As those who heard me whining during last weekend’s World Horror Convention know, it didn’t take long before I began showing symptoms of ukulele withdrawal, which amazed me, since I’d only taken up the instrument a little more than four months earlier. But after having practiced at least a little bit every day since Black Friday, my fingers were twitchy, and I could feel my muscle memory developing Alzheimer’s.

I almost bought a cheap, bottom-of-the -line uke last Thursday so I could practice while in Salt Lake City, but I never could figure out the transit system enough to make it to the music store about four miles away from the con hotel. But while searching online, I found something even closer—Intermountain Guitar and Banjo, which specializes in vintage instruments. The shop is only open by appointment, so I reached out to the owners, explaining that though I was a newbie, all of my UK ukulele friends figured I needed to get a banjolele so I could better channel George Formby, and that though I wasn’t likely to buy that day, I did plan to make a purchase sometime over the next year.

Leo Coulson, the uke expert, said sure, drop on by. And so even though I didn’t get a uke during my trip, I did get in about an hour of practice, because he pulled out these beauties and let me strum away.

From left to right, we’ve got: a 1920s S. S. Stewart, ‘Majestic-Style’ Banjo-Uke, 8″ rim with full resonator ($1,200); a late 1920s Slingerland Maybell Banjo-Uke, natural curly maple neck & 8″ rim ($395 ); a 1920s Banner Blue Banjo-Uke, decorative 8″ rim, 14″ scale, walnut neck & back ($750 ); a 1929 Gibson UB-1 Banjo-Uke; 6″ rim, Hunleth Music Co. tag, ($600) (more…)

The first day of programming for the 2012 World Horror Convention wasn’t going to begin until 3:00 p.m. Thursday, so at 9:30 a.m., I threw myself out on the streets of Salt Lake City. I didn’t return to the hotel until 1:00 p.m., having spent 3-1/2 hours jumping on and off buses and street cars, getting lost as none of them took me quite where I wanted to go, walking around 4-1/2 miles, having lunch for breakfast, and hunting the elusive ukulele.

I was going through ukulele withdrawal, so I had this crazy idea that I’d visit a music store about three miles away, pick up one of their extremely cheap bottom-of-the-line ukes so I could continue to practice each day, then give it away to some kid before I flew home. But due to that getting-lost thing, I never made it there. So I abandoned my plans and instead headed to the first stop on my Man V. Food tour of the city—Bruges Waffles and Frites, where I began my day with their famed Machine Gun Sandwich, which is “a fresh baguette stuffed with: 2 merguez (lamb) sausages, fries, andalouse sauce.”

Yes, there are two spicy sausages buried somewhere under there! (Adam Richman did NOT let me down.)

From there, I headed off to Intermountain Guitar and Banjo (which was much easier to find than that other uke place) to check out their collection of vintage ukuleles, including this 1929 Gibson banjolele.

But I’d made the mistake of showing up on a day the uke specialist wasn’t there, so I didn’t get to lay my hands on any of them. I might sneak back Friday afternoon, though, when there’s a break in the horrific con festivities.

When I returned to the hotel at 1:00, I immediately left again with Jeff Strand, Lynne Hansen, Gabrielle Faust, Stephen Kling and Derek Clendening so they could experience Bruges (it’s that good), followed by much schmoozing in the halls until the 6:00 p.m. opening ceremonies … which you can watch below whether you were in Salt Lake City or not. (more…)

Those of you who come here for the comics and the science fiction and the old timey magazine and newspaper articles have probably been thinking lately, what’s all this with the ukulele? Well, I’ve fallen in love, so there’ll be uke neep now and then, but this will be the last for a bit, especially since I’m heading off to this year’s World Horror Convention later today, so expect chattering about the goings-on in Salt Lake City for the next week instead.

But one last ukulele video before I go, just to show how far my strumming has gotten in four months and a day of owning a ukulele. Still trying to figure out how to sing decently while strumming and fretting at the same time, but I’m sure that will come.

And now … no more ukulele videos until I post something on April 25 to see how far I’ve gotten in five months!

(But you’re not going to hold me to that, are you?)

It’s hard to believe that when I started with the ukulele four months ago I hadn’t heard of George Formby, but … I hadn’t. Because now that I’ve learned of him, I’ve fallen in love with his personality and ukulele skills, and in fact, I’m kind of addicted.

I only heard of him five weeks ago, which is hard to believe, considering how obsessed I’ve become with him since then. But it wasn’t until, right before my three-month uke anniversary, when I announced I would post a video of me playing and asked you to choose a song, that someone suggested I play “Leaning on a Lamp Post,” which led me to discover (via Wikipedia) that “between 1934 and 1945 Formby was the top comedian in British cinema,” and that in 1939 “he was Britain’s number-one film star of all genres.”

But he didn’t travel well, it seems, and he never caught in in the States. I quickly fell in love with him, though, thanks to what I found on YouTube, which included this recent documentary that explains his appeal and revealed that after his death in 1961, the George Formby Society began holding quarterly conventions in Blackpool.

And then, thanks to a Twitter search a few weeks ago, I discovered that one of those cons was going on that weekend, and I befriended a dedicated bunch of UK Formby fans, who’ve been giving me the kind of feedback I need to learn the uke the way I want to learn it, particularly since no one on this side of the pond, including my ukulele teacher, had any idea who Formby was.

And so, in the spirit of friendship, I threatened to post a video of me singing one of Formby’s songs to the Formby Facebook Fan Club, even though I’m in no way ready to sing them. See, the man used a bunch of special strumming techniques, like the split stroke and the triple, to create banjolele solos he’d plunk down in the middle of songs to wow audiences, and I have no idea how to do that yet. But these new friends seemed so convivial that yesterday I recorded myself “performing” the first Formby song I found on YouTube, “Why Don’t Women Like Me?” And after their response, I thought, oh, why not post it here? (more…)

I bought a ukulele exactly four months ago today—which you’d already know if you saw what I inflicted on the world when I hit my three-month ukulele anniversary—so I thought I should share another one of the songs I’m noodling around with. Today’s victim, “Side by Side,” which was sung far better by Ukulele Ike.

One unfortunate side effect I’ve noticed about playing the ukulele is that my singing seems to have deteriorated as a result. I never thought of it before, but playing an instrument while singing is sort of like singing while rubbing my stomach and patting my head—there’s not much brain left over to pay attention to what’s going on with my throat. I hope that will improve as the playing comes more naturally to me. (Please tell me it will improve!)

In any event, here it is, flubs and all!

As part of my four-month anniversary celebration, I also recorded my take on George Formby’s “Why Don’t Women Like Me?”—I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Formby, have joined the George Formby Society, and am considering attending a Formby convention in Blackpool—but I haven’t decided whether to share that with any save the new uke friends I’ve made in the UK.

We’ll see.

I bought a ukulele exactly three months ago today, and now that I’ve been noodling around with it for a bit, I thought I’d let you see how far I’ve gotten. (Though if you watch the video below, perhaps you’ll instead think of it as how far I haven’t gotten.)

I’ve been tempted by the uke for awhile now, and boingboing has been goosing me along, first with its write-up of Sophie Madeleine’s project to record 30 uke songs in 30 days, and then with its review of the extremely tempting Firefly banjolele. But what finally pushed me over the edge and made decide that yes, I must have one, was Amanda Palmer’s performance of “The Ukulele Anthem” at Occupy Boston. And so, when those Black Friday sales rolled around, I jumped, and bought a Mitchell MU-70 concert ukulele.

Surprisingly, when I asked the sales guy which books I should pick up to teach myself the ukulele, he shook his head and simply said, “YouTube.” And amazingly, there do seem to be tens of thousands of videos online from which you can learn almost any song you wish. And so that’s what I did, tracking down songs that spoke to me and clumsily following along with those YouTube teachers to learn some basic chords. But I soon realized I needed a kick in the pants in the form of someone who could critique my progress, and so I found a local teacher from whom I’ve taken four lessons so far.

Since he has to suffer, and my wife has to suffer, I figure it’s time you did some suffering, too. So here’s a sample of how I’ve been entertaining myself these days.

And so, with great trepidation, welcome to the “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”

Be gentle.