← Feed

Posts

• Post #4500151

  The Quiet American: "The Quiet American Concert, With Lyrics, July 26 2025" https://youtu.be/tf5N9df_9pQ #Ukulele #Americana #Music

• Post #4499069

  The title song from the 1934 musical (one of those for which P.G. Wodehouse did some writing), this has been frequently revived since its debut, almost always with the officially revised lyrics I'm using here. The original included a lot of contemporary references that have not necessarily aged well and probably fit rather better into a song that's part of a bigger show. The transition from B7 to B9 is best achieved by simply adding your little finger on the 4th fret of the A string. P...

• Post #4496374

  "But Jon!" I hear you exclaim. "Surely this song has been written up a thousand times before and knowledge of how to play it forcibly implanted to the brains of ukulele players across the globe?" That's true, yes, but as usual the verses are almost always victims of convenience, excised and discarded to be forever left in the most dismal corner of History's shed. Let's bring them out into the sunshine once again. We have the remarkably industrious and talented Ma...

• Post #4491948

  If you feel that your strumming isn't up to par, or want to show someone that there are worse things that getting into ukuleles, then try this top-hole number from Frank Crumit. Moderate pacing and familiar chords allow plenty of space to playfully deliver the lyrics without getting your fingers in a tangle. I want you to know that including only two slightly golf-related puns in this description involved an Herculean effort on my part. Anyway, here's the man himself performing the so...

• Post #4487410

  With the arrival of the motorcar the American woodcraft movement, begun after books by "Nessmuk" and others in the 1880s, expanded into quite an industry. Horace Kephart, Ernest Thompson Seton, Stewart Edward White, and John Muir addressed both the practicalities and the romance of heading into the woods for a time, to escape the stress and baleful influence of modern society and enjoy the more "real" pleasures of time spent under canvas. Indeed, the idea of camping as a leis...

• Post #4484019

  Hmm… rpgpub.com has been mostly down over the past couple of days (verified with downforeveryoneorjustme.com). This morning it seems to be up, but after a new screen appeared for me to click and thus prove my membership of humankind, it announced that I had been blocked. Not my account, my access to the site as a whole. I’m assuming that whatever bot filter they have put in place is affronted by my use of an adblocker, but there we are. Unless it gets tweaked and sorted in the next few days I g...

• Post #4467843

  Different performers often make changes to a song. In the Tin Pan Alley days it was very common to only sing the chorus, so many of my songsheets are effectively restoring a part of the song that may be unfamiliar. In this case I can completely understand why part of the song (the second chorus in this case) was generally dropped, as it takes an unwelcome turn from good-natured fun and implied ribaldry to misogyny and domestic violence. Definitely not what I was expecting. I've decided to r...

• Post #4442716

  Good morning all. The sun’s out and I’m listening to the Beale Street Washboard Band: https://youtu.be/XxdOz2N3NTs #1920s #Jazz #Music

• Post #4430219

  A brief departure from my usual fare of neglected 1920s songs this time, prompted by reading that it's fifty years since Australian art school band Mental As Anything got together. It was a toss-up as to whether I picked this song or their 1979 track "The Nips Are Getting Bigger," but in the end I opted for the more widely known of the two, written by the late Greedy Smith, which achieved international success after featuring in "Crocodile Dundee." It's a quite beaut...

• Post #4426353

  https://isitbandcampfriday.com/ #Music #BandcampFriday

• Post #4426000

  Fabled Lands: “Who ate all the spies?” https://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2030/03/my-roleplaying-group-used-to-cut-loose.html #RPG #ColdWar #Games

• Post #4422858

  After resisting (just) the temptation of a 1923 Martin 3M soprano that’s being sold through the Ukulele Underground forum, someone is now waving a 1920s Martin 2K soprano under my nose (next model down, but made from Hawaiian koa). “Luckily” I’m still skint and can’t afford this one either. But what a beauty… #Ukulele #1920s #MusicalInstruments

• Post #4420699

  Put in a little effort to learn this piece today. Not as easy as it looks (for me at least) with a couple of unusual changes and slightly unconventional timing, but overall not too bad and it definitely started to come together by the end. I’ll have another crack at it tomorrow. Sounded a little better on an ADF#B soprano than a GCEA one, I thought (using the same chord shapes, so the D-tuned ukulele played the tune a tone higher). Of course, nobody plays it like Cliff: https://youtu.be/Rk6LFs...

• Post #4420613

  Colossal: “A Short Film Sheds Light on the Garfield Phones Washing Up on a French Beach Since the ’80s” https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/08/silly-little-plastic-cat-short-film/ #Pollution #Plastic #France #Garfield

• Post #4417972

  Meanwhile… in the world of Amazon reviews…

• Post #4410350

  One Foot Tsunami: “Don’t build a Snow Room” https://onefoottsunami.com/2026/08/05/dont-build-a-snow-room/

• Post #4410349

  Colossal: “‘Bodega Cats of New York’ Advocates for the City’s Beloved Feline Shopkeepers” https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/08/bodega-cats-of-new-york-dan-rimada-gulce-kilkis-book/ #Cats #NYC

• Post #4410348

  Current Status: Superfluous Warthog.

• Post #4410347

  Sure enough, not only am I completely unfamiliar with this song I also have no idea who the performers are. It’s funny how little incidental exposure to popular music I get since I no longer work in an office, or travel there in public transport. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/05/demise-monoculture-why-have-so-many-never-heard-uk-record-breaking-no-1-single-sam-fender-olivia-dean #Music #Pop

• Post #4410346

  Current Status: Prognosticating Halibut.

• Post #4377373

  A successful number from its debut in 1908, this is a song that became a staple of film and television, maintaining popularity for decades. Even Laurel and Hardy took a crack at it. The Wikipedia page is worth a look for notes about the murky authorship and the varying order of the months in the chorus (I've opted to follow Leon Redbone's version in that respect, as I think it simply flows more rhythmically). It also lists some of the many, many recordings you can explore to find your...

• Post #4018956

  Jon's Ukulele: "Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie" https://youtube.com/shorts/F0c4RT9eXtY #Ukulele #Renaissance #Music

• Post #3978444

  We really need to update our local attractions. #Leeds #Yorkshire

• Post #3973433

  William H. Macy: "Why I Put My Pants On" https://youtu.be/qrlottyFMCg #Ukulele

• Post #3833576

  An occasional reminder that https://symbol.wtf/ is possibly the single most useful page on the Web.

• Post #3811548

  “Through sculptural baskets that can be worn as costumes or displayed like venerable sculptures, Prosser taps into storytelling, masking traditions, and public ceremony and celebration” https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/07/lewis-prosser-baskets-costumes-folklore-performance/ #Wales #Craft #Art

• Post #3767248

  The hills above Glossop are burning. Not the clearest picture I’m afraid, but I was taking it through the passenger side window as we drove parallel to the water. From the car we could see flames as well as smoke. This has been going on for several days, with fires smouldering and reigniting when the wind picks up. #Derbyshire #Glossop #Tintwistle

• Post #3745234

  Dear Tony Blair: “Hinchliffe Models Fantasy re-released!” http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/2026/07/hinchliffe-models-fantasy-re-released.html?m=1 #Minis #Miniatures #Wargames #RPG

• Post #3723092

  News segment talking to an officer about the latest alcohol detection technology, being used by police in Merseyside. The machine is called the Intoxilyser 9000, which is exactly the sort of name I would come up with if asked to write a joke about the latest alcohol detection device.

• Post #3544237

  Shaft!