We’ve just finished our first Christmas gig of 2019 which was at a local Garden Centre where we played to welcome Santa Claus to his Grotto. I was able to have my photograph taken with one of his elves. Our set list was made up of a selection of Christmas songs which the audience enjoyed singing.
By the way, I wore my new Christmas jumper which features a Christmas tree decorated with ukuleles. We’ve got another four Christmas gigs at various community groups and charity groups in the town.
Please find below a video of one of our songs – “Jingle Bells”. I’m on the back row playing my bass ukulele.
This week is going to be quite busy as I’ve got two gigs on consecutive nights with two different ukulele bands.
Tonight I’m playing the bass ukulele with the Ukunauts of Stone for Rotary Club’s social event at the local golf club. Then tomorrow evening it’s over to Penkridge (near Stafford) for a charity event in aid of the Parkinsons’ Society when I’ll also be playing bass.
It’s interesting in that I shall be playing some of the same songs at each gig, however they’re in different keys and one band has added some extra repeat verses. Furthermore, the two bands play them in slightly different styles, including at different tempos. This means that I’ll have to pay attention and not let my mind wander whilst I’m playing especially as some of the songs are in the same 12 bar blues format.
Despite all this, I find it enjoyable to play in front of a live audience especially if they start to join in. So during the rock’n’roll numbers I’ll turn up the amp. maybe to 11, in order to get them all up dancing. Rock on, dude!
Fantastic – my YouTube video “Drive some more down the A34” has just clocked up 1,000 views. Many thanks to all who viewed it and I hope you enjoyed it.
A hectic morning – here’s a photo from the radio interview with BBC Radio Stoke. We did the interview from the side of the A34 at one of the locations featured in my YouTube music video “Drive some more down the A34”. I was talking and singing to the reporter as we sheltered out of the rain at the back of the van. Not very rock’n’roll. However they seemed to like the interview and especially the idea of having songs that contain local place names.
A ukulele player has hit the road and recorded his own music video to celebrate the places of the West Midlands.
Peter Wood, also known as ‘Plinky Plonky Pete’, decided to make the video after wanting a change from playing songs about American locations at his Ukulele clubs.
The 71-year-old from Stafford recorded the song at home in his study and spent the summer filming his own music video to go with it.
He adapted the lyrics from Bobby Troup’s Route 66 to feature locations along the A34 including Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall and Birmingham.
Peter said: “I’m a local chap and wanted to sing a song about local places, so I decided to write my own. Route 66 has always been a favorite song of mine, and as the A34 passes right though our region, I decided to adapt the lyrics to that. I had great fun writing it, and thought why stop there and decided to make a music video.”
“Despite playing the Ukulele for over three years, it was the first time I’d ever recorded myself. I recorded the vocals, rhythm ukulele and bass, and two of my friends helped play lead guitar and drums. Once finished were all very happy with it.”
The video was shot over the summer and features Peter’s classic MGB car.
He added: The best part of making it was getting out there and visiting the wonderful places that our region has to offer. I hope it’s something that people can enjoy and recognise familiar places.”
Here’s All About Uke’s video of “In the Mood” for the competition to find Britain’s best ukulele band. I’m sitting on the extreme left playing the bass ukulele.
It was a busy day yesterday as the ukulele group I play with recorded a song for a competition. It’s for the Ukulele Society of Great Britain’s competition to find Britain’s best ukulele band. About thirty bands have entered the competition and each band has to record and submit a video of a performance. A team of judges will view the performances and decide on a winner who will have the honour of being declared the best ukulele band in Great Britain.
Here’s a photo of All About Uke from Stafford & Stoke-on-Trent getting ready to perform their song. I’m seated on the extreme left of the photo playing the bass ukulele. It was a busy afternoon because as well as playing the bass, I also brought along my camera to video the song. A fellow ukulele player, Nick, brought his sound recording equipment which recorded the audio in a better quality than that on my camera. I’ve sent him my video file and he’ll add the audio track. Looking forward to viewing and hearing the final result and wondering how we’ll do in the competition when the winner will be announced in the autumn.
We’ve finished editing my music video and are almost ready to put it on YouTube. Although I wrote the storyboard, it was my son David who did most of the work in adding the video shots to the audio sound track of my song. He did an absolutely brilliant job and the final result is amazing.
As a taster of what to expect here’s a screenshot of the opening logo at the start of the video. We’ll put the video on YouTube probably in September and I’ll add a link in a later post.
Just finished filming the video to accompany the song I recently wrote and recorded. The song’s lyrics mention Birmingham so it meant a trip there to get a shot of the Library in Centenary Square. The next job will be editing the video and adding titles & end credits. Hopefully I’ll be able to upload it onto YouTube by the end of this month our early August.
At the weekend I joined the All About Uke group from Stafford at their gig as part of a local village fair. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was a “Sunny Afternoon” ( which happened to be one of the songs in our set list). The fair took place on a playing field with various stalls and attractions around the edge. We were asked to set up in the centre of the arena, so it was literally like performing in the middle of a field. There were about 35 ukulele players in our group and I was playing my bass ukulele. In the photo I’ve on the back row fourth from the left sitting on my music stool. As there was no electric power available I took my battery powered amp. The gig went well but playing outdoors does have a number of issues. The sound produced by the acoustic ukuleles can tend to get lost in the open air and not travel as far. However the most useful accessory when playing outdoors is to take a couple of clothes pegs to clip onto the sheet music to stop it blowing about in the breeze. It was a most enjoyable afternoon and after the performance there was time to visit the beer tent for some refreshment.
