Ukulele (Jane Is 14)

Charles Demuth:  The Figure 5 In Gold (1928)

       Five days ago, ahead of Jane’s 14^th birthday,we visited a local music store and bought her the presents she requested,which included: a) a ukulele; b) a melodica; c) a capo for her guitar; d) a setof guitar strings; and e) an electronic string tuner. 

Lanakai Curly Koa Concert Ukulele

           We had a wonderful excursion, and once we found a Sam Ashstore employee willing and able to help us (that took some doing; we wereinitially discouraged by the somnolent retail atmosphere, which seemed unusualin these straitened times), things proceeded smoothly and well.

George Formby with ukulele

               Jane selected for purchase a Lanakai concert-size ukulelemade of Hawaiian curly koa wood after shyly trying out a number of other larger and smaller instruments.  The concert uke sounded fantastic in the store andwas by far the most sonically and visually appealing of all the models being offered,including both more and less expensive instruments. Buying a koa ukulele made Jane very happy, inpart because I initially told her (based on inadequate prior research, whichincluded seeing pictures of Taylor Swift playing an extravagantlybeautiful, oversized koa guitar) that koa was definitely going to beout of our price range.  Asthings turned out, this was definitely “the one” and Jane has alreadyprogressed significantly in her playing over the last several days, building on her unexpected, welcomeand utterly surprising guitar progress made over the summer, and giving her new axe a near-constant workout.

Hohner Melodica

             I owned a Hohner melodica when I was younger thanJane, but I never got very far or did anything remotely interesting with it.  Jane became fixated on the instrument after coming across a melodica demonstration video on Youtube and I was pleased to buy itfor her because she’s a very talented and expressive pianist and I’m trying toencourage her to pursue every musical desire she has.  Kids are funny: I would like Jane to be thenext Augustus Pablo, but she’s enthusiastically and assiduously pursuing the instrument  simply because she clearly has somethingsignificant, highly personal and individual going on upstairs. (That being said, I would still like her to takesome time and listen to Augustus Pablowith me.  The one time I saw Pablo perform live, years ago at the Beacon Theater inManhattan, backed by a killer band, which included Earl “Chinna” Smith, George "Fully" Fullwood and Carlton "Santa" Davis aka The Soul Syndicate,  it was life-changing).

The very great Augustus Pablo


             I haven't mentioned that what I really wanted to have happenduring our shopping trip was for Jane to buy a banjolele like George Formby’s.  Sam Ash told me that banjoleles aren’t ingreat demand these days (unlike more traditional ukes), but I think we didabsolutely fine.  

          What I have going on upstairs is THIS, i.e., writingsomething for you, and I’m grateful to youfor reading and listening.   Jane is 14 today and she begins high school just after Labor Day..  Yikes!  I’m grateful for that also, but sometimes feelovermatched by circumstances. 

Claude by Jane

           I expect we’ll all measure up in the end.  To say that it’s been a trying summer wouldbe a great understatement, but I have found that it’s mostly always darkestbefore some sort of quasi-dawn.   Perhaps we'll up-stakes and move to Guam.  Someone I used to know quite well told me once that it's great there and my cat Claude needs some new territory to mark as his very own.

Flag of Guam



Link: The Great Roy Smeck Plays Ukulele


Link: The Great Augustus Pablo Plays Islington Rock

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANE BUTLER ROBERTS

Cat Chronic (Felix)

        Making what I believe is his first appearance in these pages is my cat Felix (pronounced with a short "e" vowel sound, as the name is spoken in Brazil; Felix was named by my goddaughter, Vittoria Bernardes).

    

        The blissful look on his Felix's face in the three uppermost photos is the result of his inhalation and ingestion of the most powerful catnip known on this planet, which we receive as an annual gift from Farm Sanctuary, a superb animal rescue and care organization in Watkins Glen, New York.   We have never before seen anything like the effects this catnip produces; it turns our 10-cat pride into a happy, but zombified, feline assembly whose energy output is focused on a single task -- ferreting out additional sachets of the stuff (you can see the colorful cloth bindle Farm Sanctuary sends in the photograph immediately below), ripping them open and blissing out.

        Felix originally came to us one January eleven or so years ago. (Jane was still a baby; Vittoria, her mother and her younger sisters were also living with us at the time.)  My assistant Jeannie Cazares' daughter Megan found him as somebody's discarded Christmas kitten (this was our veterinarian's surmise due to Felix's good health and pristine cleanliness) in Queens, New York.  Felix recognized Megan's goodness, I think, and the shelter her family could provide and quickly adopted them.  Because Jeannie knew that we were willing and had the suburban space to let this very large cat (he was by far the biggest kitten I've ever seen; we believe he's mostly Maine Coon, as evidenced by the prominent "M" on his brow) stretch his legs in the country, Felix quickly became a member of our family and Jane's special cat and helpmeet (if a cat can ever be so denominated). 

        Directly above is Jane's portrait of Felix, painted several years ago when she was taking Mary Bullard's painting classes.  We think it captures him well.   He is also pictured below in a characteristic pose.  Visitors who don't know his name tend to refer to Felix as "the big guy".  It's a good thing Farm Sanctuary only releases this catnip once a year.  Until you've exhausted your supply, cat productivity around the house goes down to zero.