Twokulele
Posted on June 23, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
Athena was admiring my ukulele and enjoying playing it, so I figured, what the heck. Thus, we are now a two-ukulele family. No doubt soon we will go out on tour as a musical act. Krissy will be our manager. Daisy will work the merchandise table. And the cats, well. The cats will do whatever they want. Because they’re cats, you see.
O great. Now you got me wanting to buy one. Because CLEARLY it’s cool to play ukelele.
If the internets have not lied to me (and I have no reason to believe they have), you might be able to get something interesting from Ghlaghghee on a baby grand, Zeus at the Roland V synth and Lopsided C rockin’ the keytar.
Who is going do the crazy paint job on the old schoolbus?
I seem to recall some Guest of Honor appearances in your future. I hope y’all learn (or better yet write!) some good filk for ’em!
Why does this remind me of “that Spinal Tapish movie but with folk music, the name I can not remember but could if I would search for but am way to lazy”?
#5, Tsauro, might it be “A Mighty Wind”?
John, I think this might well have been a predictable turn of events, given how awesome you looked in that Ukulele video. But still, father-daughter ukulele duet = super cute!
“But still, father-daughter ukulele duet = super cute!”
It’ll be like that Nat King & Natalie Cole duet of “Unforgettable,” but you’ll actually get to be there!
John–
Dunno if you like Eddie Vedder but his latest album is all ukulele songs. :)
Eddie Vedder played a ukuele song on Letterman the other night . . .
Oh sure, everyone jumps on the “odd-ball four-stringed instruments” bandwagon well after Diamond David Lee Roth got himself into bluegrass and started playing the banjo…
And it even matches Athena’s shirt!
Is it just the lighting, or is her ukelele actually purple?
:-)
Is that a dead gingerbread man on Athena’s shirt?
That matching purple t-shirt is no accident, right?
Purple!
Now THAT’s stylin’.
Fun!!
They say buying ukuleles is addictive–soon you’ll have a wall of ukes, from the Pinapple to the eleuke to the specialty ones made of antique cigar boxes… (Still kicking myself for not getting the gorgeous 6 string when I was last in Hawaii).
Keep it up and you’ll ruin honest Metal forever :-)
I like that it’s purple.
I am valiantly resisting the ukulele meme.
Forget the duet, the rivalry over who’s the better will soon take over and we’ll be seeing a ukulele duel!
Settle the issue of who’s playing lead vs rhythm uke before you start the tour.
The cats can juggle & sell patetnt medicines.
Mahalo makes a “Flying V” shaped uke in black, white or pink.
@10-Jas
While I’m not sure what it is that David Lee Roth learned to play, unless it is aplectrum or tenor banjo, it has 5 strings… or 6 in the case of of a guitar banjo, or maybe one of those seldom seen 15 string jobs. Since you said bluegrass though, I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark that is the common resonator 5 string banjo… a very handy instrument to have on hand when the inevitable bar fight breaks out. What with the resonator on the back, and the Metal rings and screws of the tone ring holding the head to the pot, (not to mention the thick walls of the pot), a banjo make a nice hefty weapon to swing at the rowdy locals.
Ya hear that John? When the Locals start jumping up on stage you are really going to wish you had learned to play a banjo… besides you can also use the finger picks as eye gougers in things get too close range. ;-)
Oh… I should mention that you would like to choose metal fingerpicks for the eye-gouging fingers. A) because they are much easier to individual form and B) because they would cause more damage than the cheapy plastic ones. Thumb would make no diff plastic or metal as a personal choice. I prefer metal. (but really, someone in the household needs a banjo… seriously… personal prtection comes in no prettyier a package!). ;-)
I used to have a purple Mahalo ukulele, before I left it on a train at Kings Cross. It sounded really good, considering the price, but only after I’d changed the strings. The cheap plastic ones it came with were rubbish, but upgrading to some nylon Aquilas really did the trick.
Ukuleles have been cool ever since the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (possibly before, but that’s when I became aware of the little stringed wonders): http://youtu.be/2KZjnFZvCNc
Purple ukulele for the win! Love that it matches her shirt.
Okay, now I’m picturing Athena as a Goth ukulele player. Or maybe as as ukulele version of Hannah Montana, with you as her manager.
It’s purple. I approve.
Also, I like your floral wallpaper.
It is purple, and therefore made of awesome. Rock on, Athena!
I know you have about 150 my-next-band names in the queue, but might I suggest Uke Can’t Hurry Love?
… I think I have that same uke. :)
I look forward to the launch of your family’s musical career
I love the color, it’s a beautiful instrument.