Friday Links

9 Comments

1. TwoSheds February 18th, 2011 6:15 pm
   

   The fact that you went through the trouble of figuring out a one-handed playing style, and demonstrating it via YouTube for an anonymous person on Yahoo Answers gives me hope for the future of humanity. Well done!

2. Howlin' Hobbit February 18th, 2011 6:45 pm
   

   the “passionate and interesting debate” link seems to be the same as the Misty Miller link.

   also, anyone who worries about being (or seeming) “gay” for playing the ukulele shouldn’t play the ukulele. not because of any perceived “gayness,” but because they obviously have more important issues to work out.

3. Ron Hale February 19th, 2011 2:56 am
   

   Well, I vented over on Ukulelia on the Hawaiian Grammy issue, Al, so I’m pretty much spewed out. The place for their silly little musical (and sadly these days, non-musical) purity games is at home. Leave those of us who love the music and don’t care about the blood flowing through musicians’ veins alone. Please.
   And the ‘more Hawaiian than Kamehameha’ types over there can do the rest of us a huge favor by taking a flying leap off the Pali or a swan-dive into a volcano. Aloha, you won’t be missed.

   Now, the gay issue is one that won’t go away and isn’t as cut-and-dried as some might suggest or hope. I didn’t even realize that there was a gay issue until I watched Rock That Uke and Heinous Rynes mentioned the impossibility of picking up females after telling them that you play ukulele. As an aside, I have my own gay issues as I’m often seen in that light and have been on the receiving end of much nastiness, most especially on vacation in Waikiki. People are not uptight just about the Grammys over there. So while this is often just laughed off, it resonates with me and I don’t dismiss the concern that some might feel about the gay/ukulele connection.

   And there are ukers, both gay and not, who play into this perception quite deliberately with their ‘in your face’ antics. It’s not just the size and silliness (yes) of the instrument, it’s the camp that some overdo, again deliberately in order to provoke just this very gay/ukulele connection, that feeds the perception in people’s minds. Apart from the juvenile nature of this behavior, it can be dangerous (yes, dangerous), and does our instrument absolutely no favors.

   Jeff posted a video on HU a while back of a San Francisco Bay Area high school ukulele club.
   All girls. I’ve seen one video, one, of the Ukuleles For Peace group that includes a boy.
   This sort of thing speaks volumes.

4. George Stone February 19th, 2011 8:07 am
   

   What is I Am Autum’s Album? I totally need a revision of my parameters in music, even if is free.

5. muz February 19th, 2011 8:20 am
   

   If a girl thinks you are gay because of ukulele, you probably wouldn’t want them anyway.

   And woodshed, freaking rad one handed playing.

6. Spike Gomes February 19th, 2011 8:26 am
   

   Scott contacted me in private, and we had a nice long phone call in order to hash out all the misunderstandings between us. It was really nice and enlightening, and I would like to apologize publicly to him for the tone I took in my initial response. Scott is a cool dude and I overreacted.

   Ron:

   I don’t wish to continue the debate started in the other post, but just to factually correct you; in traditional Hawaiian mores, blood quantum wasn’t the issue that certain modern institutions have made it. If you were hanai-ed into a Hawaiian family at birth, you were a Hawaiian, period.

   I will however note that you wished for folks like me to commit suicide. While admittedly not in seriousness, still, it’s poor taste, and shows you have no understanding of the word “aloha” which you just used. Would you tell me to kill myself to my face just because I happen to believe Hawaiian music has a serious cultural and spiritual aspect to Hawaiians and should be recognized as such?

7. Woodshed February 19th, 2011 12:59 pm
   

   TwoSheds: Sorry to destroy your hope again but I wasn’t really philanthropically motivated. I know better than to expect someone who asks a question on Yahoo Answers to bother reading the replies. I was just intrigued by the idea.

   Hobbit: Thanks, Hobbit. Could have sworn I checked that.

   Ron: I’ve noticed the gender divide in school orchestras as well. You can see the same thing with the Langley orchestra. I asked Paul Moore about it and he suggested it was a cultural thing there but I think it’s wider than that. I think it’s wider than the ukulele as well. I couldn’t say, but I think you’d see a similar gender split in lots of school activities.

   George: You should listen to a wider variety of music.

   muz: The assumption in the question is that being thought gay by a girl would ruin your chances. Which isn’t necessarily so.

   Spike: Glad you two are getting along. I was worried it was getting a bit heated but I didn’t want to intervene.

8. George Stone February 20th, 2011 8:33 am
   

   George: You should listen to a wider variety of music.

   I do but sometimes you make it so difficult, XD

9. Marcelo February 21st, 2011 7:27 am
   

   I downloaded the I am autumn’s album… and, well, my internet use is limited to 5G of info! I Well, Misty Miller song compensated it though.