The album will soon be here...Nobody Cares

I can't wait! For the first time in years I will finally have a decent album of my solo stuff to spread among the people! I send everything off today to the printing company in Anchorage. I am so stoked to have fresh tracks I recorded all by myself and with some help from Sunnyside Studios in Fairbanks they are now mastered and ready to be sent out to get printed. This has been a long time coming and I'm happy it is going to come together right before I leave state for Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia!

In Alaska we use 1980's technology...

Well... I think I will let this video speak for itself. We get the hand me down video production equipment from Russia. That's right... we can see it from here.

This is part of my "Cheese Series". Thanks BizBuzz productions for letting me rock on the green screen! Fun time. Enjoy the "Cheese Series". Some choice one takes from the green room. Literally. It was a green room. A green room full of awesomeness.

This video can only smell like one of two things; bad feet or good cheese. I believe it is the latter.

Desperado

For some strange reason recently I felt compelled to learn the song Desperado by the Eagles. It is because I wanted to sing it. I thought long and hard until I could smell the rubber burning and realized that you could actually play this song on a ukulele with the chords and the melody at the same time. So I got down to it. Low and behold I think I finally got something close. Like I said I don't know why, but something inside of me told me I needed to learn this song.

Perhaps it was meeting Timothy Schmidt on my way back from Australia last year. I don't know. Regardless... here it is.

New Vids!

Just got around to uploading a bunch of new vids from TV and festival appearances on the old Youtube Channel. Here is y favorite. The City by the River! I absolutely love the screen shot that youtube has chosen for this video. This is classic Ukulele Russ. Sometimes the faces I make even make me cringe, but that is how I make the funny noises. Sometimes you just have to make strange facial expressions to make your hands and voice do what you tell them to do.

Hope everyone enjoys the video! I will blog about the rest of them as the days go on!

First Show back from tour @ The Higher Calling

Come rock with me at my first show back from tour here in the great land right in downtown Fairbanks at the borough's most infamous spot, The Higher Calling. Infamous for no reason other than the man doesn't want you to go there, enjoy their space, or exercise the rights that we have voted into law last year. They have been threatened with fines and intimidation, but they are still rocking and I will be rocking my first one man ukulele band set Fairbanks has seen! Tested on the road for the last month I do believe now it is time to unveil it for the home crowd!

Hope you enjoy my horrible promo for the show. Remember, do what the mouths tell you to do.

Squarebanks - 27 hours later

It is good to be back. After hours on a plane in a section full of infants screaming, 17 hours of layovers, and endless amounts of tomato juice (it's just what I drink on planes -- don't judge) the wife and I finally made it back to Fairbanks. I don't care how cold it is when I first walk outside (it wasn't bad at all this time -- Alaskans for Global Warming) and the cold air hits your face. I love it.

SEATAC has to be me my least favorite airport. I always seem to roll in as they are closing everything and after ordering food we get hurried out of the bar. There isn't a good place out of the bright lights to sleep. Also having this alarm go off nearby for HOURS didn't help. Glad Security was all over it.  I just felt bad for the guy you invented that most awesome airport creation. The king sized airport bench bed. Hats off to you my friend. Too bad the alarm was going off right next to you.

Happy New Year!

Me making my second appearance on the 207 TV show in Portland, Maine. Can't wait to come back and do it again!

Tyson Davis of the Blackwater Railroad Company

 Happy new year everyone! A successful East Coast tour! Thanks to everyone who made it possible! I can't wait to come down again toward the end of 2016 for another go at the most populated portion of the Unite States. This was my test tour for my one man band and it went AWESOME!

Check out my TV appearance from the beginning of the tour!

THE ONE MAN UKULELE BAND -- On Maine Television!

RIFF JOHNSON!!!

Here are some highlights from the trip!  And what a long strange trip it has been! 1500+ miles, holiday traffic screwing my life up, sleeping in the car, on farms, in slums, and the whole rainbow of wild characters. I love the road and the states are such a great place to see such a wide variety of places and people. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Love me the U.S. and the South East is starting to grow on me. Now only if we could get rid of the ticks...

Victoria Vox and I @ Live in the Lobby in Baltimore, MD. 

It was fun hitting up Baltimore and visiting / playing at Victoria Vox's ukulele meet up. It is always a good time to see colleagues and play for their peoples.

Now I am finishing up the last few days in Florida relaxing with family and friends before my annoyingly long flights and layovers back to the great land. Some plans are all ready in the works for my return trip to the east coast for more rocking this upcoming fall, post Alaskan moose season of course. It is kind of a life rule for me not to leave the frontier while the sun and the nice temperatures are still abundant. Plus, there is nothing like the quest to fill the freezer with healthy, lean, non human made hormone infested meat. Yum. It is the right way to live. My opinion. Can't wait to get back and take some much needed time off and then get back to the grind before I head overseas to play shows in Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia. I can't wait to headline the Sunshine Coast Ukulele Festival with some of my favorite ukulele acts. I pinch myself everyday to make sure I'm not dreaming.

Merry Christmas!

ONE MAN UKULELE BAND ON 207

All I want for Christmas is my One-ton Chevy.... and world peace.

My Maine shows are now over and it is time to celebrate Christmas with family. I hit the road south to Florida on the 26th, but until then it is time for Christmas cheer.

Here is a clip from my appearance on the WCSH6 207 TV show in beautiful downtown Portland, Maine.

Here is the link --------------> ONE MAN UKULELE BAND ON 207

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Back in Maine

After 24 hours in transit the Wife and I finally have made to Maine. It only took dealing with several mildly retarded (I wish there was a better word for this) TSA agents to safely (they didn't help) make it to the other side of the island, New England.

Talk about strange happenings, after my Wife and I boarded the plane for our last leg of the journey from Seattle to Boston a childhood friend of mine who I haven't seen in 5 or 6 years was on the same flight! The best part was his seat was right behind me. What are the chances, right? It was great to catch up. He told us he was going to take the bus to Maine, however, we invited him to join us in our rental car to avoid having to deal with Greyhound.

Now I'm trying to adjust my sleep patterns after two days of barely any sleep and a 4 hour time difference. I hate to say this, because the professional musician's gods might frown on it, but it is 7am and I am awake....and it isn't because I stayed up all night. Getting up before the crack of noon is strange.  I better fix this over the next day or two.

It begins tomorrow. Come out and see me my Mainer brothers and sisters!

Goodbye my fair Alaska...for now

In a few hours my wife and I will be heading for our yearly trip to the east coast to see family and for me to play a string of gigs from Maine to Florida. Until I get south of NEw England I am basically trading one winter for another... however with global warming in full swing I heard it was 75F in Washington D.C. the other day. I could handle that about now. Currently it is around -10F and less than four hours of sunlight.  Once I get to dixie I will be enjoying t-shirt weather and everyone around me will be in winter coats and hats.  Wussies. :)

I'm excited to play a few shows in my native Maine before I head south. Looks like I lined up four really good ones. Can't wait to get out of the frontier for a bit and get some vitamin D. I miss the sun this time of year.

One man ukulele band... IT IS POSSIBLE!

So, its possible... A one man ukulele band!

The Introspective Space

Everyone has their happy place. The place they like to go to think. A place where you find your mind drifting into a state of contentment. Well, during the winter months I spend less time in my special thinking spot, however, that is only due to the temperature. When the mercury drops below zero there becomes more of a sense of urgency. I have to say though... I still get some great thinking in.

In the early summer months there is a new sense of urgency. No matter how much wood ash or lime you put down in the hole you can't stop the bugs. To think, I have had the same copy of "Lord of the Flies" sitting in the outhouse now for 6 years and I still can't seem to control them. I figured if I read it enough I would become their master. This is not the case at all. The opposite has occurred.

It is all about the spring months before the bugs and the fall before the cold. Those are truly magical times.

Thank you happy place. Hopefully you won't have to be moved another 6 feet down the hill within the next year.

The world's most northern biker bar's Halloween extravaganza!

This will be my 6th year playing one of the most iconic Halloween parties of Alaska's interior. The Howling Dog Saloon is known by many as a place of epic rocking during the post pipeline years and a historic piece of Alaskan social history. Six years ago I was asked to fill the void by another performer and take on this event. I have been honored to do it and can't wait for another chance to make it rock yet again before it closes for another season. In one more week, after their fire sale on booze to clean the shelves, the Howling Dog will shut down until May.

Tonight I popped in to the Dog and saw my buddy Mike Stackhouse playing some tunes in the front bar. Ya see, Mike likes to crash my Fairbanks gigs regularly with his guitar. Showing up and sitting in with the band or just me. Tonight I crashed his gig for an hour. Tomorrow...well technically today since I'm writing this at 1am, I'm sure he will crash mine.

Time for sleep. Tomorrow it is time to rock the Dog.

A FULL HOUR OF...

The full hour long episode of my band on Alaska Live KUAC! Check it out! You may want to get back the hour of your life you will waste on this or you may feel enlightened after the experience of viewing my ugly mug for an hour. Who knows? You can only find out for yourself.

KUAC - Alaska Live - TV

Here is a little out of context mash up of all the dumb random things I said throughout the course of filming a TV spot for Alaska Live on KUAC. The film editor was nice enough to place my strange one liners together in such a manner that even I was amused. Ok... I was more than amused. This video is hilarious!

Enjoy!

Remember FACEBOOK users... come "LIKE" me... Just click HERE!

TONIGHT!! GET SOME!

TONIGHT!!!! Come rock it with us at the Marlin for the PANTS OFF DANCE OFF!!! It is going to be epic.

GOT A UKULELE INTERVIEW

Photo by Nick Pitsas

GOT-A-UKULELE did a wonderful interview with me! Check it out in all of it's glory. IT is nice to get some recognition from the other side of the pond. Cheers my British friends!

Also don't forget I'm at the The Marlin with the Fairbanks All Stars on Saturday this week! It will be our last show at the Marlin for the year! It is going to be a smashing good time with lots of drinks, laughs, and dance grooves to get down to. A good time will be had by all!!!

SATURDAY!!!!

AT THE FISH THIS WEEKEND!

The Marlin on College Road in Fairbanks! Come get some! 10pm

This week in ukuleleland....

9pm each night in my favorite drinking town with a fishing problem, Seward Alaska! 

...with a special Thursday show at the Fairview Inn in beautiful historic downtown Talkeetna, AK.!

Octoberfest!

Yes... This is happening tomorrow. I am the polka alternative for the evening... yes there is a polka band and there will be beer. Cold beer... filled with Vitamin P!