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Cuckoo



Last Updated: 11/30/2009

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Status: Single
City: Cambridge
Country: UK
Signup Date: 4/23/2008

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Monday, October 26, 2009 

Current mood:  excited
I'm so excited, I have just been made an official Risa-Artist.

I always record with my Risa Tenor cut-away electro uke which I love for its playability unique tone and the fact that it can be plugged in.

So I am now featured on Risa's web site http://www.ukulele.de/menu/ [click on Risa-Artists], alongside such uke legends as Bob Brozman, and Ralph Shaw.

Risa are the worlds leading electronic uke manufacturers, and I would genuinely recommend their ukes [and no I'm not on commission of any kind] particularly the electro-acoustic because that's what I play.

Here's what I said about my uke:

It has great playability, it is comfortable to hold and has a superb action this coupled with the cut away, giving access to the upper frets, make the uke a
joy to play.
 
The Spruce/Walnut combination gives it a unique tonal quality that I feel works perfectly for the type of songs I write, and helps to inspire me as a composer.
 
The fact that it has electrics means that when gigging and in the studio it can be played either in the traditional manner through a mic or plugged in to an amp or recording desk.
 
I also think it is extremely reasonably priced for what you get.
 
Finally, it is the uke all the members of my club want to have a go on!
12:20 PM 
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Monday, October 12, 2009 

Current mood:  thoughtful

Damn it I’m getting old… yesterday I was 59…or so I’m told, it made me think…

All my life I’ve loved pop music, I am a fan of many styles, Glen Miller to Hip Hop, In the Mood to There’s a Guy Works down the Chip Shop, and  Be my Baby to The Real Slim Shady.


Now in 2009, for me, pop music is dead…killed by reality TV, The X Factor, and Britain’s got Talent when apparently… no it hasn’t.


I have to say it’s a murder most foul perpetrated by that twat Simon something. [see how I didn’t make that bit rhyme… but I’m sure you got it in no time!].

I know he’d say “look at how popular my programmes are, and how much money I’ve made…I’m a star!”  to which I’d reply “you can fool all of the people some of the time old mucker, but you’re really just a mother fixated person.” [see I did it again]…


Thank God there is a light that I can see, a small stringed instrument…yup the ukulele. It’s a world wide revolution, the current underground, set to be tomorrows sound. Subversive, maybe anachronistic, but it truly is anarchistic…

 
 
 
 
 
 
6:01 PM 
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Thursday, October 08, 2009 

Current mood:  inspired
I have to say how fantastic the relationship is between the UKEs and fans like me.

I mailed them a while ago to ask if our myspace web address could be included on their official web site and nothing happened, so I mailed again yesterday...

Now you have to remember how busy and popular they have become.

This afternoon I got a personal reply from Will to say that the link has been included.

How awesome is that!! Absolutely made my day...

Thanks Will

OMG I'm turning into a groupie!!... Still I love those guys [well Hester mostly]
5:52 PM 
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Friday, July 17, 2009 

Current mood:  rejuvenated

Whoa,

I'm just back home from the best gig I've seen in years, the Ukes were brilliant, I actually cried laughing and practically inhaled a whole whiskey and coke which nearly choked me!!

The set was fantastic with most of my favorite songs played and a version of Pin Ball Wizard, that I hadn’t heard before, which was superb.

What can I say

Smells Like Teen Spirit, awesome
Shaft, hilarious
Teenage Dirt Bag, priceless
Teenage Kicks, wonderful
Hot Tomales, tzzzzzz
Fly me [Off the Handel], brilliant
Hard to Handle, get down
Jonty's audition piece, whoa
Life on Mars, love it
Dam Busters, amazing
Anarchy....so good I nearly gobbed over the balcony

And Cuckoo got a mention during the set!! 

Then, best of all, we got to meet the ukes in the bar after and what a jolly nice bunch of chaps they are.

10:10 PM 
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Sunday, June 21, 2009 

Current mood:  exhausted
Whoa what a day...

It’s only just sinking in what happened yesterday.

We were scheduled to play on stage at the festival and I was so nervous that I had very little sleep on Friday night and I was very nearly physically sick on Saturday morning, but a walk in the park with Maggie sorted that out.
 
The festival was awesome in so many respects, we had access all area passes, played probably the best we have ever played, fear certainly concentrates the mind, supported some fantastic acts, and became world record holders along with 800 plus other uke nuts.
 
I thought our set went down pretty well, not that we were technically great, but we had the advantage of being mob handed which always helps at an open air event where the sound gets lost in the ether. Plus we played some very well known songs that we hope were all crowd pleasers, and I got to say “Hello London” which has always been a dream of mine and I believe the audience picked up on the irony.
 
Then the record attempt was absolutely magical, 851 people playing and singing Sloop John B giving it everything… the walls of the square were vibrating!!!
 
Then, could things get even better? Yep they could! Using our access passes we got right on stage for the Jona Lewie set and he was awesome, that guy has written some great songs, he did Seaside Shuffle, Stop the Cavalry, In the Kitchen at Parties, we added some hand claps [well you have to].
 
All in all a great day I shall never forget.
 
Now you’ve read all the above go straight to Jona’s myspace page [see our top friends box] and listen to the tracks on there… I would particularly recommend She go ya ya ya which is my favourite song right now.
 
 
Neil
7:19 PM 
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Friday, June 19, 2009 

Current mood:  optimistic
Isn’t it odd how life works out?
 
For the past several years I have been playing and recording with my friend Tim in the duo STAN. We recorded tracks that I thought were fairly cutting edge collaborating with super cool Detroit Rappers, Leaf Erikson, and Blake Eerie and top UK blues vocalist Maria Daines, got some rave magazine reviews, played on various radio stations and I thought at one stage we might even get a record deal. The one thing we couldn’t achieve was to find a vocalist and guitarist so that we could play live, so things have petered out.
 
Then quite by chance I took up the ukulele [mainly because I am beginning to get problems with my hands] and things have exploded very rapidly. I took over the Cambridge Ukulele Club and re-named it Cuckoo; we joined forces with Bishops Strortford Ukulele Society and became Be Cuckoo.
 
All of a sudden we were playing live on BBC radio and booked at gigs throughout the summer including some fairly large local festivals. Now I’m sitting here on a Friday morning shaking with fear at the prospect of supporting the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and Jona Lewie on stage tomorrow afternoon at the London Uke Festival.
 
My song “A Walk with Maggie”, which is a children’s song that I wrote as a throw away really just so that I had something original that I could play on a uke, has become a favourite of BBC radio presenter Sue Marchant and has featured on her myspace profile twice.
 
I just can’t believe my luck.
 
Four years ago when my elder daughter Laura died my life was in tatters but the things that have kept me going are music, the friendship of my fellow Cuckoos, my younger daughter Jen, and the unreserved love of my dog Maggie.
 
So what is the point of this blog?
 
Well it’s two fold I guess:
 
If you ever feel life is unendurable something will come along.
It’s a small tribute to some very important people, the Cuckoos, you know who you are.
 
 
Neil
10:44 AM 
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 

Current mood:  excited
We will be appearing on the Sue Marchant Show on BBC local radio tonight at 9.10 pm. This goes out from BBC Radio Cambridgshire but usually broadcasts to around 7-8 other local counties on 95.7 FM 96.0 FM and DAB.

Sue will be interviewing one of the London Uke Festival organisers, probably DeQuincy Prescott and we will be providing the uke music.
9:27 AM 
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Tuesday, June 09, 2009 

Current mood:  creative
It's great to be back in good old Blighty and looking forward to some cool gigs.

We will be at Woodditton Village Fete this coming Saturday [13th June] and somewhere on the route of the race for life in Cambridge the following day.

On Saturday week [20th June] we are hoping to appear on stage at the London Uke Festival [currently awaiting confirmation], if not we will certainly be in the massed ukes trying to break the record.

Today I'm in the middle of writing a new song, got the tune pretty much sorted, just need some lyrical inspiration.


Neil
12:20 PM 
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 

Current mood:  exhausted
Have been away from a computer for some time so lots has happened...

I flew in a small fixed wing Cessna over Monument Valley which was amazing, seeing the place where so many cowboy films have been made Stage Coach etc. Also did the chopper over Grand Canyon, never been so scared in my life, you fly over a plateau and then go over the lip and the ground drops away about a mile deep and you feel like you're in an arm chair suspended over this incredible drop.

We then went to Las Vegas which for me was hell on earth 90+ degrees crowded and so tawdry its not even funny. I hated it. Still I'm now in San Francisco which whilst a bit tatty like some of the less nice bits of London is at least friendly and cool weather wise.

I had to go and buy a new suit case this morning as the one I had burst at Las Vegas airport which was fun!!!

Will be flying home on Monday and after so much adventure I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal.
3:13 PM 
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009 

Current mood:  adventurous
Have had no phone signal or internet access for a couple of days so lots has happened.
We've been to Bryce Canyon which is a mountain area that has features called hoodoos
which are formed by the wind and rain eroding the rock. Quite impressive.
 
Today we were at Zion National Park which is another mountainous area with deep
canyons that you can walk around, it was 99f so very hot but a dry heat so not
opressive.
 
We saw some lovely yellow butterflies that were huge and flew like a paper dart,
also some lizards, we are now in cactus country.
 
We also saw some squirrels that were very funny I got a pic of one laying in the sand
with its back legs all splayed out like Maggie when she is hot!!
 
My cold is finally getting better but I have given it to several other people.
 
Tomorrow morning I fly over Monument Valley in a 6 seater plane but there will only
be three of us in it, I think its cos we are all fat so they are splitting the 6 of us doing
it into 2 planes!! Sometimes being fat is an advantage!!!
12:25 AM 
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