Silver Street New Years Eve

Jingle #2 for the week goes out to the Silver Street Tavern in Waterville, Maine. No they didn't ask for it, but we made one anyway. Mike Reny and I were trying to channel our inner 90s radio DJ into this jingle and I think we successfully did it.

We basically spent 5 hours on 17 seconds of audio because we couldn't stop laughing. I can tell ya one thing, I don't really care how the recordings turn out at all when you are rolling on the floor laughing so much. If I could write jingles for a living the laughter would probably keep me alive for the next 100 years... or my heart is going to pop fairly soon from the belly laughs. Either way I would perish a happy man.

Come on out to the Silver Street Tavern tonight in Waterville if you are in the central Maine area! It is going to be PACKED and AWESOME! 9pm start and $5 at the door!

CLICK THE LINK AND ENJOY

-----------------------------   Silver Street Tavern Jingle   ----------------------------- 

^^^

 

Jingle master...

I rarely ever take time to do recordings. It seems as though I'm always chasing the next show, but this week while I'm in Maine I am going to set some time aside to lay down some non-ukulele ukulele tracks.

That is exactly what I did yesterday and it ended up being something completely different. Mr. Mike Reny (long time musician friend) and I decided we would break new ground by diving into the world of jingles. So here ya go people out there in internet land. Here is one of the gems we came up with yesterday! Please take the 20 seconds to listen.

This particular jingle is about my favorite sandwich shop in Maine, Big G's. Big G's is known for its GIANT sandwiches named after famous people. So giant they inspired a tiny song. A jingle if you will. Enjoy!

CLICK THE LINK BELOW!!!!

------------------ Big G's Jingle - By Ukulele Russ ------------------

Maine and the Festivus Pole!

It is a FESTIVUS miracle!!!! Look at the pole that has been erected over night! Praise Festivus!

Maine, the tiny little Alaska in New England...kind of. So I have escaped the darkest time of the winter to head to tropical Maine. Well, 30F+ does feel tropical at this point in the year to me. I don't even need a coat outside. It is balmy as far as I am concerned.

It is nice to be back in my pre-Alaska stomping grounds. I have a lot of great shows lined up starting next week (I had to take at least one week off from gigging to enjoy this weather) and will be working my way down to Florida by the end of the month.

Over the next two weeks I am playing a few select drinking establishments, doing a few sit-down concert type shows, and am doing some clinics for the ukulele people of the East Coast. It should prove to be a great time. Plus once I'm done with Maine I get to head south into the tropics, as far as I am concerned, and eventually make my way to Florida for a few days of R&R with my folks who have decided that being a snow-bird is better than being frozen. That is yet to be proven correct or false. Different strokes for different folks. If I had a choice to avoid most of winter I would head further west...and south... to Hawaii. Can you say in your best fake Jamaican accent, "Down by the beeeeach boyyyeeee!"

Here is a list of my gigs in Maine for the next few weeks!


12/31 --- Silver Street Tavern --- Waterville, ME. --- 9pm w/ Mike Reny
1/2 --- Pittsfield Community Theater --- Pittsfield, ME. --- 7pm w/ Mike Reny
1/3 --- Ukulele Clinic @ The First Universalist Church --- 10:30am
1/5 --- Maine Central Insitute ---
1/8 --- 207 TV Show ---
1/9 --- Bloomfield's Tavern --- Skowhegan, ME. --- 9pm
1/10 --- Smiling Moose --- South Paris, ME. --- 7pm

THE INTERIOR

Two last chances to see the Fairbanks All Stars and yours truly here in the majestic interior of Alaska before I head down to the lower 48 for a month and a half of shows! Come on out and support the only professional (I use that word generously) ukulele player in the largest state in the union. Sorry Texas. Perhaps one day you will grow up into a big state. Until then...

Tiki party and the dark darkness.

We have nearly entered the darkest month of the year here in the subarctic. Being a night owl by trade means I rarely get to see the light of day. By the time I wake up at 2 in the afternoon the sun is all ready making it's sharp descent below the horizon and the lack of vitamin D is becoming apparent. You can sleep for twelve hours straight, wake up, make coffee, drink several cups, and just want to lay back down again for a nap. It really does take its toll on ya, but this is what you get when you live in the land of opposites. Sun all the time in the summer and darkness during the winter. They say there is a lot of night life this time of year....the humor on that one seems to only be funny the other half of the year.

SO to pick myself out of this winter slump I am playing a "Tiki Party" at the Moose Creek Lodge by Eielson Airforce base with the All Stars this Saturday night around 9pm. Should prove to be the hottest most tropical thing north of the 65 latitude... What am I kidding. Tropical like an arctic fart in the wind. If you don't know don't ask. You wouldn't get it any way...

MOOSE CREEK LODGE! 9pm! Right next to Eielson Airforce base! 

The filming is over.

After three weeks of craziness it is finally over. I never knew how much footage you really have to get to make a 15 minute film. It was a fun, rewarding, and eye opening experience to say the least. Now the hard part... waiting for the film to be finished.

As many of you know I live in a small cabin with no running water with my wife, dog, and cat. It was a challenging span of time this past month having two more souls occupying my living room literally. They had tons of bags, cameras, and gear along with their bodies. My living room has never seen so much action. The four of us however got along swimmingly and I got to practice my Australian accent. That's right, the filmmakers were both from down under.

I expressed to them one of my bucket list items that could only be satisfied in Australia. Before I die I want to gently cup a wombat's ass in the most non-sexual way. A slap of respect and wonder. I might be crazy, but we all have our quirks. Don't judge. I am sure there is something you want to do with your life that I would think was strange, but I would encourage you to chase your dreams. Even if that dream is to gently strike a marsupials rear end. Different strokes for different folks. I just have a long dark winter to contemplate these things.

Now back to the normal grind.

Gigs this week are as follows!

11/19 - SUBZERO MICROLOUNGE - ANCHORAGE, AK. - 8PM

11/20 - HUMPY'S GREAT ALASKAN ALEHOUSE - ANCHORAGE, AK. - 9PM

11/21 - THE FAIRVIEW INN - TALKEETNA, AK. - 9PM

11/22 - THE BLUE FOX COCKTAIL LOUNGE - ANCHORAGE, AK, - 10PM

It soon begins...

The filming begins this Saturday night for the Ukulele Russ documentary that I hope is titled, "The Last Ukulele Frontier". I don't know how much say I have over the title, but that is the one I am casting my vote for. This is either going to be huge for me or a complete embarrassment. I will see how I can influence the "huge success" part of the spectrum, but a complete embarrassment would be quite hilarious in a tragic sort of way. Ukuleles tend to have that happen either than guitars. Stigmas...

So if you want to be part of the magic come on out this Saturday night at the Blue Fox Cocktail Lounge and make an ass out of yourself with someone that does it for a living, me! 10pm on good old Tudor Road in the big city, Los Skankorage the city of lights.

Down by the beach!

Down by the beach booooooyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee! That's right! It is time for another weekend at one of my favorite out of the way places the Yukon Bar at end of the road in Seward, Alaska. Just a stone's throw, probably two, from the pristine waters of Resurrection Bay. Become reborn!

9pm both nights!

Find them on Facebook! @  YUKON BAR

Strange things are afoot at the Fish this week.

Interesting line up at the Marlin this week. I'm wondering how "dirti" I will get. Like pig pen dirty? Like my outhouse dirty? I could just sing songs about coal miners all night. That is dirty, but is it "dirti"? Come out to the Marlin the place many of us affectionately call, "The Fish".

10pm - THE MARLIN - College Road - Fairbanks, AK.

Winter has finally reared its ugly head. It looks like the snow is finally here to stay and there is nothing we can do about it. I like the cold though. Fires in my wood stove. Moving all the crap around my yard with a sled rather than a dolly. I think the whole "crap in the yard" thing is very white trash / Alaskana but I just can't seem to keep it out of there. My wife got man last winter when I believe we had six cars / trucks in the yards and I wanted to go buy another one... She told me there would be no more cars for the driveway we didn't own. Smart lady. I have since thinned the herd. Sometimes you just have to cull the weaker ones out for the benefit of the group. Let's be real though folks, this is Alaska and there is nothing better than having five running vehicles when one decides to quit on ya. Here's to white trash!

Bear Safety is key this time of year.

It is that time of year folks. The time of year when the bears of Alaska are looking for their final meal before the long winter hibernation. That means they are not only in pursuit of food, they are ill-tempered. However, if you know how to deal with each type of bear, because they are different, you will be just fine.

Let the Fairbanks All Stars teach you about how to react to each type of bear you might encounter here in the last frontier.

Leave your bear spray at home. That isn't bear protection. That is a bear deterrent. There is a huge difference.

The Hunt

Every year since I have moved to Alaska I have made it a priority to set time aside to go out moose hunting. It is a BIG deal here. One moose is enough to feed my wife and I for a year and that is me eating it every day and that is exactly what I plan to do. Yum.

The first week of hunting this year was a lot of hiking up mountains, trudging through brush, riding bitch on a wheeler (which basically means I was the passenger on a four wheeler. No offense to the ladies out there), sitting..and waiting...and waiting... with minimal results. It isn't catching. It is hunting. Good things come to those who wait.

One of the days was quite exciting. In the morning I didn't take a 30 yard shot on a legal bull, which I wasn't sure was legal. My friend scared it right up on me unknowingly. It was so worked up it ran right up to me and didn't even see me standing alone in the middle of the swamp.  I looked down my barrel and just couldn't take the shot. I wasn't sure if he was legal. Later I would found out he was, but I made the right call. I wasn't sure, so I didn't shoot.

A Legal Bull - In many parts of Alaska a legal bull consists of a male moose with antlers spread at least 50" apart, four brow tines on one side, or has a spike or fork for one antler. Just to clarify what a "legal bull" means. I could see how some outsiders wouldn't get what I was talking about.

Earlier that day I was nearly charged by a cow moose. I was hiking through a thick patch of forest trying to drive the moose out into the open on the other side of a creek. I took moments to scrape a caribou shoulder blade on a tree to simulate a bull moose cleaning his antlers. This can, if one is around, bring a bull in completely pissed off and ready to fight. This is not what happened to me. A cow moose showed up on the game trail I was on about 70ft further down it. She was not happy when she showed up. I was not as advertised. After a 2 minute staring contest her ears went back, her head went down, and she started coming right at me. I said to myself as I clutched my rifle, "I'm going to have to shoot a cow...Hey moose...HEY MOOSE". But with some quick thinking and American ninja warrior reflexes I jumped behind a spruce tree, into a creek, and high tailed it out of there. It is a cool experience to have... after I survived it and wasn't hurt.

However, I got my moose a few days later. After over a week of countless miles on my hip boots the moment of reckoning came. I fired, scoped the hell out of my brow (it was a bleeder too), and got over to the 60" rack attached to a massive bull. I knew I would have another year without buying meat at the store. It is a good feeling providing for one's self. Then the realization that now the real work begins weighs pretty heavy on your mind. Hours of skinning/cutting, loading up wheelers, cutting trails, and winching one four wheeler or the other out of some sort of snag. That is just getting the beast meat home.

Scoped - When you are an idiot and do two things while firing a rifle. 1) You don't hold it tight enough into your shoulder. 2) Putting your face way too stupidly close to the scope when trying to property fire a 220 grain 30-06 round at about 350 yards. Take a close look at my brow in the picture.Lucky for you guys out there I wiped the blood off my face before the picture on my sleeve. Classy guy right here. Thanks to Team Boom for all the sympathy and pointing / laughing at me. I deserved it.

Now for the past few days I have put on my butcher hat. It is nice cutting your own steaks and roasts. Collecting trimmings and odd shaped pieces for my meat grinder. I have 6 gallon bags stuffed full at this point ready for the grinder. Ya buddy! Did you know a moose's liver will fill a sink? It will. The heart isn't small either. We soaked the heart in coke-a-cola, soy sauce, and wasabi for two days, cut it into strips, bashed it thin with a mallet, and smoked it. It was amazingly awesome.

Now it is back to playing shows now that I know my meat supply will be strong until the next year. It is a very Alaskan thing to do, to be prepared. Just think of me if the black death or something pops up and I have to remove myself from society, locked in my cabin, and eating steak. It doesn't get any better. I will be glad when I am finally all done cutting up moose. I have a few more pieces that are going to be hanging in a cool garage for a little while longer. After then it will be all done and ready to consume. Yum yum!!!!

Rain go away. Please I moved to a desert for a reason.

So....several years ago when I decided to finally make the move to Alaska and there was nothing in the brochure about this much rain. I just absolutely fell in love with the idea of a sub-arctic desert. I love the arctic, and last time I checked, deserts were pretty much void of rain... I was lied to. Looks like we might break another record this month. I waited 6 months through ice, snow, and darkness for this?? I feel robbed.

Vast portions of my large driveway, I will refer to as my road, washed out something fierce. Hauling rocks and fill dirt wasn't how I wanted to spend my time in between the rain storms this week but this is my fate. I nearly have it all done. Only 12 pick up truck loads, new fan / alternator / and power steering belts, and a new alternator to get it done. I should have seen the car repairs coming. I did just buy another 1985 Chevy. These things to break and when you only pay $750 for the truck something is broken all ready. The question is how long car you drive said truck until something blows up and makes you fix it. That measurement of time I like to refer to as "value".

That is why I feel like my life has been being pulled in many different directions all of them leading to something I need to fix. No worries I get to play one of my favorite gigs of the year this Friday night. The infamous Tanana Valley State Fair beer tent at 8pm. Also earlier in the day I will be joining my buddy Steve Floyd on the radio for my semi-regular appearance on 660am KFAR's "Problem Corner". Always a fun time. You can listen in from anywhere with the "Tune In" radio app. You should do it. 11am (Alaska Standard Time) - 3pm (Eastern Standard Time).  

Trade your Formby albums for a Man-card

There are a lot of people out there who like to think that there is only certain ways you are suppose to play a ukulele. I find this idea preposterous. The ukulele does not have limitations only people do. So you can choose your road. However if you were to ask me if the world of rock ukulele was coming I would kindly reply, "Yup."

Only time will tell. Trade in your Formby albums for a man-card. You are going to need it. It is going to be a bumpy ride on the path to rockdom.

FRIDAY - 660am KFAR - 11am (3pm Eastern Time) - Problem corner with Steve Floyd - Listen in from ANYWHERE with the "Tune in radio" app.

9pm - Deltana Fair - Beer tent - DELTA JUNCTION!!!  with the FAIRBANKS ALL STARS

SATURDAY- Headlining the Cantwell Bluegrass Festival - 9pm with the FAIRBANKS ALL STARS

Too much rain...

This is what happens when it rains for days and I am cooped up inside with my computer. I start putting together strange photos like this one.

This week in Ukuleleland -

Thursday - 7pm - Silver Gulch Brewery - FOX, ALASKA

Friday - 11am (3pm EST) - 660am KFAR radio appearance with Steve Floyd - listen in with the "Tune In" radio app!

Friday / Saturday - 10pm - Howling Dog Saloon with the FAIRBANKS ALL STARS!!!!

A thousand miles and two tie rod ends later

There is nothing worse than getting ready for a long trip 70 miles down a dirt road that you all ready drove 160 to get to only to find out that you have a passenger side tie-rod end that is shot. For all the lay people out there that is the part of the car that basically steers the tire. Not a good thing to break. Long story short I made it to my destination and all the way back home safety. It is amazing how far you can limp a car if you just go slow however after buying the part I needed to fix it I discovered that the driver's side tie rod and now broken also. Just my luck. It seems like all my cars lately are crapping out. If it isn't one thing on my truck it is another on my car. First world problems. At least I have two semi-broken running vehicles. Ah, the bright side. Seems like all my posts have been about my truck b

My Subaru finally seems to be running ok again and it is time for another marathon 1000+ mile trip this week. All the way down to Anchorage and back to Fairbanks only to turnaround and leave again on Sunday to make a trip back down to Healy to the 49th State Brewery. Good times. It seems like I just got back yesterday and I am all ready leaving...well I think that is actually what is happening.

IF you are out and about this week come see me at any of these wonderful locations:

Wednesday - Subzero Micro lounge - 8pm - Anchorage 

Thursday - Humpys Great Alaskan Alehouse - 9pm - Anchorage 

Friday - Fairview Inn - Talkeetna - 9pm

Saturday - private party - Fairbanks

Sunday - 49th state brewery - Healy - 7pm

A hose with my name on it.

Alaska is the kind of a state that you can't be a one trick pony and expect to thrive. Challenges and tribulations are a constant factor and nothing ever really goes to plan. Plan A and B usually get thrown out and plan C usually prevails, if you have "da skillz" or a dash of common sense. Whichever works for ya.

I am part of the school of thought that if you don't have multiple vehicles you are asking for trouble. Not so much in the summertime, but in the winter especially. Lucky for me it is warm this time of year which is why I'm thankful my big truck crapped the bed now instead of 4 months from now.

The dirt work is pretty much done at my property and now I am hauling rocks from my local dirt pit (don't worry I have a permit -- only $3 a yard for residents in need of rocks / gravel for private use - Thanks Department of Natural Resources!) out to the land to shore up all of my open terrace slopes. Erosion control is in dire need.  A wrench got thrown into the mix when I was heading out the driveway two nights ago.
"POP!" is not the noise you want to hear when you are going down the road from your truck. I thought to myself, "I bet it is a fan belt" so I tried to slow down at the next convenient turn around spot only to discover it wasn't my fan belt. There was no power steering (which could still be a belt) or brakes (this is what puzzled me) and I was heading downhill. Lucky for me my emergency brake works and I got the rig, after some muscling of the steering wheel, back in my driveway.

Nice feature on these old K30 rigs by Chevy is that if you lose a power steering hose and there is no pressure in the system you lose power brakes at the same time. Safety first people and to think this truck is older than all the recalls that GM is issuing now. Ha! So what...I love this truck.  

After a good bit of cussing, a requirement for auto work, I finally got the hose off and into town. I have to tell ya there is nothing like some good old small town service. People aren't just numbers here. They even put my name on it and spelled ukulele correctly!!! I love you Fairbanks and a tip of the hat to you Alaska Rubber and Rigging!

Down to Seward with the Trio for the Yukon Bar this weekend. 9pm both Friday / Saturday nights. Also on Saturday I'm doing an originals performance at the Resurrect Coffeehouse at 7pm and teaching two classes earlier in the day for ukulele enthusiasts

Until then... back to the rock.

Solstice is coming!

This is the week people.  The last week of the year that we are gaining sunlight. After the solstice this weekend we will be officially losing sunlight and it seems like summer is just getting underway. Spring seemed to start early this year, but it did linger longer than usual. That is how it goes up here. Every year seems to be different than the last. Nothing is predictable up here except the sun.  We are over 21 1/2 hours of sun above the horizon now, but it doesn't get "dark". It is more like a few hours of bright twilight.  You never get used to it.

This will be my first solstice since I moved up to Alaska that I am taking easy. Just one gig with some good friends from Austin, Texas that will be rocking up here at Foodstock over at the Howling Dog Saloon. Mr. Derrel Gleason and his trio. Texans and Alaskans are quite similar however everything is not bigger in Texas. This is a lie. :)

Finally got the bulldozing done on my lot. Several terraces, a house pad, parking lot, circular driveway / dirt track, and the beginning of my amphitheater. Now all we need to do is get a big loader in there to finish building the berm for the backdrop. It is fairly high now, probably 15 ft, but I am looking for more like 30ft+. After I let it all dry out a bit and do what touching up I can it will be ready for the loader. There is still a bunch to do until then.

Now time to grab my rake, dirt tamper, and unforutnately my chainsaw. The work never ends. Hopefully there is enough summer so I can get things done.

The Ukulele Russ Memorial Amphitheater - The beginning

Over the past year it has finally come to this. Now with the trees gone and stumps cleared my vision of my amphitheater is coming alive...oh and the cabin I'm going to build for me and the lady, but most importantly the amphitheater.

I have spent a year cutting down all the trees and slowing hauling them out. This winter I was out there on snowshoes logging for hours. It was so cold outside that I was start sweating and once that moisture would reach the outside of my coat it would freeze and create a frozen crust on me. Three hours was about all I could take before I would start completely freezing.

It is wild to see how 12 hours on a small bulldozer can change everything. This was a field of stumps just hours ago. Now it is time to move all this over burden into the natural depression in my hill to form the backdrop for the amphitheater.

These pictures are of only a portion of the land I cleared and are not of the amphitheater location. It will be revealed over the next couple days.

Now that I am finally done running the chainsaw (I went through five tanks of gas in the last day of cutting) I can give my ukulele hands a break for a day before I have to play my gigs this week.

THURSDAY - Botanical Gardens - University of Alaska Fairbanks - 7pm

FRIDAY - Listen into 660am KFAR as I join Steve Floyd for Fairbanks's Problem Corner

http://rssplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/player/radio/kfaram

Private party in Delta Junction - 8pm

SATURDAY - The Marlin - 10pm! - FAIRBANKS!

Winner winner salmon dinner!

There is something about the feeling of being able to feed yourself that is satisfying. I have been fishing this spot on and off for years and it is the kind of fishing hole that you either show up at and get yourself a fish in 15 minutes, or you fish for a whole day and get nothing. This was not one of the latter. My favorite part of this particular fishing experience is that I decided within hours that I needed to eat a 1/2 of one of the fillets raw. It was most excellent.


A few nights on the road and then the building of the Ukulele Russ amphitheater begins. It will be epic to say the least. I'm off to Anchorage for tomorrow night at the Blue Fox Cocktail Lounge at 10pm and a Sunday dinner show at the world famous Denali Salmon Bake.

It even smells like the 1970s!

Let us take a step back in time into the early 1970s when functional meets...that funky 70s smell. Welcome to the 1971 Aristocrat truck camper. My new road home. It isn't any Jim D'ville Airstream camper, but it will have to do. Plus I got it for $500. This guy is not complaining.

The ukulele / truck revolution

When the threat of your man card getting revoked gets thrown around because you play ukulele and have a prissy dog you have to do something. The most natural course of action is to go out and buy the largest truck you can find and then drive it fast... everywhere.

The outhouse and a frog's ass.

Here is a new video I just got done with editing. I am getting better at this video thing. Just give me a couple of years and I should e half descent.

This is the time of year every Alaskan is waiting for. The time of year when the sun crawls higher in the sky (we are gaining 7 minutes of light a day), the days grow longer, and people start to emerge from their cabins and humble abodes to bask in the midnight sun.  This is also the time of year I'm reminded how living with an outhouse isn't all it is cracked up to be.

During the seven months of winter outhouses aren't that bad. "But you have to go outside in the winter to do your business" one might interject.  This is true, however, blue sheet foam is a god sent and if you make your toilet (I use that word loosely) seat out of foam it will be instant butt temperature once you press your cold cheeks onto it. It really is a miracle of modern science. The trick is keeping the rest of your body covered from the elements. This is harder than it sounds, trust me.

Some other various disgusting things occur around the outhouse during the winter, but they cannot hold a candle to what is in store for the summer outhouse user. Flies. Evidently poo is fortafied with all the essential nutrients for flies and other insect type creatures... go figure... Nothing says I hate my life like running out to the shack on a hot day and having to slap the seat several times and then run away while the cloud of flies that you scared make their way for the exit. Anyone ever seen the movie Ghoulies from the 80's when the monster jumps out of the toilet and kills the guy taking a crap? Well it is kind of like that with less danger of being eaten by a toilet bowl sized monster.

The stalagmite has fallen and the era of flies is upon us. God help us all.

Just a few more weeks of clearing trees by myself and I will be ready to bring the bulldozer in to start the creation of Alaska's only ukulele festival with it's crowning jewel, The Ukulele Russ memorial amphitheater. It is going to be quite epic and HUGE!!! Lucky for me it is quite far out in the willy-wacks. Can you say, "no one to complain about the rocking"?. I thought so.

Russ catches dinner

What can I say?  I caught dinner! Most of you who know me are wondering what the hell did I shoot.  Not so fast. This is about bananas. Catching bananas from great heights.  I think you will be slightly amused and disgusted at the same time.  My lovely beautiful wife is the camera lady / commentator. The saw man is my awesome and talented sponsor Tom Parse of Hokukano Ukuleles.  I am the banana snatcher.

I'm still on the journey for a new computer. Lucky for me the awesome laptop I bought at Sam's club crapped the bed a few days into owning it. I all ready have to send it in to the manufacturer and I haven't owned it a week. Arg... first world problems.  I might have to resort to not using my GoPro for video for a bit until I get this computer thing sorted out.

This is my last slow week (slow meaning not a lot of gigs I still have a ton of other stuff to do) before my gigs ramp up again.  Last week was fun playing at the Fur Rhody in Cantwell / Mudbug boil and the Rance Lentz fundraiser at the Clearwater Lodge in Delta Junction.  Two awesome events and they even had a jackass playing ukulele at both of them. I'm serious. A hoofed four legged creature... Okay... ya got me. It was me.

Back to the lot. I am nearly done chainsawing the forest to a nice open field.  Plans to take all the stumps and turn them into a huge half doughnut berm that towers behind the stage of my amphitheater are looking good. Imagine the world's most exclusive ukulele getaway in the heart of Alaska's interior complete with amphitheater? Now that is what dreams are made of.  More to come.

Photos from Melbourne

I figured I would post a few glamour shots taken by my friend Nick Pitsas from Melbourne, Australia. This guy knows how to capture a moment for sure. Also he likes pho. Go figure that I am into pho too. Noodles my friends of the Asian variety. Yum. I mean this is in the most heterosexual way, it was friends at first pho. Haha I like the ring of that. Pho friends.  Needless to say my time in Melbourne was well spent meeting some cool people. Thanks Nick for the photos. They came out great. Now only if I can work on my fake Aussie accent. I always turn to my standard Crocodile Dundee lines. "You call that a knife?"

I like how in all of these pics I am sporting different red Deep Springs College t-shirts.  Oh? You don't know of the most exclusive club that is Deep Springs College? I suggest you look it up. You will like what you see.  Plus on top of being completely awesome they have rocking red t-shirts with catchy designs. I'm serious. Check them out. You won't be disappointed. A place where great minds of the future are molded.

Australia and Hawaii

Sorry for the slow updating on the old website here... I have been having too much fun flying around on planes, hanging with my ukulele colleagues, and enjoying the Hawaiian beach sand between my toes with a ukulele in my hand.  That's right, not only did I have an awesome time at the Melbourne Ukulele Festival I got to hang with my wife at my ukulele sponsor's place on Hokukano Ranch on the big island.  Living 3300' up a mountain in a private 32 square mile ranch is something I didn't realize was on my bucket list.  It is checked off now and I believe I will have to do it again.

First off, Australia was awesome.  The ten hour flight from Honolulu... not so awesome, but it was all worth it. I had so much fun actually meeting some of my fellow professional ukers.  IT was my first real straight up ukulele event instead of working folk / arts fests and being the "ukulele guy" this time I was awash in a sea of ukuleles.  It was a refreshing experience and I can't wait to hopefully do it again next year. :)  The second highlight of the trip down under was the flying foxes...Raven sized bats.  I am not kidding.  They are serious and mean business.

After the Melbourne Ukulele festival I headed east back across the international date line which really messed me up.  Gaining a day?  I arrived a day earlier than I thought to Kona on the big island of Hawaii.  Lucky for me my ukulele sponsor at Hokukano Ukuleles picked me up and brought me to his shop / home.  3300ft up on a mountain side is where I spent my nights.  Days I spent at random beaches with my wife, who flew in the day after me (we were supposed to fly in at the same time but silly me not knowing how time zones work).  I have been to Hawaii before, but I forgot how much of a golden ticket playing ukulele is when on the islands.  It is not only an awesome instrument, but it is a guaranteed conversation starter / friend maker.  Needless to say our trip went well. Ukuleles just make you want to smile unless you play angry metal music.  Thank you Bosko and Honey.  You blew my mind.  Literally.

Also did you know that the big island of Hawaii is actually an Alaskan suburb?  That is right!  The Alaska / Hawaii connection is HUGE.  for example, I played at a house party of under 20 people while I was there.  Only 2 or 3 people at the shin-dig were not from Fairbanks.  Wierd wild stuff.  Jamming with random musicians on a small hard to get to beach... the drummer ended up being the percussionist from Delmag, and awesome Anchorage group. The last frontier needs an island buddy.  That little guy Hawaii.  Now I just need to find a way I can go there during the winters and just hunt pigs and snorkel...and obviously play a metric crap ton of ukulele. That would be sweet.

Back to the pile

So on my days off from being on the road and ukuleleing in general this winter I have been working on my forested lot, the future site of Fairbanks, Alaska's most awesome amphitheater / ukulele retreat. If you build it they will come. I learned that from Kevin Costner.

So I have been over there cutting trees and stacking them up in preparation for next winter.  That is right, I am all ready thinking about next winter and it isn't even March yet.  That is how we do things up here.  Get your work done in time, be prepared, and you won't be up shit creek without a paddle.  You will get minimal sympathy from locals, but they will help you if you are down and out.  That is how it goes around these parts.

I can take about four hours of running my saw before my ukulele hands tell me it is time to quit.  Then I get to stack logs for an hour or two.  Who needs a gym?  Real world exercises.  Every time I put another cut up log on the stack I just think dollar signs.  Around December dried firewood in Fairbanks basically turns into gold.  There are too many jackasses around here that just put off getting ready for the winter until it is all ready in full swing.  That is when I come in on my off days with my big truck and a cord of wood in the back.  Ya buddy.  Who needs a boss when you are your own?

Tons of moose sign and a few hares running around the property.  I am thinking about setting up my game camera in the hopes of snapping a shot of them.  Hope it is a bull moose.  That would be convenient if he hung around until hunting season.  It has always been my dream to down a moose in my own yard.  I have cleared an area larger than a football field in the middle of the wilderness.  It is glorious.  Hopefully the wife and I can get a cabin up there this summer so we can finally be in our own place.  Renting a cabin on the opposite side of the valley where my outhouse actually faces the clearing I am cutting it just a tease.  Even though ever morning when I go out for my morning constitutional I sit there with my bare cheeks pressed up against my foam toilet seat, with my pants pulled up as high as I can to avoid leaving skin exposed to the elements,

The Yukon

It is good to finally be back to the Yukon Territory.  It is the only place in the world that the people understand Alaskans.  Other than our different stance on firearms we are the same in my book.   Stupid borders. Sometimes I think that the Yukon and Alaska should break off from our federal governments and form our own country.  The name of that new country is still up for debate.  I am accepting ideas currently for the new name.  Yukona? Alaskon?  I am open to suggestions.

Friday after my long 10 hour drive of vast expanses of wilderness, one wolf sighting, several moose, and a coyote I made it to the mountain wonderland of Haines junction.  I got to perform an awesome house concert for the home roots concert series.  What an awesome time. Packed room of people intently listening.  Awesome sauce.  There is a recording of the show that I will be posting sections of it once I paw through the tracks.  Good times.

Saturday I did another home roots concert in the wilderness city,  Whitehorse.   It was cool to have an understanding adult crowd that wanted to hear a selection of songs I call, "songs that have lost me work".  It went swimmingly. 

Today I gave a private clinic for some ukulele students here in the horse.  It is such a pleasure to see the light bulb turn on above someone's head once they finally grasp a new concept.  Priceless. 

Will there be a special unannounced performance tonight?  Who knows? Regardless I make the 12 hour trip back to Squarebanks in the morning. Just another day in the frontier. 

Back to Alaska

What a great trip back east.  All of my gigs went swimmingly and now with ukulele strings worn out I return to Alaska.  Time to tie up all the loose ends and start making my way to Boston into the oncoming snow storm.  I got my fingers crossed that my wife and I don't get delayed too long.  It all ready looks like we are in a hotel for one night at least.  This is part of the cost of living in Alaska.

Here is a little photo of what it is like to be in an Alaskan man's dreams... guns... lots of guns... yeah buddy!
   

Maine Central Institute and the Newport Ukulele Group

This week I also had the pleasure of performing / teaching for the Newport Ukulele group at the Newport Cultural Center in central Maine.  What a fun time I had with them.  There is nothing like seeing what you can teach people in a very short amount of time.

 Early into the clinic phase of the night I discovered everyone was afraid of the Emaj chord.  So I promptly went about providing different fingerings and hand shapes until I think I found at least one that worked for everyone.  Bmaj also seems to be an ongoing problem among novice ukulele players.  We fixed that too hopefully!  Everyone seemed like they got something out of the night, even if it was just a chord shape.  
Sharing your passion for entertaining to a high school gym with 500+ students and staff cheering you on is nothing short of epic.  I had a afternoon at Maine Central Institute first talking with the guitar class.  Perhaps a few will be converted!  Along with that I got to perform in front of the whole school with Pete Witham of the Cozmic Zombies.  It went swimmingly well.  Here is a clip of my afternoon performance.

That evening I also did a more intimate performance with Riff Johnson (another Maine rock star) in the student lounge.  What a fun crowd we had.  Just enough people to fill all the seats.  Perfect.

I can't wait to come back to the east coast again next year and do it all over again.  One more gig at the Smiling Moose Public House in South Paris, Maine and I will be getting ready to pack my bags and head back to the great land.  Heard it might be standing room only at the Moose.  That's just how daddy likes it.

The "One Man, One Ukulele" sessions

NEW SOLO TRACKS!!

Three new tracks from the one afternoon blitz recording session at the Casa Del Reny Studios in Waterville, Maine.  I think all three were one take wonders and then I spent the rest of the time playing the songs over and over and not keeping anything.  I'm calling these songs the "One Man, One Ukulele" sessions.



TRACK 1
Figured I needed a song in ode to my big old Chevy man truck.  I think with this one song I have cornered the ENTIRE ukulele truck song market.  I could be wrong, but then again I could be right!

TRACK 2


The solo version of the Bear Safety ukulele hip-hop explosion.  Get some!  SAFETY!  Be bear aware folks!

TRACK 3

Ode to Dr. Jones, Parks Highway Band Drummer / Doctor of Life.

Maine and Florida...both colder than Alaska

Why is it the one time I get out of Alaska during January to a state that is supposed to be warm it ends up being unseasonably cold and a heat wave hits Alaska?  Knowing my luck I will be back to the great land just in time for the cold to come back.  Even with that said... I still always miss being away.  I decided to post this pic of driving my old tour bus named "Ba" in the Yukon Territory.  My old home.  Good times.  

So I have been in Maine and Florida visiting family, friends, and playing some great shows!  It is always a pleasure to head south to charted and uncharted territory for me and play some ukulele for the people.  I have a full week this week and I'm getting it done.

Just recorded a few tracks for the "One man, one ukulele" album.  Keeping it simple.  Just my ukulele and I letting loose.  Casa Del Reny studios in Waterville, Maine (known as H2O-ville) are just the place to do it.  Mr. Mike Reny and I have been good friends and musical colleagues for a long time.  The four tracks we did today sound sweet.  Pretty much all one take wonders.  It is really nice when that happens.

Wednesday I'm conducting a clinic / performance for the Newport Ukulele Group at the Newport Cultural Center at 6pm.  Come learn some of the different things I'm doing and how to make sloppy playing work for you.  I'm telling ya, not everything has to be clean and pristine.  We are talking about functionality, not fancy.

Thursday at Maine Central Institute I will be working with the high school music students and then performing for the student body in the afternoon at 2:15pm followed by an evening concert on campus.  I love talking to the students about music and just love sharing my passion for musical endeavors.