It poured rain yesterday so I caught up on laundry, made beef stew for dinner tonight, and finally got around to re-stringing my Kamaka ukulele. It's a fine instrument, a replica of an antique Kamaka worth many thousands of dollars, if you can even find one.
When I bought it at Dusty Strings, they compared the Kamaka to owning a vintage car: requires tinkering. As a beginner, that should have scared me off, but it was love at first sight. You learn the hard reality of the relationship later.
Yes, it has quirks, like fussy, stiff tuners and a frustrating way of attaching strings with knots that tend to pop out. But now that I'm used to it, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
The 16-hour (whew) Ken Burns country music special started this week on PBS. Watching his stuff is a bit of an ordeal, albeit a pleasant one. Peter Coyote's droning voice puts me to sleep, so it might take a while. Fortunately we can stream it.
I'm looking forward to the Hillbilly Shakespeare episode. I love Hank Williams. The Ukes play several of his songs like Jambalaya, Hey, Good Lookin' and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, perhaps the saddest song ever written.
They're fun to play because they're easy, and satisfying to play because they're good. I'd much rather play Hank Williams than struggle though a rock classic "transcribed" for the ukulele. Or worse, butcher some great material from the Great American Songbook. But that's just me.
I'm So Lazy I Could Cry.
Hi Sue. Thank you for your visit. I still play my ukulele occasionally but certainly in Summer other things seem to take precedence. Glad to see you enjoy it.
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