Bruner Blog

Normally, I don’t post UkeTube videos of instrumentalists, as I’m a singer/strummer myself. (Which reminds me, Joe Strummer of Clash fame got his start in music during his hippie youth busking on the streets of London with a ukulele, a factoid I picked up in the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.)

But, I do keep track of hot ladies of ukulele, and Brittni Paiva qualifies. She’s cute and she’s a shreader on the uke, as this terrific rendition of Over the Rainbow attests.

Went last nice to one of the coolest spots I’ve discovered in a while, St. Nick’s Pub, at 773 Saint Nicholas Avenue and 147th St, in Sugar Hill, Harlem.

I’ve been grousing for a while that there are few places in Harlem cool enough to tempt people to come uptown for, but obviously I just haven’t done enough exploring. (A reviewer on CitySearch writes, “For me, it’s worth the trip to harlem from brooklyn.”

The place is so fun, a late-night jazz free-for-all that seems not to have much renovation since it first operated in the 1930s. (I remember seeing somewhere the claim it was the oldest continuously operating jazz club in NYC, but I can’t find the citation again.)

We started the night with the late set at Smoke Jazz Club (105th & Broadway) of the Eric Alexander Quartet, a friend of Sean’s from college. That was fun, though the music a bit serious and bill quite expensive. After the set, we had another drink till about 2am, and then a couple of the party left but the rest (John, two visiting friends of his, and Anya, who made the schlep from Brooklyn, bless her) went to St. Nick’s on Anya’s advice.

By quarter-to-three or so when we got there, the joint was jumping, with a hot jam that must have included 10 or more musicians rotating across the stage and clogging up the narrow hall to the bathrooms and the back courtyard (very urban), where smokers and friends chilled.

The crowd was mostly black, though mixed and we five honkies were made most welcome, including two tourists from Montana and Vermont respectively. Neither had been to NYC in a decade or more; they certainly got their money’s worth for an only-in-NY scene. (In retrospect, I realize it was the night of the Sean Bell verdict, the judge ruling the three cops not guilty for shooting unarmed Bell 50 times on his wedding eve. The city has changed, I guess.)

Anyway, point is check out St. Nick’s Pub. It’s a happening joint. If you can swing it, Monday night is suppose to be the hottest night, with a crazy-ass jam session.

Yelp review

CitySearch

All About Jazz

Oh joyous day! I heard on NPR this afternoon that Portishead, one of my all-time favorite bands, is at last releasing a new album after a decade hiatus entitled, appropriately, Third. Best of all, one of the songs, Deep Water, features guitarist Adrian Utley playing the ukulele! You can hear a snippet of it on Amazon (scroll down the page to the music samples).

It’s not out yet, but it should be next week. I’ve ordered mine on Amazon already. (I know that’s oldskool to buy the CD, but I’m still sore about LPs going away.)

A friend and I are playing JukeTube, trading favorite vids from years gone by. Seems like a blogworthy game. Can’t pass up this classic:

SweetAfton23 is back with an original!

I saw this amazing band, Gadjo (see also their MySpace page), in Barcelona, a motley collection of musicians from various lands singing in various languages in a quirky, funky Balkan/swing/ska kind of style (think Squirrel Nut Zippers but much cooler). Not sure how soon you’ll have a chance to see them in a city near you, but keep an eye out for them.

It frightens me more than slightly that I feel a special bond with people such as this gentleman.

Rock legend George Harrison was a great proponent of the uke. Here he is with some small orchestra in a charming rendition of “Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea.”

Surfing around looking for another good UkeTube vid, I came across a uker new to me who goes by the UkeTube handle of f3rt. He’s quite the talent, as he boldly demonstrates in my favorite uke performance of the day, a rendition of John Cage’s classic composition 4′33″. It perfectly suits my mood tonight. Some might argue it is the composition best suited for the ukulele, though not me.

If I were a teenage girl, I’d throw my underwear at this guy in concert. Mark Occhionero is my uke hero. This song in particular was a kind of inspiration for me. I can play it, and it’s probably my best song, but mine’s a far cry from his version.

The problem with any blog stunt like my recent pledge to post a UkeTube video a day (for an undetermined period of time) is that now I’m tied to the computer to actually post every day a ukulele video from YouTube. It’s not that there aren’t enough — that was my original point, that there are limitless numbers — but I have other things going on in my life and finding the time to post daily is a drag.

Tonight I’m going to see Ween, who I suspect will not be playing ukulele (though you never know with those guys) and my work calendar is packed today, so I begin the day with this ditty from actor William H. Macy, doing a send-up on his co-stars in last summer’s comedy Wild Hogs. I didn’t have any desire to see the film (despite my other big hobby lately being motorcycling, but that’s a story for later blog posts), so this isn’t a plug for the film. The chords he’s playing are nothing special, but his strumming technique is slick enough that I suspect he’s actually not a bad uker. Anyway, seemed like a good idea to pepper this thing with some celebrity strummers to inspire the tots. Enjoy.

A uke classic, among the many I’ve been tasked to learn by friends, performed by Kermit and friends.

Last night I was looking for a uke performance of Crazy, and instead I found this wonderful performance of a song I’d never heard of called “Tom Cruise Crazy.” Everything about this clip is fabulous: the performer’s ineffable adorableness; her seemingly effortless uke chops; her star-in-waiting voice, and the song’s hilarious lyrics. The song is not hers but that of another talent I’d never heard of before, Jonathan Coulton. I haven’t explored the rest of the guy’s catalog yet, but I look forward to doing so.

The performer, Sweetafton23, tells us relatively little about herself on her UkeTube profile, aside from that she lives in the LA area. In response to my gushing comment on another of her song posts, she replied with a few details: she is indeed a bewitching temptress; no, she’s not a professional performer; no, she’s not planning any NYC gigs in the near future, and, worst of all, no, I can’t bear her children anytime soon (she did leave the window for hope, though!). (That last line I think I’m over-playing lately. But, you see it’s funny because I’m a man, so I can’t actually bear children. Right?)

UPDATE: Yikes! I’m old and creepy! I am suddenly and completely cured of my crush on Sweetafton23 when I came to the conclusion last night, after Googling up on her a bit, that this delightful little talent is something like 17 years old! I found posts where she was talking about looking forward to getting her driver’s license! Aaaaaaaa! Now I have to focus my obsession on my jealous awe at her ukey genius.

A friend crashing at my place for a few days suggests I start a site HotLadiesofUkulele.com. My ticket to fortune, perhaps? There are actually quite a number of them, but not to take anything away from Sweetafton23, I’ll save other links for later posts. Meanwhile, I’ll make that a new tag.

Ukulele Eric is a prolific UkeTube poster and a bit of a wackjob, judging from some of his monologue and poetry pieces, but as this song demonstrates, he’s a talented uker and an even better singer.