Ukulele Crosswords

6 Comments

1. Ron Hale May 29th, 2013 9:23 pm
   

   Did the players puzzle, Al. Decent mix of big and not-so-big names. Not that the more obscure names don’t deserve to be better known. They do.

   Danged senior brain froze up over Roy Smeck. Came up with Sakuma instead but it wouldn’t fit.

   Have to catch Smeck next time he comes through town. Sakuma, too.

   Otherwise made it through. Didn’t always know Vox was a stage name. Think Taimane is a one-namer now. Not even Jake is officially just Jake.

   Though Brittni has her first name on her fretboard. Like country guitarists when I was
   a wee lad. You could put “UKE HUNT” on
   your ukes. Jeff could put “HUMBLE” on his.

   Get a trend going. How about “SANDWICH”? And “JAAAAAAA”. “UNI UNI UNI”? Only three letters. Have to repeat it. I say go for it, ukers.

   Haven’t seen a new video of Dent May with a uke in ages. Like a year at least. Maybe he’s just Dent May now. Or just DENT.

   Could put it on his solid body electrics. Doesn’t seem to realize that without a uke he’s like KISS without makeup. Or something like that. Just not the same.

   Along that line: Misty Miller has gone Tele. Same with Michelle Blades. And that’s Bla-des, amigo. Blades is for gringos. Hey, her words.

   Make your name with the ukulele then throw it all away to be just another 6-string act.

   Mad Tea (Party) are lying low. Out of sight out of mind, Ami. Wish AFP would lie low. No such luck. No spotlight too small.

   Tiger Lillies have dropped the occasional uke.
   Still have the makeup though.

   Still plenty of names for future puzzles. Big names. Small names. Totally obscure names. Run out of uke parts, accessories, sizes soon enough though.

2. Shivers May 29th, 2013 9:41 pm
   

   I did the ukulele one, and I gotta say, I’m glad you posted the answer key, because I just could NOT get some of those due to them being way too much of a stretch and just silly. 10 and 15 across especially stick out as just ridiculous. Ah, well. Still was a nice bit of fun… very cool. :) I’m not well-versed enough in famous ukers to play the Players puzzle, sadly. Only know a few, just the super well-known ones like AFP, Molly Lewis, Julia Nunes and Zee Avi. I think those are pretty much all I know, actually… haha.

   @Ron “Wish AFP would lie low. No such luck. No spotlight too small”? If you don’t like her, you don’t have to listen to her, plain and simple. If she’s in the news, just don’t read about her. It’s not as if she’s on the radio or whatever and therefore unavoidable. I’m a fan, but I’m not saying you have to be as well. I’m just saying you don’t have to be so outwardly negative about her. She has a huge fan following for a reason, and I’ll warn you, some of those fans are vicious. Me, I’m not really the attacking/overly defensive type about it. But I try to stay positive, even when I dislike the art of a certain person. If I don’t like them, I just ignore them, and I certainly don’t talk about them, especially in a way that implies that anyone who is a fan of them is wrong for being such. I consider that quite rude, actually. I don’t like Twilight, but if I saw a girl in public wearing a Twilight shirt, I would NEVER walk up to her and tell her that her favorite series is awful and she is stupid for enjoying it. Obviously that’s not EXACTLY what you did, but you’re definitely verging on crossing that line imo. People like me enjoy what Amanda does and who she is, and happen to think that she deserves far more spotlight than the world has allowed her to have. You can disagree with that, but please don’t shout it from the rooftops. Especially when it wasn’t even a part of this post to begin with… she’s one of the answers in the crossword, yes, but just seeing her name doesn’t mean you need to start complaining at length about her. She is actually the artist that introduced me to the idea of an ukulele being a serious instrument, and lead to me taking it up myself… it’s one of the many reasons that she’s extremely important and inspirational to me personally. I know I’m not the only one that feels that way… anyway, my point is, please, try to keep it positive. Most of the uke community is extremely positive, friendly and kind from what I’ve seen, but every once in a while I see someone like you who feels the need to put down a player even if you’ve only seen their name and there is no other prompt for that reaction. When I see that sort of negativity it makes me sad, regardless of my personal opinion of whatever artist is being discussed.

   Anyways, as I said, AFP has some vicious fans, so I’d tread carefully… I’ve been defensive here, yes, but believe me, I’ve been a LOT kinder than some of these kids would be if they heard you speaking that way. :) Well, sorry to drop that rant on you, just needed to get that out… peace.

3. Dave Grant May 30th, 2013 11:21 am
   

   I did both. The ukulele one was easy and took just a few minutes although “Fish” and Tony” took some thought. The players one was harder. I had to do some looking up of names and especially spellings. Both were enjoyable and it’s a good way of learning a bit about unfamiliar players. More please, maybe a combined names/tunes/geberal uke stuff?

4. Woodshed May 31st, 2013 6:51 am
   

   Dave: Glad you enjoyed them.

5. Michelle June 3rd, 2013 5:54 pm
   

   It’s interesting to see any sort of naysaying from the ukulele community when a musician plays something other than a ukulele. It’s a bit defeatist, in my opinion. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting with different sounds or being a multi-instrumentalist. I put out one EP without ukulele, and I become just another six string act, along with other ukulele lovers who experiment. Nothing has been thrown away at all. In fact, most of the tele songs were composed on the baritone, haha. I think that particular avenues of the ukulele community need to be less exclusive or closed off to other instruments. The ukulele is just as real and rich as an instrument as a guitar, or harp, etc Comments such as those above make it sound like an inferior instrument that needs such exclusivity or defending. Of course this is all just my opinion, but I couldn’t browse past reading all that without saying anything. besitos.

6. Woodshed June 4th, 2013 7:18 am
   

   Michelle and Shivers: I wouldn’t pay attention to anything Ron Hale says. He’s full of it.