The 4th Peg

The Blue Stone Folk School and the Hedgehog Music Showcase present - Winter Paradise: A Bit of Hawaii in the Ozarks

When? Saturday, February 24, 2007
Time? 8:00pm - 10:00pm at the Hedgehog Music Showcase in Arcadia, Indiana (about 30 miles north of Indianapolis)

Featuring:
Gerald Ross, Ukulele,Lap Guitar and Swing Guitar great from Ann Arbor Michigan, Geoff Davis on ukulele and Indianapolis’ famous Key Strummers

Lap Steel Guitar workshop with Gerald Ross and Ukulele workshop with Geoff Davis from 6:30pm until the concert begins.

For more information or to purchase pre-concert tickets, contact:
Bob Foster
Hedgehog Music Showcase
Phone: (317) 984-3560 or (317) 773-8899

or vist the Blue Stone Folk School website at www.bluestonefolkschool.org.

Jake will appear on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly on February 15, 2007 as a special musical guest performing with the show’s band. “Last Call” airs at 1:35am (EST) right after Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Please check your local listings to see when Last Call with Carson Daly airs in your area.

Interesting article from The Californian in Salinas, California. Basically, they think that Jake Shimabukuro is on the verge of greatness. Wonder where they’ve been? Also gives them an excuse to announce that Jake is appearing February 11th at Monterey Live. But really,

“This young ukulele player from Hawaii…”

Even Jake admits he can’t jump around on the stage as he once did nor should he. He’s grown and matured as a performer. He doesn’t need qualifiers such as young to distinguish his talents from others. I think he’s earned his stripes.

Oh, just grand. Here’s another absolutely fun Uke festival I’m going to miss! Harrumph. Sponsored by the Portland Ukulele Association and held at Reed College in beautiful Portland Oregon, this is one dandy sounding event. Here’s a blurb from their web page.

“Whether you are a beginner or an advanced player, you will find expert instruction at Portland Uke Fest 2007. Each class extends over three consecutive days to deepen your learning and jump start your playing technique and repetoire at any level. To round out your musical experience you can join in other classes such as hula, acoustic bass, and percussion. Repertoire classes include Hawaiian, ragtime, jazz standards, and folk. Ukulele makers and vendors of ukuleles, books, CDs, and accessories be on hand, and the evenings will be filled with entertainment and lots of jamming.“

Ready to sign-up? Then hightail it on over to The Portland Uke Fest home page. Registration begins February 15th (that’s the day after Valentine’s Day.. no excuses that you were busy that day).

This just in from the “This Just In” department. Uke Jackson cracked like an old walnut and revealed the latest on the NY Uke Ensemble’s latest project. Below is his confesssion.

“On Monday the New York Ukulele Ensemble went into a recording studio in Chinatown. We — 9 ukulele and a bass — laid down 10 trax in 3 hours. Such is the power of practice.On Tuesday, the producer and I mixed and mastered the CD. Yesterday the master was FedExed to the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, I’ve uploaded 1 original tune “Ukulele Beach Bum” to http://www.myspace.com/newyorkukuleleensemble for streaming / listening purposes. I’ll add more streaming tunes as our CD release date gets closer. Enjoy!”

Speaking of the NY Uke Fest, you have got your Early Bird tickets, haven’t you? Or perhaps you wouldn’t want to save over $100 USD versus purchasing in April or at the door? If you haven’t and are waiting for a ‘Round Tuit (as in getting a ’round to it) then here it is!

Get a move on because the sale is only until the beginning of February. Half of the 100 Early Bird tickets are already gone and so will be your chance to save a bunch of money unless you act now!

Where does one go then? Easy! Right to the NY Uke Fest site, of course!

It’s here again! It’s the New York Uke Fest! Pack your bags and head to the Villiage area in Manhattan to have yourself one heck of a time. Will there be performers? Oh yeah! Will there be vendors? Oh yeah! Will there be open mics? Oh yeah! Will there be drunken debauchery? Hard for me to say.. if I get to go, I’ll have my 3 year old with me!

Here’s a taste of who will be performing (in no particular order).

Victoria Vox
Moonlighters
John King
Craig Robertson
NY Ukulele Ensemble
Fabulous Heftones
Sazerac and his Genial Orleanians
Fred Fallin
Jim and Liz Beloff
Joel Eckhaus Ham & Legs
Kelli Rae Powell
Tim Sweeney

Ok.. ’nuff drooling! Get your tickets, get your travel arrangements and get yourself to the NY Uke Fest! For more info, surf the wild web over to www.nyukefest.com.

Inigma Media, the company that brought us ChordGenie, has come up with a neat product… chords on your cell phone. ChordGenie offers over 15,000 chords and chords can be found quickly and easily, whether in standard or alternate tuning, in any position on the fret board. Additional features include a Metronome, Pitch Pipe Tuner and an innovative Songbook feature, which allows users to bookmark chords against any song they are working on.

You can define your own chord types using the Chord Builder feature. The Chord Builder is also useful in an educational context in that users can see exactly what intervals are used in each chord.

It seems like a handy way to have access to chords and learn new ones if your phone is of the modern type. I haven’t tried it yet but I’ll let everyone know after I’ve given it a run through. ChordGenie is priced at £4.99 GBP (approx $9.60) and can be downloaded over the air direct to your mobile phones or via your computer. A free trial is available. For more info, see their website, www.chordgenie.com.

It’s the Intelli IMT-500 Clip-On Chromatic Tuner. Works with every uke head I own and I have some ukes with very thin headstocks! It’s sensitive without being too jumpy so I tune faster and more accurate. Small enough to fit in comparments and pouches on even the smallest uke gig bags and cases, it’s ready when I need it. The backlight is bright and easily tuned on/off with a touch of the finger.

I’ve tried the Korg CA-30 tuner, pitchpipes, Fender LX-12 tuner, the Intellitouch PT-2 tuner and the ever-lovin’ tuning fork. Not bad, each and every one of them (except the Fender tuner.. didn’t like it a bit). But the Meisel is by far the easiest to use and the fastest, most consistent reading in most environments. Definitely worth a try for yourself. About $40 USD.

Dan Zanes (www.danzanes.com) recently introduced a limited edition Flea ukulele for sale on his site. He calls it the Limon and if you are familiar with Dan.. if fits perfectly! The first round of Limon Fleas sold out on pre-order. I’m sure this new round is also gone. But visit the News section on his site and see if you can still order yourself one!

In case you aren’t familiar with Dan, he co-founded the Del Fuegos in the ’80s. Recently, Dan is very active in not only children’s music but family music. His CDs reflect music that can be enjoyed by all ages and all ages can participate. Furthering those goals, Dan posts lyrics, chords and sound snippets for his CDs on his web site. Does this guy sound like a Uker or what?