King of Carrot Flowers pt 1 - Neutral Uke Hotel

Recently I’ve been getting really into Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, with quite a bit of encouragement from my brother. The entire album is incredible and now, like my brother, I feel like I need share this music with all of my friends.

This morning, I discovered Neutral Uke Hotel, Golden Bloom’s Shawn Fogel covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea in its entirety on ukulele. My new favorite album being covered on my new favorite instrument!?!? I can hardly believe it.

The upcoming summer tour is aims “to unite obsessed fans of Neutral Milk Hotel for a live performance” of said album. A noble goal & something I can definitely get behind!

erin

That’s not exactly what happened!

Okay, well part of Miss Starlily’s account of yesterday’s events is true. I AM working on a new song & I DID record a demo version of it yesterday… let me tell you what really happened:

Last week, I started messing around with this business that they call song writing. Having no idea how to start, or what do to, I played around with some chords that I liked on the ukulele, and built progressions that caught my ear. Eventually melodies & a song form came together. Now my song needed a story to tell.

Earlier that day, I found a series of old books at a garage that fascinated me, and I ended up finding my inspiration in this:

But, that is a story for another time.

Excitedly, I brought my new song to the rest of the lilies to work on. The ladies suggested that I lay down what I’ve come up with so far, so they can take a better listen & we can work in other parts.

I agreed to record the tune, and swung by Starlily’s after work. Recording is such a weird/embarrasing/intimidating experience! It was cool to hear how my song had come together so far, but so ackward to hear yourself in such an honest & nitpicking kind of manner. Which is why I am not posting that demo now. Eventually I will share it with you, I promise!!

All of this has been such a new & exciting experience for me! I’ve promised my brother that I would play my new song for his graduation houseshow, so I’ve got a lot of work to do on it!

erin

I was out on my fire escape with my ukulele singing Moon River, when a certain lil’ Ms. Tiger Lily appeared below exclaiming that she’d written a new tune that just needed to be laid down immediately. So, I invited her in up the fire escape and through my bedroom window, and we proceeded to lay down the demo tracks for… Well, I can’t say, because that would spoil the surprise. EZ-E

I was out on my fire escape with my ukulele singing Moon River, when a certain lil’ Ms. Tiger Lily appeared below exclaiming that she’d written a new tune that just needed to be laid down immediately.

So, I invited her in up the fire escape and through my bedroom window, and we proceeded to lay down the demo tracks for… Well, I can’t say, because that would spoil the surprise.

EZ-E

Tiger Ukulily all bundled up to go to work & practice!

Tiger Ukulily all bundled up to go to work & practice!

Last Sunday, my friend Jimmy took me to a Julia Nunes show! Not only is she amazing on the Ukulele & as a song writer, but we grew up in the same place & she knew my brother (small world, right?!?). To say the least, the show was a ton of fun & really inspirational! Julia is currently on a national tour & doing some incredible things. I would highly reccomend going to see her if you get the chance. erin

Last Sunday, my friend Jimmy took me to a Julia Nunes show! Not only is she amazing on the Ukulele & as a song writer, but we grew up in the same place & she knew my brother (small world, right?!?).

To say the least, the show was a ton of fun & really inspirational!

Julia is currently on a national tour & doing some incredible things. I would highly reccomend going to see her if you get the chance.

erin

We had an awesome time last night, and I decided to share some poor quality photos taken from my phone with you!

Marian brought some kids’ songs to get rolling with (and some goldfish crackers for munching on). It was fun to start things out simple, and we were able to play around with layering different voicings. Our Row, Row, Row Your Boat / 3 Blind Mice / Fraira Jacka jam session was pretty stellar.

til next time,

erin

The Ukulilies first rehearsal went swimmingly! (I have always appreciated that expression.) Pictured here, we have a baby guitar, a uke, and 10 strings of Andean bliss (also known as the charango). We worked on some covers, an Original, n’ talked about some adaptations. There was also a bit of beat boxing and live mashing up, but we won’t discuss that here. All in all, we are still holding true to our mission, and the night was well spent making music, smiling, and laughing. Oh, why are lilies such pretty flowers? EZ-E

The Ukulilies first rehearsal went swimmingly! (I have always appreciated that expression.) Pictured here, we have a baby guitar, a uke, and 10 strings of Andean bliss (also known as the charango).

We worked on some covers, an Original, n’ talked about some adaptations. There was also a bit of beat boxing and live mashing up, but we won’t discuss that here.

All in all, we are still holding true to our mission, and the night was well spent making music, smiling, and laughing.

Oh, why are lilies such pretty flowers?

EZ-E

Rehearsal space.

Rehearsal space.

Gettin’ Started

This upcoming Thursday marks the first jam/rehearsal of the Ukulilies! We’re gathering together at my humble abode complete with ukes, melodica, baby guitars, lil’ pianos, n’ other such goodies. Perhaps a kazoo is in order? I suppose we shall see.

If we get really lucky, maybe we’ll leave with some soundbites. ;)

EZ-E

Free Comic Book Day - Ben Morey

Another great Ukulele tune by our good friend Ben Morey of the Instruments Band and New Socks!