{"id":190,"date":"2012-01-17T19:10:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T03:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/blog\/?p=190"},"modified":"2012-01-17T19:10:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-18T03:10:33","slug":"uke-can-change-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/uke-can-change-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"“Uke” Can Change the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

My ukulele group, The CC Strummers, enjoyed an extra special treat on Monday.\u00a0 And I mean\u00a0extra special!\u00a0\u00a0“Jumpin'” Jim Beloff,<\/a>\u00a0one the of seminal figures in the modern-day renaissance that is “ukulele,” visited the Culver City Senior Center for a teach-a-thon, storytelling and kanikapila (which means we all get to sing and play along).<\/p>\n

Years ago, Jim and his wife Liz sensed something special about this humble little instrument, trusted their instincts and let that intuition guide them forward.\u00a0 So what do we have today?\u00a0 Their fabulous music books, Fluke & Flea Ukuleles and a world-wide presence, teaching and spreading \u2018dem good ukulele vibes from “Down Under” to “Up Over.”<\/p>\n

The ukulele has swept them into so many different circles of people.\u00a0 They have connected with hundreds of ukulele groups as well as with the iconic figures in music who happen to embrace the ukulele too.\u00a0 The list is long and Jim shares a couple stories with us.\u00a0 This one especially resonates with me:<\/p>\n

Enter Bette Midler.\u00a0 Although she was born and raised in O’ahu, she never learned to play the ukulele or any instrument for that matter.\u00a0 She began her career as the “girl singer” and of course grew into the extraordinary entertainer we know today.\u00a0 But since she could not accompany herself, she is dependent on other musicians to play for her as she performs.<\/p>\n

She is already an icon, a star when she contacts Jim to give her lessons on the ukulele.\u00a0 He doesn’t give private lessons but laughs and says to us “when Bette Midler calls, you say YES.”<\/p>\n

This woman is such a pro and knows that what “looks easy” on stage actually takes a lot of work and she is willing and ready to put in the time and effort to learn a few chords and strums on the uke.\u00a0 By the third lesson, she excitedly brings Jim into her house, sits him down across from her and she sings AND plays the Beatle song “With A Little Help From My Friends.”<\/p>\n

As Jim describes this sunshine moment he tells us that he sees\u00a0that look\u00a0in her face that he has seen a thousand times.\u00a0 It happens when a person picks up the uke, strums and sings a song, at the same time, for the first time.\u00a0 Ever.<\/p>\n

Whether we are a Bette Midler or not.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter.\u00a0 The feeling and the joy of it all are the same.\u00a0 May we never lose that thrill and wonder, no matter what that first time is\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My ukulele group, The CC Strummers, enjoyed an extra special treat on Monday.\u00a0 And I mean\u00a0extra special!\u00a0\u00a0“Jumpin’” Jim Beloff,\u00a0one the of seminal figures in the modern-day renaissance that is “ukulele,” visited the Culver City Senior Center for a teach-a-thon, storytelling and kanikapila (which means we all get to sing and play along). Years ago, Jim and his wife Liz sensed something special about this humble little instrument, trusted their instincts and let that intuition guide them forward.\u00a0 So what do … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,35,36],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-bette-midler","tag-jim-beloff","tag-the-cc-strummers"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":34,"label":"Bette Midler"},{"value":35,"label":"Jim Beloff"},{"value":36,"label":"The CC Strummers"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":1,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":34,"name":"Bette Midler","slug":"bette-midler","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":35,"name":"Jim Beloff","slug":"jim-beloff","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":35,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":36,"name":"The CC Strummers","slug":"the-cc-strummers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":36,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}