissy-fit, is it just my self interest speaking or is it a bit off that general sites like ezFolk and Curt Sheller are included in the Top 50 Ukulele Sites list?

First ever Wine Country Ukulele Festival in Napa Valley featuring workshops and performances from the likes of Herb Ohta, Jr., Keoki Kahumoku, Ralph Shaw, and James Hill.

HawaiiMusicSupply has just put up a selection of ukulele tutorials.

Does anyone know anything about Oly Arkle? His From Paris to Barcelona is rather magnificent. All I’ve been able to find out is that he’s French and he looks like this.

I long ago gave up reading ‘news’ pieces about Jake Shimabukuro, they all say the same thing. Luckily, Gary is far more diligent than I am. He found out that Jake’s new album will include a uke/cello duet and a ukulele string quartet. Speaking of Jake, Cover Me has an mp3 of his version of Time After Time.

If you’ve been watching closely, you’ll know I’m a fan of Poopy Lungstuffing. It turns out that she was a sort of proto-Avril Lavigne with the band Rosebud. This was the song as it was and here it is now. A big improvement I’d say.

The Offspring’s Original Prankster on Uker Tabs.

Take care of your hands.

Ukulala gets his make-out socks on for the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

I’m Yours on the world’s smallest ukulele.

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13 Comments

  1. Isaac July 25th, 2008 2:59 pm

    I think you only have to worry about the Top 50 Ukulele Sites list if you ever lose your top spot- then you can get them on technicalities.

  2. Isaac July 25th, 2008 3:09 pm

    Also – good to see someone from the Northern Hemisphere celebrating some Christmas in July

  3. Ukulala July 25th, 2008 3:55 pm

    It’s probably my self-interest too, but I agree that general music sites, with little ukulele sections, shouldn’t be included in the Top 50 ukulele sites.

    Or at least, they should put their counter ONLY on the ukulele section of their site. That would be fair.

    It will be a sad day if something like Sheller or EZFolk take your top spot instead of another worthy site like Ukulele Underground (or of course Ukulala).

  4. LonnaB July 25th, 2008 5:39 pm

    Wow- I agree with you about Oly, what a great tune. We must hear more!

  5. Curt Sheller July 25th, 2008 6:30 pm

    I wouldn’t really call my site a “general” site, whatever that means. My site is “heavy” uke and pretty much the main focus of my playing and publishing effort. That and some guitar.

    Anyhow, in my latest redesign I dropped the top 50 uke site badge and other badges anyway. So my numbers will be dropping will drop.

  6. Woodshed July 25th, 2008 8:46 pm

    Isaac: You’ve lost me. Christmas in July?

    Laz: As soon as you start challenging for the top, our truce is off ;)

    Lonna: I do fear this will be all we hear of him. Let’s hope not.

    Curt: Well, you have got guitar listed ahead of uke.

  7. Mike July 25th, 2008 9:35 pm

    Aww, thanks for the plug! Amazed the book is actually, finally, done (and Woodshed can take some credit for that). I’ll be furiously uploading sample pages, strum MP3s and so on to the Kiwi Ukulele website over the next week. Then I have to practise some family-friendly repertoire for the (gulp) book tour. As most of my favourite songs are about drugs and divorce, this might be tricky.

  8. Woodshed July 25th, 2008 10:11 pm

    You’re welcome, Mike. Good luck with the book tour (something else to add to the list of reasons I don’t do real books).

    How different is the final version to the Kete version you sent me? Do you want me to wait until I’ve got the final version before I do a full write up?

  9. Ukulala July 26th, 2008 12:11 am

    Hi Curt- No disrespect intended, I am a big fan of your site.

    I do however like the idea of the Top 50 list as a useful guide for which sites ukulele players and enthusiasts visit most. I’ve found a lot of great sites off that list, BUT if I were running the top 50 list, I’d request that the tracker be inside the ukulele section of a larger site like yours, rather than on the main page. I hope your redesign doesn’t remove you entirely, it should accurately reflect your site’s uke traffic.

    On the OTHER hand, I think there is an unfortunate competitive aspect surrounding the list that I’m not entirely comfortable with anyway. If I didn’t get about 5% of my traffic from it, I’d probably remove myself…. The uke sites definitely should be collaborating and sharing, not competing for hits…..

  10. Isaac July 26th, 2008 3:18 am

    I saw this blog was filed under Christmas and links – and given that the date was July 25th, which in Australia is sometimes called ‘Christmas in July’ I thought it might be a subtle reference.

  11. Woodshed July 26th, 2008 10:25 am

    Laz: Curt emailed this which I think was intended as a reply to you: “I agree with that. Its not a race. I think a links page on a site is better with the webmaster of the site highlighting what site would be good to visit. I visit all the site I have listed on my site.

    I’ll probably contact top 50 site and have my stuff removed and add the specific ukulele site I have.”

    Isaac: Wow, you’re much more observant than I am. You give me far too much credit. It was a cock-up.

  12. Cardboardfrog July 28th, 2008 12:06 pm

    tbh woodshed, i wouldn’t worry too much, i don’t think you’ll lose the topspot any time soon

  13. Woodshed July 28th, 2008 6:41 pm

    ezFolk will be taking me over pretty soon now the doodad is on all its pages. But I’m working for the enemy now. Though I’m not writing about ukuleles, which sort of proves my point.

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