George Forman: Friday Links

A flurry of F-words, gaffes and misinformation as the British media has gone on one of their ‘the ukulele is making a comeback’ kicks (as they’ve done a couple a times a year for the last five years). A selection of the goings-on:

– The most amusing was in the Telegraph which was originally sub-headlined, “The ukulele is hard to take seriously thanks to its association with George Forman.”
– The Daily Mail originally had it, “It seems there are several theories as to why the ukelele – or ‘uku’ as it is nicknamed – is enjoying a revival.”
– Michael White laid into the UOGB’s Proms performance pretty viciously (despite being quite positive about it at the time).
– Huffington Post illustrated the story with a picture of Sting playing a guitar.
– The Express headlined “Now the ukulele outsells electric guitars,” but quotes figures that don’t seem to back that up.
The Guardian reckon it’s only possible to play the ukulele (or ‘ukukele’) like George Formby: “Something in the posture required to play the ukulele – shoulders hunched, elbows akimbo – probably encouraged a perky grinning manner: it’s probably impossible to play the ukukele in any other way.”
– And on TV: Channel 4 News and on Daybreak (with Lorraine managing to knock out Sweet Child of Mine at 6:30am).
– One interesting fact in the brouhaha:

180 music shops were surveyed with 42 per cent saying the ukulele had seen the biggest rise in popularity in the last year. 31 per cent stated that keyboards had seen the largest growth, and 16 per cent for acoustic guitars.

I need to calm down after that epic bitch-fest with some Bigfoot and Tiki cartoons.

The UOGB present the Ukulele Podcast of Great Britain with a guest appearance from Glenn Tilbrook. And here’s Will playing what he claims is the world’s smallest playable ukulele (which Alvin Okami may take issue with) (thanks to Ron).

Vo-do-de-o Days charts the history of Tiptoe Through the Tulips.

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra are on iTunes.

Lots of intriguing pictures from the Tokyo Hand Craft Guitar FES.

The ukulele bit on Cougar Town (thanks to Anna). If you’re in a location-blocked country you can still watch Josh Hopkins having a bit of a uke here.

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