August 5, 2011

Cowboy Week it was here at TG. We have been exploring songs of the Old
West and how they carried over into the 20th century. We had a short
lesson on I Ride An Old Paint, similar to the way it was done by Linda
Ronstadt and very different from Johnny Cash’s version, as well as
longer lessons on Home On The Range and The Ballad Of Jesse James.

Speaking of Cowboy Songs and Texas (the setting for many of them), I
hope everybody has been following MattB’s journey as he is now in
Houston for treatment. Be sure to check his blog for the latest updates.

From a distant part of the world, although in what is now part of the
US, we added a couple of traditional Hawaiian tunes to our ukulele
library. Hal Kinnaman has done lessons on Kimo Hula by Helen Desha
Beamer, and Pua Lilia by Alfred Alohikea. We are now getting into some
of Hal’s more advanced lessons and I hope you are enjoying the
challenge.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we are getting back in the
habit of Student Reviews and Fly On The Wall videos. This week we had
revoews of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett and Wild World by Cat
Stevens. In the Fly On The Wall department we took a look at MattR
working on Windy And Warm, and Fred working on Touch Of Grey. We
really appreciate the comments we get about how helpful these Reviews
and Reality Lessons are to everybody.

A short sideline- please excuse any excess noise during the News but
it was such a beautiful morning here in Northern California I couldn’t
bring myself to head down into the catacombs where the video studio
is. I might just start shooting all of these outside as the weather
allows. Let me know what you think.

Another rememberance… I randomly played bits and pieces of a lot of
tunes, maybe due to the great outdoors. See how many you can identify…

Stay Tuned& In Touch,