Believe it or not, the day we got back from tour Jason and I had a show.

The show was on Monday night November 16 at Robert Seven’s Artoreum – his home/studio and incredible art gallery/performance space. It was a rare Sugar & Spice performance – my project with Caroline Pond. We opened up for our good friend Maury Rosenberg of Hypnotic Clambake, who was in the area on tour from New York. The show was sold-out, and full of familiar smiling faces. The Sugar & Spice set was a complete blast. Caroline is one of my dearest friends and it is such a treat to play music with her. We hadn’t played together in months, but the practice we had earlier that day on my porch payed off. It was a total warm fuzzies sort of musical experience. Jason played guitar with Sugar & Spice as well was with Maury. Good stuff.

It was a yummy night and the perfect way to return home to our sweet Asheville artistic community.

Then on Wednesday night I went out to see Jason play his weekly gig with the Screamingj’s at MoDaddy’s because Maury was sitting in with them. Maury was dressed up crazy in a wig with a doll head attached to his accordion. The band sounded awesome and the energy was thrilling. I danced much of the night.

Catching up to more current events, last Friday we played a show with Pinche Gringo and the Lonesome Chihuahua’s at the Westerwood Tavern in Greenboro, NC. It was a perfect grungy rock show. Mad Tea and Pinche Gringo both killed it. The crowd was nifty. Thoroughly enjoyable. Mad Tea is going to play a lot more shows with Pinche Gringo in 2010.

Hope you get to catch one.

A change of plan for our December Friday night Christmas session – now 18 December from 8pm. It has still got eggnog, still got carols, still got frivolity and festive conviviality and still got room for all of us and our friends and families: just changed to bring it to the Friday before Christmas!

Dress: Tropical Christmas????

Tuesday November 10 found Mad Tea in the tiny Louisiana town of Opelousas. We played at the Whirlybird, a speak-easy of sorts built in an old train depot. Even though it was an “underground” spot, the Whirlybird is actually much nicer than many of the venues we play. And the folks that run it are super cool. We have a bunch of friends that live in that area and many of them came out to the show, including guys from the world-class Cajun/swing band the Red Stick Ramblers. It was a lovely show, with people dancing to every song, including to some songs that we had never seen anyone dance to before.

We spent the next two days with our friends David and Yvette, who have a gorgeous place out in the country near Lafayette. Yvette is a terrific artist. We relaxed, had interesting conversations, and enjoyed the perfect sunny weather. It gave us a change to rejuvenate after the wild time we had in New Orleans. A delicious mini-mid-tour vacation.

Then it was time for the home stretch of our tour.

Il collettivo esporrà le proprie opere dal 26 novembre al 2 dicembre 2009 presso il Rebacco wine + Art Showroom
via Pomezia 12, Roma
(M Re di Roma)
Inaugurazione il 26/11 alle h 19
con esibizione del duo ukulele/voce “Pasta e Patate”.
“LILLY AND THE NOISE” COLLECTIVE
Giovani artisti romani crescono. Questo collettivo di cinque talenti molto diversi tra loro, accomunati però dalla sperimentazione alternativa e dall’estrazione artistica indipendente, propone una serie di opere che spazia dalla street art, all’illustrazione pop, dall’action figure al flusso di coscienza fino ad arrivare alla musica. Un’offerta molto varia e coerente con lo spirito artistico underground romano, vitale oltre ogni immaginazione. “Lilly and the noise” collective è un progetto estemporaneo portato avanti da:
Gianni Lancellotti (Roma, 1978) illustratore, pittore, artista indipendente.
Luigi Alieni (Roma, 1970) stilista, tatuatore, scultore, pittore.
Valerio Pierbattista, utilizza materiali di scarto , creando serigrafie su qualsiasi supporto, espressionismo astratto e street art.
Valentina Zummo (Marino, 1980) illustratrice, artista postmoderna.
Marco About (Roma, 1977) visual artist, grafica.
Mostra a cura di Togaci
Progetto Comunicativo di Lipford
Set Fotografico di Chiara Caprasecca e Gabriella Maria Cinà

We savored our last day in New Orleans, exploring the city, enjoying a classic lunch at Ignatius, and walking around  the Audubon Park (which is beautiful and full of all kinds of water birds). The weather was exciting, because Hurricane Ida was blowing past us to the east. That night Mad Tea joined Chris and Ashley’s Three Piece Spicy Band for their weekly show at Ernie K-Doe’s Mother-in-Law Lounge.

The Mother-in-Law Lounge is a sight to behold. It was created in 1994by R&B singer Ernie K-Doe’s wife, Antoinette, to celebrate his career. It is full of mementos of his successes, most notably his hit song “Mother-in-Law”. The whole place had to be re-done after Katrina, but thankfully it’s still there. Antoinette and K-Doe are both deceased (Antoinette passed away during Mardi Gras this year), and Antoinette’s daughter Betty now runs the place. It is a totally funky, one-of-a-kind spot.

The outside has murals of K-Doe, Antoinette and of Quintron and Miss Pussycat – New Orleans musicians who helped revive K-Doe’s music later in his life. (Editor’s note:  Quintron and Miss Pussycat are absolutely fantastic and Jason and I are big fans of their music.) Outside is also a fantastical garden with plants in bathtubs and other colorful yard art.

The centerpiece inside the Mother-in-Law Lounge is a mannequin of K-Doe, which gets dressed up in different outfits and is taken out to second-line parades and other events. Many of the photos in the Lounge were of people (including Antoinette) posed with the mannequin. It’s beautifully bizarre.

Three Piece Spicy and Mad Tea rocked out that night. Betty is a hoot, and she served up awesome soul food for everyone. I slipped off to the van at one point to start writing a new song. New Orleans had infused me with creative inspiration.

After the show, we hung out with Betty and a few Mother-in-Law Lounge regulars, laughing and enjoying the setting. Once again we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.

I am so happy that we had such a kick-ass time in the Crescent City.

LETTING IT ALL GO: tUnE-yArDs is singer Merrill Garbus, and her weapons of choice are voice and ukulele. She attacks her singing the way she attacks her instrument, which is probably why it’s got a little bandage on it. Garbus’ newest album “BiRd-BrAiNs” may not be something you listen to consistently, but it’s a fascinating blend of noise, strumming, picking, African vocal intonations, crooning and downright yelling. Here’s a video for “Hatari” (posted one day ago) where she sings her song for you in a passport office. Not sure where she’s traveling to, but I bet it will be quite a ride. Grabus uses the recently popular technique of looping to create a variety of rhythms — much like Juana Molina, Emily Wells, Andrew Bird and Theresa Andersson — who all use it to suit their own unique sounds. Take a listen.

Il est temps de pratiquer les classiques pour les veillées de fin d’année. Tous les accords sont brossés vers le bas, sauf celui à la fin de la mesure 4. J’ai indiqué le doigté mesure 9 qui permet une transition en douceur.

Voici le fichier TablEdit, le fichier PDF et la vidéo sur Youtube.

It’s time to practice for Christmas. Watch for the fingering bar 9, for a smooth transition.

I’ve been MIA this past week due to school insanity, but I had to post the video of the week! This week’s ukulelehunt uketube video is by Galapaghost (Casey Chandler). He’s from Astoria, Queens, NY and plays folk rock, uke indie! Yep, that’s right! Enjoy! If this week is not too crazy I’ll be posting more!

Magnificent day of singing and strumming and then some more strumming and singing.

There’s nothing like a few good ukuleles and a few good folk to uke around with!

Here’s a question: “I Only Want To Be With You” (made famous by – among others – Dusty Springfield).

Opinion was divided:

Slow and wistful (and full of longing for someone to realise you are The One)

or

Fast and bouncy (and full of excitement at realising that you’ve met The One)?

Both work, but I opt for one more than the other.

Wondering about other folk ….

Tweeting with KingofAnkh, mentioned that I was busying idle hands by picking up an uke.

-supposed to be working on the novel but my brain is tired of doing that…so, since I haven’t TOUCHED a uke in about 2 months and Chrissytime is coming, dragged out the Snowfluke

As per the usual, I’m not wearing makeup and haven’t done my hair. I’m in the scrubby clothes that I wear around the house. I can clean up, promise, just don’t see the point if I’m on the farm. There’s a few other crappy videos on that “madtante” youtube channel, if you’re feeling particularly masochistic.

A mad ta plays “Crazy Mary.” Seems fitting…it talks about death and drinking, right up my alley, as it were.

Take On Me on ukulele. Oddly enough, Youtube is brimming with ukulele versions of this song. Here’s a selection (of 13!) for your amusement.

MONDO points for the melodica! a version with Dramamine would be even better.

12 more after the jump!

points for the thingamajig accompaniment. whaddaya call those things again?

points for that high note! and for really feelin it. i actually believed you were coming for me.

points for the giraffe.

points for percussion and perspective.

points for matching your bedspread.

points for “soft focus”.

points for androgyny and proper enunciation.

points for lighting and simple background. i was gonna give some for mystery, too but ya blew that at the 1:26 mark.

points for keeping it fun.

points for the what are you looking at? we’re over here.

points for lively expression and volume.

points for being a ukulele orchestra.

Five Iron Frenzied – Earth Angel (acoustic uke cover)

I said several days ago that “Twilight Time” is my favorite song of all time, but another one that rates right up there for me is “Earth Angel,” charted by lots of folks but mainly famously done by the Penguins. If you cannot quite place it, it’s the song covered by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters in the Back to the Future movies, the one to which Marty’s parents, George McFly and Lorraine Baines, must dance together at the Enchantment Under the Sea ball in 1955 in order to ensure that Marty and his siblings exist in 1985.

“If you guys ever have kids, and one of them, when he’s eight years old, accidentally sets fire to the living room rug…”

The song had also cropped up not two years earlier in Superman III. Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve, R.I.P) and Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole*) dance to it at their reunion, because otherwise she would have to dance with her loser boyfriend. I think this is the best Superman movie for entertainment value, but basically nobody agrees with me other than the writers of Office Space.

*Fun fact: Annette O’Toole now plays Mrs. Kent, Clark’s adoptive mother, on “Smallville.”

This very beautiful, ethereal cover is by an 18-year-old ukulele aficionado on youtube who goes by the name “FiveIronFrenzied,” not to be confused with the Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy.

Earth angel, earth angel
Will you be mine?
My darling dear
Love you all the time
I’m just a fool
A fool in love with you

Earth angel, earth angel
The one I adore
Love you forever and ever more
I’m just a fool
A fool in love with you

I fell for you and I knew
The vision of your loveliness
I hope and pray that someday
That I’ll be the vision of your happiness

Earth angel, earth angel
Please be mine
My darling dear
Love you all the time
I’m just a fool
A fool in love with you

I fell for you and I knew
The vision of your loveliness
I hope and pray that someday
That I’ll be the vision of your happiness

Earth angel, earth angel
Please be mine
My darling dear
Love you all the time
I’m just a fool
A fool in love with you

Trying to tell a story with sounds I record and play. Enjoy!

Hi blog readers (all 7 of you out there in cyperspace),

Shooting on “Portrait of a Zombie” was fun. I played a woman who has a fetish for following zombies around, jumping on them from behind and surprising them with sex. That could be called zombie rape but since I am not sure yet if zombies exist…….Anyway, the Zechrophiliac gets zombiefied later in the movie. I suppose it serves her right. Photos below are before and after zombification.

Please support the undead and add “Portrait of a Zombie” on FaceBook. Also, have a look at a nice little piece The Herald did on the movie.

I recently got cast in a Loose Gripp SciFi production, the people behind “Intersection number 9″. Working title is “Invazion Ireland”. The writer/director of “Invazion Ireland” is the brillantly talented, Ciaron Davies. Cast includes myself, Patrick Murphy, Tristan McConnell, Geraldine McAlinden and Diane Jennings.

We’re shooting the pilot this weekend on location in Finglas. I am played an insane artist called Vanessa White. When I told my father I would be playing an insane artist, he said “Well, you are halfway there!”. I am unsure as to whether he was refering to the profession or the mental state of the character but it’s all good. I dyed my hair blonde for the part last week.

As for music news, I have very little. I now have two ukuleles, one acoustic and the other electric. Either of them have yet to accompany me on stage. I have been back playing open mics again, though I am not “on the scene” as they say. This time I sensibly play one a week, alternating between “The Apollo Sessions” at The Bleeding and “Music Medium” at Peadar Kearney’s.

Signing off for now,
Klara x

Two years ago, the convention (mentioned in the previous post) was held in Nashville, TN.  When I finished my sessions I went downtown to find a music store.  Found just one — Gruhn’s Guitars beside the Ryman Auditorium.  Gruhn’s  was filled with gems — both new and old ukuleles.

Took this picture, which, at high resolution is now my desktop background.  I held this ukulele, but was afraid I’d drop it. I put it back on the black velvet and took its picture.

People who visit my office ask about the expensive guitar on my computer screen. I acquaint them with the concept of a ukulele.  Inevitably they comment — something so small with such a big price tag.

Well, it’s been in our diary for a long time and at last we have a performance time.  Thank you Richard Gibson for your persistence.  We’re on the Buskers’ Stage from 12.15pm to 1pm.

It’s quite a big fair this year, on Sunday 29 November from 11am-5pm,  with several stages, a Christmas market, food stalls, lots of open shops and community events.  The main stretch of Semaphore Road has been rebuilt and re-landscaped, and this event marks the completion, much to the relief of residents. Find out more here and here.

Please send an email if you can be part of this so we can send out details of parking, meeting,  final song lists etc to participants.

Here’s the draft song list – feedback and suggestions welcome – all these are up on Richard G’s songbook

• Is this the way to Amarillo?
• Ring of fire
• Bye bye love
• Flowers on the wall
• Under the boardwalk
• I’m Yours  (in C)
• Jingle Bell Rock
• Silver Bells
• Mele Kalikimaka
• Santa Baby
• Ukulele baby
• Eight days a week

And maybe a couple of other Christmas ones to be decided and learned on 24 November!

Great work from the band and thanks James for coool video!

For several days, I have been in Washington, D.C. for a convention of 6,300 high school students who work on yearbook, newspaper, online sites, and broadcast.  There was no ukulele in site. There was no time to play a ukulele even if I’d found one.

What happened?

The callouses on my fingertips grew soft.  My ear craved the sound of the ukulele. My fingers gripped wooden chairbacks (when I found one) and tested the wood for right hand exercises.

At one point when I wasn’t doing convention sessions, I found I had traveled somewhere near Chinatown. While waiting for the crossing light to change I asked another pedestrian, “Is there a music store nearby?  The kind that sells guitars, banjos and stringed instruments.”

She turned and looked at me and said, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

I smiled. Looked at my softening fingertips.

Some time later, I noticed the turning leaves.  Although it was cold and wet, the leaves were pretty in the Capitol.

*yawn* hello.

Well, so much for posting every day.  I’ll post more if people start reading.  (So far no viewers — I feel like I’m talking to myself. ahh, well. At some point, someone will stumble across my page)

I’m sitting around on my porch, trying to play my uke.  I feel a little bit stupid, the only song I can actually play is “Puff the Magic Dragon,” but at least I’m learning.  Over the weekend, I heard someone play Ingrid Michaelson’s “Keep Breathing” on the guitar, and figured it wouldn’t be too hard to translate the finger picking to ukulele. Sadly, it seems it just can’t be done well.  I half fell in love with the song, partly because I entirely admire the person playing (despite not knowing them too well), and partly because.. well.. sometimes I need to just keep breathing. An excellent english teacher once told my class as we read through Catcher in the Rye:

“You will never find perfect happiness, if you’re looking for that, you’ll never find it.  There will be great moments, but there will always be something nagging at you.  The dark moments.  What you must do is live through them.”

Right, going to stop with the melodrama before I start. But we all need to be a little melodramatic sometimes.  I’ll try “Seven Nation Army” instead.  (absolutely love The White Stripes.. well, I hated them at first, but they grew on me). Ukulele is.. amazing. I feel entirely badass playing what amounts to a mini guitar.

Well, anyway, I went through a slight omegle obsession recently.  I managed to convinced 11/11 people I was from Betelgeuse, which is located in Eastern Europe (for those of you who aren’t astro nerds or H2G2 fanatics, Betelgeuse is a star.  The character of Ford Prefect from aforementioned nerd bible is supposedly from the area).  That is slightly sad, but I can’t decide whether it’s because I actually know where the hell Betelgeuse is, or because other people don’t.

On a final note, what does it mean to be a good friend? Are good intentions enough? I’m the type of person who always likes to think she’s a shoulder to lean on, who’s always willing to give a hug or try to cheer someone up.  But when it gets down to it, I suck at that.  I talked with an upset long-distance friend on the phone last night, and tried to be comforting, and realized just how much I fail at it. But that’s me. I try to love, but I’m too socially awkward.  I try to run in ten different circles at once, and that’s why no one reads this.  Well, I suppose that’s life. I’ll learn to live with it.

I’m amazed with the length of this. ^_^ bye then.

Self-conscious,

~Flaaffy

I stopped going to LaFayette Concert Band rehearsals when Heather started working Tuesday nights. She no longer does, but I haven’t gone back. Between the dojo and Kenny’s piano lessons I’m out three evenings a week plus Saturday late morning / early afternoon, and that’s enough for right now. (For similar reasons I still am not participating with Thornden Morris. I will do Wild Blue Morris early next year, but that presumably will be only one night every two weeks for three months.) Not that I didn’t enjoy the band, but I enjoy the dojo too and it’s most of my exercise program.

That doesn’t mean stopping playing clarinet, logically, but I have. I don’t get a lot out of playing solo, and even when I was active in the band I had a hard time getting myself to practice enough. Finding the time to do it was difficult, for one thing.

And now I have a different instrument to work on — one that’s more rewarding to play solo, I think, and which I can play softly at night while folks are sleeping, or while I’m watching TV, so I do practice more.

That being the case, owning five B-flat soprano clarinets seems just a little daft.

So I’ve sold three. The two Mazzeos I picked up for cheap, just to see what Mazzeo is about (and the second because the first was way out of adjustment), and the Evette and Schaeffer I bought to be my main clarinet but which later got demoted in favor of my Ridenour. I’m keeping the latter, and the Evette (because I can’t bring myself to let go of a Buffet-made instrument I paid under $11 for), and the E-flat, alto, and bass clarinets. It would make sense for me to get rid of some of them too, but I’m not going to, not for now. Especially not the bass.

I thought about titling this post “Downsizing” but that would probably have been a lie, since I’ll likely take the proceeds and buy something else to clutter the place up with. Not sure what, though. But I hear nice things about the Mainland tenor uke…

On Friday November 5 we drove from Huntsville, AL to New Orleans, LA.

I am in love with New Orleans.

How could I ever deign to attempt to describe the Crescent City? To me, it’s like another country. A completely vibrant, juicy, spicy, jubilant, musical place. Setting the stage for our magical experience in the Big Easy was the moment when Jason’s dad Tim’s song about New Orleans, “No Mo Do Yakamo” came on our iPod right as we drove into the city. Incredible. Our entire visit was filled with that kind of synchronicity.

We were so thrilled to be there and to see the historic houses, live oak trees, Spanish moss, street cars, people on stoops, colorful signs, and to tune into one of our favorite radio stations, WWOZ. We landed at our friend Chris and Ashley’s house which is near the Maple Leaf, a fabulous club (really, a New Orleans institution) where our show was that night. Chris and Ashley’s house is a lively place full of art and photos of a life filled with music and friends. We were very happy see them.

Jason couldn’t wait to eat some of the local cuisine, and so it wasn’t long before we were thrilling our taste buds with Creole and Cajun flavors.

The show at the Maple Leaf was off the chain. Mad Tea opened for Chris’s band the 101 Runners, a collection of New Orleans musicians who played heart-warming and booty-shaking New Orleans music – a mix of styles as flavorful as gumbo. I was knocked out by the music and ended up on the dance floor with Mardi Gras Indian Wild Man John of the Wild Tchoupitoulas, who was dressed in full regalia and  pumping up the crowd with his theatrical moves. More fun was had when Jason sat in on fiddle. Hot stuff.

(At the show we met Steve Williams, an artist and the promoter for the Rock Art Circus, who was at our show because he had seen us perform at the Heavy Rebel Weekender. He hired us on the spot for the next day. More on that later. )

The evening turned towards morning as we hung out with Chris and Ashley and some of the members of the 101 Runners, listening to the Creeper, WWOZ’s incredible Friday night/Saturday morning DJ. Near the end of the Creeper’s show, Chris called up to request “Itty Bitty Pretty One,” Thurston Harris’s song that Mad Tea had covered that night in our set in tribute to Jason’s dad, who used to sing it. Chris and the Creeper have a 12-year relationship of Chris calling and requesting songs, though they have never met in person. It was 5:08 am (a little after the Creeper’s show had technically ended) when “Itty Bitty Pretty One” came on the air. We all danced and my heart was filled with the spirit of New Orleans.

Frailing fingers, to autoharp or not to autoharp, YouTube banners, ukulele strumming, Paddy Kelly’s Brew, back to Johns Hopkins, banjo strumming, Red River Valley and other news from Crisfield.

Carlos in Spain has posted some more ukulele workshops – including a video! – on his blog: http://miukelele.com/

Carlos also asked his young ukulele students to help choose a winning banner!