My Recording King Resonator uke. Added this to the collection on May 1, 2019 because, well I didn’t have a resonator for sure. The logic for awhile was if I didn’t have one like that I needed one. This did not extend to color or make and had to be a significant difference… like this for sure.
Yet another from Funky Frets in Boyertown. Great for playing at least the intro to Stairway to Heaven… at least I’m working on it. A Lanikai MA-8T. That’s my Maine pack basket it’s leaning on.
Still catching up on posting my Uke collection. This one was purchased in 2017 on a trip back past the manor shopping center from a meeting at Millersville University. Why? I didn’t have a cutaway yet, and the style is classic of course. BTW the bowler is a vintage Stetson complete with serial number and blocking instructions. It’s a bit small perhaps, but great for that tough guy blues image.
Another banjolele actually. Lighter than either the vintage Dixie banjolele (#10) or especially the Luna (#4) whose weight appealed to me. The Firefly by Magic Fluke has a unique one piece construction of head, neck and post that holds the Remo banjo head. I’m not.a fan of the one piece molded fretboard, but overall the design is definitely different than my other ukes, so I like it for that. Got this in 2017 at Funky Frets. (I’m a bit behind in getting these posted.
A collection of links and information from recent journeys through life and the internet. Irregular describes the schedule and the path.
A Century of Dining Out – So if you miss eating out as much as you did pre-pandemic here’s a treat. Peruse menus from 1841 – 1941. You can admire them for the art or for the dinner faire. There are menus for restaurants and banquets. Be sure to check out the Broiled Squirrels a la Maitre d’Hotel at the Fifth Annual Reunion of the Railroad Conductors’ Life Insurance Company. For a deeper dive check out the other Grolier Club Online Exhibitions. Thanks to Paul for sharing a link to the Magazines and the American Experience Exhibition which I originally intended to highlight here.
All Aboard! – get these free sample train coloring pages from the Dover Coloring Book series. I used to sell lots of the nature related ones and the best thing about them was they usually included a permission statement on the first page for copying for personal or classroom use. You can sign up to regularly get these samples somewhere, but you’ll have to explore the Dover site for that. I have saved far too many of these files by right clicking on the coloring page and saving it to my computer. You can just print the .jpg file out or paste it into a Word page so you can easily manipulate the size. You can get more at http://www.coloringbookday.com/ .
Audubon’s Birds of America at Bowdoin College – One of the silver linings to the COVID disaster is that fascinating on-line opportunities have proliferated from colleges, non-profits, and individuals. Bowdoin college has these and some pre-covid recordings to watch in it’s page-turning events. It’s probably enough to say I was attracted by the idea that each event shows a page of Audubon’s double Elephant folio (that’s a BIG book), but what got us there on March 5 was an opportunity to hear our friend, Scott Weidensaul share the story of the book, Birds of Maine. His presentation will appear there if it hasn’t already.
Emerson and his Friends – The story went something like this when a customer noticed the Emerson pins available at the Walden Pond gift shop where a friend of mine works. He asked, “How about pins for Lake and Palmer?” With all my study of Emerson lately I completely forgot about them. Seriously, the link takes you to a Royal Albert Hall performance. I missed one of their performances at the Rock Festival at the Pocono Raceway in 1972 (I do have a limited double album vinyl press their performance released in 2019). My girlfriend at the time took me as a graduation present but storms and technical problems extended the concert to well past when we could stay with ELP playing at dawn the next day. I finally got to see Palmer a couple years ago after both Emerson and Lake left us. He played a short set before Todd Rundgren and Yes and I would have rather he kept playing rather than Todd for sure and even Yes. You can get an inkling of his performance starting at 1:01:48 in the Albert Hall Performance. Funny, my favorite was always Emerson, but I have a new appreciation for Palmer as well as Lake through his performance in several concerts available on youtube and his solo of one of my favorite ELP songs, You Turn Me On.
A collection of links and information from recent journeys through life and the internet. Irregular describes the schedule and the path. It’s a sort of occasional Magical Mystery Tour that helps me share these links as well as preserve them for myself.
Today in History, February 17 – The House of Representatives, breaking a tie in the Electoral College brought an end to one of the most acrimonious presidential campaigns in U.S. history and resolved a serious Constitutional crisis. I learn lots of things from the Library of Congress. Most come by way of email lists I have subscribed to or the inevitable rabbit holes they lead me down. Since there is a somewhat, I believe, false lull in the political turmoil (at least by comparison of the past four years, this link struck me. It sounds too much like today though it refers to 1801. You’ll have to click on it to see who the declared winner was.
Virtual Woodworking Show – In January of 2020 I finally got to travel to the Woodworking Show in Timonium Maryland after missing it because of work even though I worked in the area very close to when it was held. I traveled with Mike and his wife Lois from our scrollsaw club unaware that he would die just two months later. It was a good day. This year the show is virtual and stretches over all the weekends in March. Visiting the vendors is the best part and free. Classes cost a little something but are worth it.
Perseverance – Seeing a live space event, like the landing of the Mars Lander Perseverance on February 18 can still bring tears to my eyes. Being a part of these great explorations is pretty amazing these days watching it live from the Jet Propulsion Lab control room via my iPad. With this link the adventure can continue as you can virtually follow the rover around mars. I’m sure there will be additional Reflection links for the Mars Helicopter that rode along and of course pictures.
Bang – Whether they truly were “America’s answer to Black Sabbath” or a misfire, Bang was a Philadelphia group I discovered browsing the LP bins in the early seventies when an interesting dust jacket would result in a purchase. I rediscovered that they still have an internet presence with some free ringtone downloads if you’re into that kind of thing. Maybe it’s time I abandon the old man ringtone I have… a ringing phone. And on YouTube there are some songs from the album like The Queen.
Emerson’s Complete Works – In 12 volumes that you can read online or download from the Internet Archive. This search gives you a complete matching set from the Boston Public Library.
Fastest I ever bought a uke. I had 5 or ten minutes to spare at an NAGT Eastern Section Meeting in Maryland while people were gathering to eat at a restaurant there when I decided I could run a block or two down the street to a music shop prominently displaying a UKULELE sign. We had passed it multiple times traveling from the hotel to the meeting. I rushed through the door and saw this Cordoba 24C spalted maple with a cedar top Uke and bought it before the guy at the store said hello. I had seen this new model in Ukulele Magazine and instantly fell in love with the wood. It’s the only ukulele I can think of that I may prefer the back to the front. When I got back to the restaurant everyone was seated and I proudly displayed my latest catch.
Yes, I play a little uke… my Ohana Sopranino! It’s a Ohana SK-21A, the smallest of the standard sizes for the ukulele. It has a solid cedar top with solid rosewood back and sides, whose dark color sets off the cedar nicely. It’s held here by our “forever” Gio who says it’s a perfect size.
Uke ten is a banjo… and a ukulele. My vintage Dixie Banjolele from the 1950’s. All metal. Got this one at the Bedford Banjo Shop, a great place for more than banjos actually.
More information on banjoleles is found with Uke four which was my first here.
No, it isn’t a beatles uke, although George Harrison was known for playing one and promoting them as an instrument everyone should have and play as he explains in a letter on this page which also includes some video.
My ninth is one of my favorites, a Martin OXK. It sits in my library on a little shelf I made out of scrap wood that slides under some books and keeps it near at hand when I’m sitting at my desk. (Everything in my tiny library is near at hand from everywhere else in the library.) The review here pretty much sums up why I like it.