What is a 30's Uke Girl up to these days??

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I’m a lifelong musician, been writing songs since I was 16. And, they got better with time and practice. Everything gets better with practice! As a wise man once said, “Don’t practice till you get it right, practice till you can’t get it wrong!” I love teaching ukulele, and also teaching voice and of course, songwriting. A song is nothing more than a story, and if you sing it as if it were a play, then you are using your voice correctly. If you write it as if it were a play, you engage the listeners. And bonus, if you use an instrument as an extension of your feelings, you can make the song soar. I intend to use this blog for the promotion of my ukulele passion, to introduce performers, review instruments, luthiers, and give links to great UKE websites. I also will keep links to festivals, events, and clubs. My other passion is biographical content, and I’ll be adding many of those, especially about the early artists from the 20s 30s 40s. A lost treasure trove of talent. Hope you enjoy the varied content. It will be eclectic, like me!

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Monday, February 24, 2014

Uncle Elvis aka Mike Hind was IN THE HOUSE this weekend!!!

Uncle Elvis aka Mike Hind was here in Tampa this weekend with the Flea Bitten Dawgs finishing up a tour and man was it a finish!
I didn't get to catch his set when he was here for the Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway but was fortunate enough to get to jam with him that November weekend.  I fell in love with his energy and go give spirit as I watched him laugh and jam with new players, sage players and National Acts, treating everyone the same.  

This last weekend was no exception and I can only describe it as awesomeness to the Nth level! I got to catch the whole show, and it was my baptism of Uncle Elvis.  Baptism of FIRE!!!  LOL. 

 This "Elvis" got up after the Dawgs, and I swear, he played about 2 hours non stop! His originals were poignant, moving, and some were very direct!  Haha. His covers were spot on!  The energy coming off the stage was magnetic. The humorous innuendos were delivered with the precision of a comedic engineer.  My face hurt about halfway through his show, just from laughing and smiling.  My cheeks were numb by the end of the two hours!  And after the show, we all jammed till the wee hours. That was then followed by a Sunday at Sam Ash for a three part workshop with Uncle Elvis going over Beginner Open Mic strategies! Even I, a professional performer for over 40 years took some notes, it was that good! And, he got 4 people up out of the workshop that had fear and sweaty fingers and got them to perform to rousing applause.  Amazing.  I don't know that anyone else could have convinced those souls to get up.  He drew a performance out of each of them.
Now, let me warn you, at some of his shows, depending on the crowd (age and venu) his show/schtick  can include comedic dissertation that quite frankly could be a little, well. . . ADULT. But, for most of his shows, the humor is tame and family oriented, so, just enjoy the tongue in cheek because, ha ha ha, in between the humor, he belts out tremendous high voltage vocals and whisper soft ballads that will make your heart weep! 
Here is a link to an article about Mike Hind from the local news in Bermuda, The Royal Gazette
Giving a little background on his Ukulele journey!  You will find that it is not unlike most of our stories.  This infectious little flea just gets under your skin and worms it's way right to your heart.  


Here is a link to his fan page!  LOL, created by his biggest fan, Himself, it is a place to stay in touch with Elvis and be on top of all his events!  The Uncle Elvis Fan Club . And a link to his Facebook page, Mike Hind. Also, here is a link to his Tumblr site, Nice Things.

Lastly, here is a link to his youtube channel.  He does a lot of tutorial vids and just many funny moments and shows.  I hope you catch the Elvis bug and join in the fun with us fantazimatic ukulele enthusiasts and begin following  this kind and spectacular human being who decided to make us all part of his show!   Ever Yours, 30s Uke Girl aka Norine Mungo


Sunday, February 2, 2014

OK, 30s Uke Girl is back on it! New Videos coming and lots of news on Ukulele Surge!!!

Hey there boys and girls from all over the world!  It looks like the phenomenon of the Ukulele surge is not slowing down one bit.  It is exciting to see all the buzz in the news lately about all the clubs and festivals and the surge in Ukulele sales over the last year.  It is only getting better and bigger and that is great for all of us enthusiasts!

I just finished a festival last weekend and was so thrilled to see people turning around from far away points and making their way over to the stage area when they heard the music.  People were smiling and tapping their feet to the music, and they not only commented on the original songs afterward, but that they loved the ukulele!  This was not an Ukulele festival, but a Folk Festival.  So, you can imagine that I was really happy to hear all the great comments.

I did a lot of shout outs for our Tampa Bay Ukulele Society, and for Ukulele playing in general.  Hey, I am by no means extremely talented on picking but I do write great songs and now that I am comfortable playing them on Baritone and Tenor, well, it just adds to the songs appeal.

I will be posting some videos on here for a couple of different groups.  One is for the Girls Picking Party and that is songs that we will all work on through the year via video.  The other group is for my peeps here in Tampa Bay Ukulele Society, and that will be all originals and some instructional on some cover tunes for Beginner Sessions and South Tampa Jam!

So, here is a video of an original I wrote called Nothing Lasts Forever, a love song, lol, and forgive the quality of sound, as I am new at this recording with the pc cam.  I will get better!  Enjoy and stay tuned in and turned on as there are many events coming up over the next two months that will rock your hula girl socks right off!  Ever, 30s Uke Girl aka Norine Mungo