My ukulele book is available. The book aims to help ukulele strummers play the tune as they strum. You can learn a little about it in the video below:
Information on how to buy it can also be found on the ‘how-to-buy-my-book’ page.
From 4th November 2009, I will donate to youngcare half the purchase price of any book sold.
If you don’t want to buy my book (that’s ok), please consider donating to youngcare yourself.
From The Mahoning Dispatch (Ohio) 9 April 1920.
“Your favourite musical instrument is the ukulele?”
“Yes,” replied Mr. Cumrox. “It doesn’t make much noise at best; and when you get tired of listening to it you can demolish it without anything like the expense that would attach to smashing a grand piano or a good violin.”
Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia) 24 January 1918, page 2, reported the following:
The famous Hawaiian ukulele, which has had a lot to answer for, has made at least two loving hearts happy in the persons of Assunta Di Gullio, fifteen years old, of 508 South Bancroft Street, and Michael Perna, twenty-two years old, of 1525 South Juniper Street. They are now Mr and Mrs Perna after a long series of misadventures culminating in their marriage by Magistrate Harris.
Assunta, an unusually pretty Italian girl, lived with her father, Rocco, who did not like the attentions of Michael, although the daughter did. Perhaps it was because he played the ukulele (Michael, not Rocco). At any rate, the music made a great hit with Assunta and she wanted Michael. They knew that the girl’s father would not have it, so last Sunday, Michael took his ukulele and Assunta to Wilmington, where he got a license and they settled down to wait for the necessary forty-eight hours to elapse before they could be married.
In the meantime, father Rocco missed the dulcet strains of the ukulele. He also missed Assunta and Michael, and got his friend, James Julian, a private detective, to look the missing trio up. Julian has a sister living at 1903 West fourth Street, Wilmington, and thither the father and the sleuth went, arriving about two hours before the forty-eight hours were up, much to the sorrow of the two elopers, who were soon located.
They were arrested and the four started back to Philadelphia, still accompanied by the ukulele. On the way up to this city Assunta used her black eyes and winning ways on her father to such good effect that before the city was reached father had consented to overlook the ukulele proclivities of Michael and consented to the marriage. Then they found out that they only had a Wilmington license and had to hunt another. Finally the two hearts were made one by Magistrate Harris, and Michael, tucking his ukulele and his Assunta under his arm, went happily away on his delayed honeymoon.
The internationally famous ukulele couple, Bosko and Honey (and friends), took time out of their busy schedule to drop in on the backward ukulele player and family. I was incoherent with happiness — and remain so.
B&H at Our Place
Bosko and Honey are travelling to the Melbourne Ukulele Festival. With them are amazing ukulele performers, Gensblue and Yan Yalego, Mark the driver (who has already had his first ukulele lessons on safari) and the friendly camera-person-from-Melbourne-who-plays-ukulele-while-surfing, Jo Bangles.
You can follow them via their UKULELE SAFARI OZ 2010 page.
PS: my youngest son found that Honey was very interested in his six different lego versions of Indiana Jones.
The San Francisco Call, 23 May 1906, reports that Captain Berger’s Royal Hawaiian Band will play in San Francisco.
Captain Berger has probably the largest Gee Club in the world, and its first concerts will be given in San Franciso for the relief of earthquake sufferers ….
There are forty-five members of the band. Ten of them played violin, three played cellos, two played bass viols and the rest were evenly divided between guitars and ukuleles. Nobody ever saw so many ukuleles being played at one time before and it was a surprising novelty even in Hawaii.
That last paragraph reads like cross between a joke and a year five maths question — “How many ukuleles played at once will surprise even an Hawaiian?”
A story by Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild, appeared in The Evening Post (New Zealand) on Saturday, 22 June 1912, page 10. The story was called ”Koolau the Leper”, and it’s not an overly happy one.
“Life is short, and the days are filled with pain,” said Koolau. “Let us drink and dance and be happy as we can.”
From one of the rocky lairs calabashes were produced and passed around. The calabashes were filled with the fierce distillation of the root of the ti-plant; and as the liquid fire coursed through them and mounted to their brains they thought themselves men and women once more. The woman who wept scalding tears from open eye-pits was indeed a woman apulse [sic] with life as she plucked the strings of an ukulele and lifted her voice in a barbaric love-call such as might have come from the dark forest depths of the primeval world. The air tingled with her cry, softly imperious and seductive. Upon a mat, timing his rhythm to the woman’s song, Kiloliana danced. It was unmistakable. Love danced in all his movements, and next, dancing with him on the mat, was a woman, whose heavy hips and generous breast gave the lie to her diseased-corroded face. It was a dance of the living dead, for in their disintegrating bodies life still loved and longed. Ever the woman whose sightless eyes ran scalding tears chanted her love-cry, ever the dancers danced of love in the warm night, and ever the calabashes went around till in all their brains were maggots crawling of memory and desire.
The Milwaukee Sentinel of 24 August 1930 reported that…
Los Angeles, Cal Aug 23 — (I.N.S.)– Social position, as far as Cliff Edwards, song writer and actor, is concerned, is non-existent.
“I have no social position,” he told the court. “I am just Ukulele Ike.” This assertion was forthcoming from Edwards after his estranged wife told the court she needed $250 a week “to keep up appearances befitting the social standing of Mr. Edwards.” She sought this amount as alimony pending trial of a divorce suit and a legal battle over $150,000 worth of property.
Further, mid August 1932, Mr. Edwards was persued by Mrs. Irene L. Edwards for $17399 worth of missed alimony payments. Seemingly undeterred, Cliff announced his engagement to Miss Nancy Dover on 30 August 1932.
From The Argus, 18 September 1937:
Mr. T. W. Mitchell, the United Australia party candidate for Benambra at the State Election, faced the music in a double sense when he reached Koetong, a small former mining town in the Upper Murray district, to deliver his policy speech. He found a band and guard of honour to welcome him.
As a tribute to his Scottish ancestry, the band was kilted; but the only sporrans that could be obtained in the district were the straw envelopes from beer bottles.
Each bandsman had a musical instrument of some kind and did his best to play and the guard of honour presented arms with shotguns.
Not to be outdone, Mr Mitchell dived into the boot of his car and produced a ukulele. He played a selection with the band before inspecting the guard.
When the time came for him to speak, Mr Mitchell had for his audience almost every man, woman, child and dog in the district.
Mr Mitchell is well known in the Upper Murray district. He owns a station near Corryong.
Beat that Mr Plushbottom!
The New Zealand Truth reported 18 September 1930 (page 8) that a woman wanted to divorce her husband for his alleged misbehaviour with a nurse who had been brought in for a week to help him recover from pneumonia. He says he never did, she says she always suspected him.
Here’s a snippet from the court proceedings:
Mr Shorland: You’ll admit to a trivial flirtation with Nurse Gibbard?
– No. I’ll not admit that.
Did you ever kiss her? — No.
You just had musical evenings with her? — That’s all.
Did you have many of these evenings? — My wife invited her twice. I should say that she was there two or three times. She came one afternoon just when I was getting about. She came at my wife’s suggestion and brought her ukulele and music with her at her request.
You play some instrument? — I play the piano.
Your wife does not play or sing, so why should she have invited the Nurse Gibbard to the house? — She likes music.
His wife said that the nurse “seemed to be a bright, lively sort of girl … She had no friends, and my husband suggested that we invite her around to our house.” It was when the wife followed husband and nurse to the park that the trouble started, apparently.
From the New Zealand Truth, 27 May 1911, page 6:
Mr Earnest Kaai
Director of the Royal Hawaiian Concert and Musical Organization
and the finest Mandolin and ukulele player in the world.
A story from a New Zealand newspaper, The Otautau Standard, 1 September 1931 … but it’s about happenings in the USA.
Marion Roberts, the former show girl sweetheart of Jack Diamond, New York’s notorious gangster, has herself become the leader of a gang of gunmen who are operating throughout the New England States, according to police.
She has been identified as the leader of a gang which held up two assistants at a chemist’s shop at Middleton, Connecticut, recently, and escaped with all the money in the cash register as well as a banjo and a ukulele.
Marian Roberts, gangster and ukulele player
The former Ziegfeld Follies girl is known to have been very fond of the banjo and ukulele, which she played professionally. The two assistants state that a motor-car drove up to the shop and the girl and two companions got out and entered the shop. All three immediately produced revolvers and ordered the assistants to keep quiet. One of the robbers then forced the assistants into a back room while the girl and the other bandit looted the shop.
In 1931, the ukulele might have been of more value than the takings from the cash register… depression and all that, and … they sold ukuleles in chemist shops — for the medicinal benefits they provide.
PS. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - 2 May, 1931 (page 2), reported that Marian might have been involved in the kidnapping and torture of two truckmen — a real sweetheart.
PPS. The New York Magazine of 14 November 1988 (pp. 47-48) tells of 4 attempts to kill Jack “Legs” Diamond’s made by his business rivals (only the last was successful — go figure). Apparently Marion’s nick name was “Kiki” — sweet.
