Kate Micucci, William H Macy, The Waifs: Saturday UkeTube

Looks like Hollywood has rediscovered the uke. Appearances this week from Kate Micucci and William H Macy (plugging their new film Bart Got A Room) and Adrian Grenier and Ari Gold come over all Pub Landlord (I know Iain’s going to love that link) with Amanda Palmer.

Also this week: I give Sebi the kiss of death by declaring him the obvious winner of the Go 90s contest (if you like his style, he’s done a post on how he does the fancy multiscreen video thing), The Waifs with – invisible as always – Josh Cunningham doing great work on the uke, Ken Middleton singing a song I have to stop before the end because the last line cuts me up too much, The Pyles is officially world’s sexiest uker and more videos than I usually let myself include.

Kate Micucci and William H Macy – It’s Time to Get Laid

Amanda Palmer and The Honey Brothers – We Are The Champions –

Sebi – Things That Make You Go Hm

The Waifs – Feeling Sentimental

The Pyles – Boxcar

Ken Middleton – Murder in the City

Autumn Sky – Cat People

Franny Deschanel – Not There

The Pyles – Graves’ Refrain

Raiatea Helm

Mariana Ricardo – Sunday Is a Common Day

Coyote Grace – Summertime

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20 Comments

  1. J-Hob August 1st, 2009 5:31 pm

    Wow, Ken was really something else there, spellbinding.

  2. Nick Bardy-Chivor August 1st, 2009 8:08 pm

    Ken Middleton is finger picking awesome…love that song…

    Always love that Deschanel thing with the ace animations…

    I was left pondering one thing though, can Raiatea Helm breathe through her arse!!!

  3. Armelle August 1st, 2009 9:20 pm

    Ken Middleton’s ukulele version of Murder in the city is excellent. But Scott Avett’s voice carries much more emotion.

    Quite liked Autumn Sky by Cat people : Nice voice trumpet effect.

    And Franny Deschannel’s songs are always so sweet.

  4. Ken Middleton August 1st, 2009 10:37 pm

    Armelle, I agree with you that Scott’s voice carries more emotion. He and his brother are brilliant and all credit to them for writing such an amazing song.

    But, to be fair, I was singing it unrehearsed, in a large tent, without a microphone. I was fighting just to be heard and I count it a blessing if my voice carried any emotion at all.

    Thanks anyway

    KEN

  5. todd August 1st, 2009 10:49 pm

    Ken Middleton is a class act for sure!

    so glad you shared Franny’s song……catchy riff, a minute and a half song….and slightly warbling vocals….he’s one of my fav’s right now…

    Autumn Sky….i wonder why you picked her video ;) she’s brilliant…

    Sebi: too good….chops all the way around…

    marian ricardo….wow!!!!

    and the Pyles…..’this machine kills folkies’ ha! classic :)

    great picks Al thanks,

    …..now i wonder if i need to try and write a serious jingle for you….

  6. Woodshed August 2nd, 2009 8:05 am

    John: Agreed. It was an excellent performance.

    Nick: Ken’s version is really good. I’m going to have to work it out at some point. I have no idea how Raiatea Helm does it. I’m not sure why she does it either. It’s impressive but I don’t think it adds much to the song.

    Armelle: A bit unfair to compare it to the original, I think. With it being one of the best recordings of last year.

    Ken: I thought you did a great job with it.

    todd: I picked Autumn Sky mainly for her fabulous dress.

  7. Armelle August 2nd, 2009 8:28 am

    Ken, Al, I didn’t mean to be unfair. Ken’s video is my favourite video of the week (I did say it was excellent). Sorry for comparing to the original but it is one of my favourite songs and I’ve listened to it so many times that I couldn’t help it.

  8. Ken Middleton August 2nd, 2009 8:48 am

    Thanks John, Armelle, Todd and Al for the kind words. I really appreciate your support.

    Armelle, don’t worry, I don’t get offended so easily. The reason my voice was lacking in expression was that I was actually singing and plucking as loudly as I could. I actually honoured that you even compared me to the original.

    Al, I do it in two different keys. the version I did for last year’s Bushman contest was in F, tuned down a tone, which puts it into the same key as the Avetts play it. At Hollesley I wasn’t using my own ukulele, so I decided to do it in C. I now think the C version works best on the ukulele.

  9. Nick Bardy-Chivor August 2nd, 2009 2:31 pm

    Al… I’d love a bit of Avett brothers working out for us all…They’ve had me strumming and hollering “For today” by Jessica Lea Mayfield for a while now after seeing their version on the youtube
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGKdBkBuBZQ

  10. todd August 2nd, 2009 2:37 pm

    a fabulous dress indeed!

    again, great picks this week!

  11. Ken Middleton August 2nd, 2009 2:39 pm

    Hi Nick

    Thank you for your really positive comment yesterday. I missed you out – I think it is because your name isn’t in red (don’t know why).

  12. Iain August 2nd, 2009 4:16 pm

    The Pyles has nicked Rufus Wainwright’s windpipe.

    p.s Anyone who insinuates I wanted to be KNOTB as a nine year old is barking up the wrong tree (or has access to my diary).

  13. emily August 2nd, 2009 6:05 pm

    I’m digging The Pyles, happy time strumming and anyone who rolls by the channel name ‘Bummerwolf’ is a winner by my standards.

    Raiatea Helm’s bizarre vocal activities did strike a little fear into me, I initially thought it was feedback when I skipped through the video.

  14. Richard Albert August 2nd, 2009 11:44 pm

    If I am not mistaken, The Pyles is playing an old 1950s or 60s plywood Harmony ukulele. It sounds pretty good as does mine esp. after I installed Worth strings. (Thanks, Uke Hunt for the latter tip.) The old Harmony instruments get a bad rap. I also own a harmony tenor guitar (labeled Stella) that I bought in 1964. Still sounds mellow.

  15. Jim Bailey August 3rd, 2009 2:46 am

    Thank you so much for the highlighting of the Autumn Sky song! I’m the producer of the show, and Autumn played a 2nd ukulele song during the session, “Thanks, Mr. Skerzick”, that you can find if you track back to the user page.

    Some neat finds on these pages.

  16. Woodshed August 3rd, 2009 11:25 am

    Iain: Don’t listen to the haters. You keep hangin’ tough.

    emily: The Hawaiian yodel is definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it sounds. Personally, I love it.

    Richard: I wouldn’t say the Harmony sounds ‘good’ exactly. But it certainly suits his style.

    Jim: You’re welcome. I enjoyed the series of videos.

  17. Tamster August 3rd, 2009 8:48 pm

    Raiatea Helm sings “Alika” in the same style as the original singer, Genoa Keawe, who does those super long high notes. I think the Genoa Keawe version is on youtube.
    Ken Middleton sounds great as usual.

  18. Woodshed August 6th, 2009 11:58 am

    Tamster: Thanks for the info. I’ll look that version up.

  19. Tamster August 7th, 2009 3:13 am

    I have the song on the CD Rough Guide to the Music of Hawaii. It’s a live version. Maybe you can find a sample in one of the Amazon stores or elsewhere.
    In this video Alika starts at around 3:32 and the long note goes from 3:47 to 4:10. It’s only part of the song.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV40MwdzdMg

  20. Woodshed August 9th, 2009 12:17 pm

    Tamster: I have that CD. Erm… somewhere. I’ll have to dig it out. Thanks for the link.

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