I had a short trip to Auckland recently, and took the opportunity to chat to ukulele player and songwriter Dave Parker.  Dave is one third of New Zealand ukulele band The Nukes, who have been playing around New Zealand, Australia and other places for around 10 years.  I saw the Nukes play last year and was blown away by how good they were – so I was really excited by the opportunity to talk to Dave, and was not disappointed.  Enjoy!

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like these supporters:

• Ukulele Champion: Debbie Hoad
• Ukulele Legend: Linda Dodwell

Some show-related links below:

• Barron River ukuleles
• Central Coast ukulele festival
• Bevan Galbraith
• The Big Muffin Serious Band
• Sunshine Coast ukulele festival

Songs played in this episode:

• Island Queen (Dave Parker)
• Simon’s Song (Dave Parker, 2019)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

Last year I released an episode featuring my friend Geoff Skellams, a talented player of ukulele and guitar who was feeling a little frustrated by his progress with learning Hawaiian slack key.  He did get some lessons after that episode was recorded and they helped a bit, but this year the frustration seemed to be returning in a big way.  Then in June, Geoff went to a week-long workshop in Hawaii which absolutely turned things around for him.  His excitement was so infectious that I got him back on the show to tell me all about it.

Links to things Geoff talked about are below.

Dave O’Neill

Tony’s Acoustic Challenge

George Kahumoku's Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele Workshop

Napili Kai Beach Resort

Led Ka’apana

Sonny Lim

Jeff Peterson

Kevin Brown

Paul Togioka

Herb Ohta Jr.

Brad Bordessa

James Hill

Jason Jerome

The Mākaha Sons of Ni'ihau

Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo‘ole

Slack Key Masters weekly concert

Peter De Aquino

Daniel Ward - Melodic Meditations for Ukulele

The Ukulele Site

Geoff’s New Ukulele

Taropatch.net

Makalauna Celebration

Jason’s Advanced Ukulele Book

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like:

• Ukulele Champion: Debbie Hoad
• Ukulele Legend: Linda Dodwell.

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist of songs relating to this episode.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

Today’s episode consists of the best bits of a live episode recorded at the Ukulele Republic of Canberra’s Gang Gang Twang 2 festival, where I had a chat to David Megarrity and Samuel Vincent.  David and Samuel regularly perform and record together as the duo Tyrone and Lesley.

Due to technical issues I was only able to include a few highlights in this episode, but I’m sure you will enjoy the two songs performed by David and Samuel:

• There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (Jolson, Rose & Dreyer, 1928)
• Can Will Do (Megarrity & Vincent, 2017)

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like:

• Ukulele Champion: Debbie Hoad
• Ukulele Legend: Linda Dodwell.

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist where you can hear these songs as well as a few other great Tyrone and Lesley tunes.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

I went to an impromptu meetup with STRUM, Seattle’s Totally Relaxed Ukulele Musicians, on a recent visit to Seattle.  I recorded some of the songs we played, and asked some of the members how ukulele has changed their lives.  If you’re passing through Seattle I would highly recommend dropping in for a strum!

This episode features a whole lot of songs:

• Blue Moon (Rodgers & Hart, 1934)
• Diana (Anka & Sherman, 1957)
• Smile (Chaplin, Turner & Parsons, 1954)
• Down by the Riverside (Traditional)
• ‘A’ You’re Adorable (Lippman, 1948)
• Singin’ in The Rain (Freed & Brown, 1929)
• Sway (Demetrio & Gimbel, 1954)
• Sweet Georgia Brown (Bernie, Pinkard & Casey, 1925)
• South of the Border (Kennedy & Carr, 1939)
• I only want to be with you (Hawker & Raymonde, 1963)
• All I Have to do is Dream (Bryant, 1958)
• All My Loving (Lennon & McCartney, 1963)
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Linda, Peretti, Creatore, Weiss & Stanton, 1961)
• Hawaiian Lullaby (Reichel, 1997)
• Ka Pua Ē  (Traditional)
• To You Sweetheart, Aloha (Harry Owens, 1951) / Aloha Oe (Queen Liliuokalani)
• STRUM a Ukulele when you’re feeling Blue (Uncle Rod Higuchi)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like:

• Ukulele Champion: Debbie Hoad
• Ukulele Legend: Linda Dodwell.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

Recently I was in Sydney for the weekend and took the opportunity to have a chat with Jeff, Rita, Patsi and Peter of ukulele band Flat Foot Floozy. 

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like:

• Ukulele Champion: Debbie Hoad
• Ukulele Legend: Linda Dodwell.

Some show-related links below:

• Balmain Ukulele Klub
• Central Coast ukulele festival
• UROC

Flat Foot Floozy played a couple of songs:

• Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy (Harry Stone & Jack Stapp, 1950)
• Help Me Make It Through the Night – Kris Kristofferson, 1970)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Hawaii was my visit to the KoAloha factory.  I did their daily factory tour first, then had a chat to Alan and Paul Okami.  Oh, and I also bought the ukulele of my dreams! 

Please support me on Patreon and get an exclusive Ukulele Is The New Black decal for your ukulele case!  Give a little more and you will get your name in the show notes every week, like the amazing Debbie Hoad.

Some show-related links below:

• KoAloha ukuleles
• Cairns ukulele festival
• Blue Mountains ukulele festival
• Simple Souls
• Ka’au Crater Boys
• Trade restrictions on rosewood
• Jonathan Coulton – “Some Guys”

Songs played in this episode:

• Alan sang an excerpt from “Like A Stone” (Brad Wilk, Chris Cornell, Tim Commerford & Tom Morello, 2003)
• Meredith played “If You Could Read My Mind” (Gordon Lightfoot, 1970)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

I met Nissa Ludwig on the Joco Cruise in 2018 and recorded a conversation with her then, as well as an extra bit on the 2019 cruise.  She is a professional musician who plays a huge range of instruments, but only discovered the ukulele a few years ago.  I really enjoyed talking to her and I hope you do too!

The ukulele manufacturer Nissa mentions on Maui is Mele Ukulele.

Nissa and I play a few songs:

• Losing my Religion (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe – 1991)
• Royals (Ella Yelich-O'Connor, Joel Little -2012)
• Afternoon Delight (Bill Danoff – 1976)
• Smooth (Itaal Shur, Rob Thomas – 1999)
• Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman – 1984)
• All About That Bass: (Meghan Trainor, Kevin Kadish – 2014)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

You can now support me on Patreon!  Show your ukulele love and get an exclusive UitNB decal to adorn your uke case.  If you sign up as a Ukulele Champion or Ukulele Legend, you will get your name in the show notes, just like these awesome people:

• Debbie Hoad

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

This chat with Jim Boggia was recorded on the Joco Cruise in March 2019.  Jim has been playing music since the age of five, and it shows!  As well as being an incredibly talented musician he was a lot of fun to chat to.

Jim played two songs on the podcast:

• Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen, 1975)
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg, 1939)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for this episode's playlist - it contains these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

The audio of "Tune That Thing" was sourced from Angela Brett's excellent YouTube video recorded on the 2019 Joco Cruise.  As well as Jim, it featured Paul Sabourin and jean Grae (and a little bit of Night Moves - Bob Seger, 1976).  Go watch the video - it's even better with pictures!

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

This chat with Molly Lewis was recorded on the Joco Cruise in March 2019.  Molly has been playing ukulele on that cruise (and in many other places of course!) since its inception nine years ago, and I was so excited to get the opportunity to talk to her for the podcast.  Links to some of the things we discussed are below.

• How Music Works by David Byrne
• Astronaut Lisa Nowak
• Cards Against Humanity
• Jonathan Coulton
• Paul and Storm

I was going to get a photo of Molly’s Bluebird ukulele but as usual, I forgot.  Here is a link to the concert version (hers is a tenor). 

Songs played in this episode are:

• Tom Cruise Crazy (Jonathan Coulton, 2006)
• Johnny Dicklegs (Molly Lewis)
• Kapo (Molly Lewis, 2014)
• Short People (Randy Newman, 1977)

Go to the Ukulele Is The New Black YouTube channel for a playlist to hear these songs as well as others mentioned in the episode.

The music played in this episode is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.

Guido Heistek is a teacher and performer of ukulele and guitar, based in Vancouver.  Here are some links to things we discussed in the show:

• Ukulele In The Dark
• Ralph Shaw
• Vancouver Ukulele Circle
• Karin Plato

Guido played Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg, 1939).

The music played in this podcast is licenced under a Podcasts (Featured Music) agreement with APRA AMCOS.