The UK and UKulele's

[auld argonian]

How is it that you folks in the UK have this remarkable love affair witht he ukulele...which, I hasten to add, I totally share these days.

My roundabout tale of how I discovered this:

You may know that there was a US version of the TV show "Life On Mars" done last year. It was pretty good and offbeat enough to get me to watch every episode. Looking things up on the internet, I got to see some of the clips from the original UK version...mostly prime quotes from DCI Gene Hunt who has obviously developed a cult following ("Don't move! You're surrounded by armed bastards!").

But searching on "life on mars" turned up one more thing. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's version of David Bowie's song "Life On Mars".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxCj2MO02AE

Fantastic! These guys are phenomenal! I look up all of their stuff on youtube and visit their website. Looks like we have to wait a loooong time before they come to the USA but if they do, I am there!

But searching youtube yields yet another UK treasure that I was totally unaware of: George Formby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w3X9...eature=related

Call me a square but I love old movies and, to the best of my knowledge, George Formby's movies just haven't been seen in the USA. The guy is great and his style of playing that little banjo-ukulele is totally cool and is now named after him. There's also a link to a documentary about his fans gathering in Blackpool with their own little banjo-ukes to play en masse and pay him tribute.

Apparently, George Harrison and Paul McCartney were great fans and George Harrison is supposed to have owned one of George Formby's banjo-ukes.

Now I see that the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain played that notable event, the Last Night of the Proms Concerts.

Anyway...what a great ukulele revival. Looks like one of those things that the world needs...simple, fun and you just can't stay stressed while you're listening or playing ukulele's.

I'm ordering one later on today.


Best

AA

[andyfg]

Anyway...what a great ukulele revival. Looks like one of those things that the world needs...simple, fun and you just can't stay stressed while you're listening or playing ukulele's.

I'm ordering one later on today.

AA

I thought this thread was going to be about playing the ukulele while wearing a UK!

Anyway, I play the ukulele, make them, love them, have transferred my allegiance to uke from guitar as the best stringed instrument on the planet. Ukes are happy instruments.

Be careful! Getting ukes is as addictive as getting kilts. Now you will really be in trouble.

What size are you getting?

This is Xmarks: I am frequently found playing a uke in a kilt!
:ootd:

[Arlen]

I love the Ukulele Orchestra. I have a couple of their cds. I'm a middling fan of Georgie but I tend to just love any kind of folk music and it's variants.

[highlander_Daz]

The late great Peter Sellers was an excelent Uke player as well as an astonishing George Formby Impersonator check him out on Youtube in a rare interview as himself on "parkinson" Seller rarely did interviews as "himself"

[McClef]

We used to have a ukulele-banjo in my family and I learned to play a couple of George Formby numbers - "When I'm Cleaning Windows" and "Leaning on a Lamp Post."

It's a different creature to the ordinary ukulele but neither is it a banjo either.

Formby was THE master of the instrument and possibly one of the most unlikely film stars ever, even by the standards of British Cinema that totally lacked the glitz of Hollywood to begin with.

I cannot remember when UK TV last showed one of his films, but when I was growing up they were on all the time.

[pdcorlis]

Ok - AA I think I hate you now... you have revived my dormant uke fetish! I have a friend from the islands who makes 'em... now lets see, where did I put his number...

[auld argonian]

I wasn't sure how the UK members would react to the mention of George Formby. I suppose that it might be one of those things that's so outrageously square that it's considered hip by now.

Sorry that I can't find any Formby on DVD that's Region 1...though a buddy of mine recently told me about a cheap-ish DVD player that has switchable regions hidden in the menu software...

So far, the best line that I've heard when I expose anybody to George Formby has been that of my mother: "Who is this guy...PeeWee Herman's grandfather?"


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AA

[NewGuise]

France has the wonderful (and wonderfully weird) Thomas Fersen, who sings not just with but also about his ukelele ...

[But that's a dress he's wearing with his coat and top hat, not a kilt.]

[O'Callaghan]

I'll always associate the ukelele with George Formby. I watched loads of his old films on TV in England years ago, and my dad was a fan of his when he was boy.

I was at a folk festival here in the US some years ago, and Arlo Guthrie was doing a gig at the festival. Frankly, that's the only reason I went. I had seen Arlo Guthrie perform years before at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where he explained to the audience that his father Woody's song "This Land is Your Land" could be applied to England if you went around the world in the opposite direction!

Anyway, back to the US and the folk festival. A boy who looked about ten stepped forward out of the audience and asked Arlo if he could play something by George Formby! Well, blow me down, but without missing a beat he launched straight into "Ukelele Lady"!

When I later told my parents about this they were less amazed than I was, because they pointed out that "Ukelele Lady" wasn't originally by George Formby, but was by an American whose name they had forgotten.

I think I have found out who they meant. Frank Crumit. I stumbled across his recording on YouTube. There are lots of other gems on there including "The Pig Got Up And Slowly Walked Away" (...you can tell a man who boozes, by the company he chooses, and the pig got up, and slowly walked away ...). Don't miss that one.

There are also a lot of film clips of George Formby on YouTube, including one of a rehearsal of "My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock" at the Tower Ballroom on the famous Blackpool Tower.

I have a lot of Chinese clients at work, including a couple of guys called Mr. Wu or Woo. I can't see the name without hearing in my head George Formby singing Chinese Laundry Blues, and usually find myself sing a few bars as well.

...well, I'm feeling kind of tawdry,
when I'm ironing ladies' laundry,
Mr. Woo, what can I do?
I've got those kind of low down Chinese Laundry Blues!

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Sorry that I can't find any Formby on DVD that's Region 1...though a buddy of mine recently told me about a cheap-ish DVD player that has switchable regions hidden in the menu software...

All the JVC players that I've owned are "No Region" so can play DVDs from all over the world and you don't even have to mess with options or anything. Just pop it in and it will play.

--Chelsea McMurdo--
Who is currently sitting in her living room in Wyoming watching "Footrot Flats"