Presenting... 'AIRWAVES'

Tonight, Marko and i finished up our Stop Motion Animation course. We really enjoyed it and we learned a hell of a lot. I'm afraid to say that we definitely want to do some more Stop Motion. Like we need one more creative endeavor to worry our heads over. And what an endeavour. Stop Motion Animation is movie making for slightly insane people. No shit.

Anyway, let me tell you about the film we made... We wanted to make something that we could possibly use for our duo, The Uke Box. So we came up with a scenario inspired by one of my paintings. We worked as such...I built the set and made the main character, Marko and i both worked on the actual animating and Marko did both the video and audio editing.

We had only 6 hours to film it. Originally, the film material was only 26 seconds long but Marko was able to edit it to a little over a minute. WOOHOOO! Yep, we're real excited about a whole damn minute. That's how insane Stop Motion is. This film was shot at 12 frames per second but normally it's 24 frames per second. Like i said...it's movie making for insane people. But it's a beautiful process. Like magic when you see it come to life. So, here is our primitive yet hopefully entertaining first Stop Motion Animation Film. It's called 'AIRWAVES'. Don't Blink...Roll 'Em!

The Le Hoyo Cigarbox Amp

Marko & i made this tiny amp in a Le Hoyo Cigar Box.
2 1/2 Watts of Awesomeness!

Come see the Windmills AND Learn to Ukulele!

Tomorrow is World Heritage Day which we will be celebrating at The Kinderdijk. The Kinderdijk is an amazing area close to Rotterdam which has 19 windmills. 19! We visited last week to scout the location and it is truly amazing.

We'll be performing and giving several ukulele workshops during the day between 12 and 5pm. Come on down and join us. Oh, and if it rains, come on down anyway...we'll be playing in this adorable whispering boat touring the canals around the windmills! Check in at the Visitors Center where you will find this handpainted sign i made yesterday which tells you when the next workshop is or...just follow your ears!

More about the 15th Edition of the Ukulele Jamboree!

I realized that i had posted the flyer for The Ukulele Jamboree without any further information, which isn't handy unless you speak Dutch. So, let me elaborate, because this is going to be One Hell Of A Show!...
24th of June
Friday 7pm
ROTABS StyleCenter
Rotterdam, Nederland
The Uke Box will present it’s 15th Edition of the Ukulele Jamboree. Additionally, we’ll be celebrating the opening night of ‘Route du Nord’, the art route of Rotterdam Noord. In lieu of this special occasion we've got some very super-duper-extra-special things planned...

STARS! Award-winning Uni & Her Ukulele from California will be performing! Yes, Uni is on her way to Rotterdam! (I can't wait to meet Uni. SO Talented and i LOVE her style. And, I so hope that she'll let me play the washtub bass & the singing saw with her.)


PRIZES!
We’ll be raffeling off this beautiful hand-crafted Cigarbox Ukulele. (Made by Me!) Make a donation to The Uke Box and hopefully we'll pull your lucky number from the hat and you can walk away with this one-of-a-kind, folk-art instrument. Click on the image to ZOOM!

Plus Extreme Uke Madness, DJ Hokum, Dancing & Good Food! Also during the night there will be a Ukulele- Workshop, Performances, Open Mic, Expo & Market. Plus, DJ Hokum will be spinning his 78’s, The Oyster Shucker will be there and ROTABS will be serving up Soup, Tortillas and HOTDOGS before and during the show! After the Ukulele Jamboree the party will continue on deep into the night with DJ’s, Dancing & Fun! See you there!

Stop! Motion, continued...

Okay, so Marko and i are taking this Stop Motion Animation course, right. During the third lesson we were given some plasticine and told to animate it. This is what happened. (Marko is in blue, and i am in red.)

Since starting this course, we've been investigating this Stop Motion business and we've found some amazing things. Last time i introduced you (although i don't think he needed an introduction) to PES. Now i would like to introduce a pioneer of animation and quite likely someone you don't know.

Karel Zeman, (November 3, 1910 - April 5, 1989) was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator. Here you can see Part 1 of a documentary called 'The Special Effects of Karel Zemen'. The full documentary can be viewed on YouTube. To view some of Karel Zeman's films, skidaddle on over to Network Awesome. Oh and i suggest checking out Network Awesome's Video archive. They don't lie. It IS awesome! Who can resist this episode of Elektra Woman & Dyna Girl?!

My Cigarbox Ukulele Plans available via BUST magazine!

I wrote a DIY Cigarbox Ukulele article for BUST magazine's June/July Music edition. (Sneak preview here). In the magazine is a short version of the instructions but the complete instructions, with photographs of the building process, are available for download via BUST Magazine website. These instructions will enable you to build the cigarbox ukulele that you see here which i built for less than 20 bucks! Happy Building!

The Uke Box presents: Ukulele Jamboree Nr.15!!!

Fashionable DIY Knitwear For Your Ukulele

Is this too much woolly cuteness or what?! Actually, for me, the pink one actually is too much cuteness, but i do love the green striped one.

The great thing about these ukulele bags, designed by Wendy Bernard of Knit & Tonic (great name), is that you can knit them yourself by following the free pattern available on the Hana Hou website.

The perfect summer project i'd say and an especially fitting gift for your favorite ukulele girlfriend who doesn't know how to knit. : )

The Uke Box LOVES Belgium, Part 1

For the last three and half months Marko and i have been working with 53 kids to form a ukulele orchestra at a special-needs school in Eeklo, Belgium. Last night was the big concert for over 200 friends & family in a lovely theater and oh my, just thinking of it gives me a lump in my throat. I have so much to tell about it. It's a big story envolving some amazing people with a beautiful conclusion. Let me start with a great clip from the Belgian News, Station AVS.
(English transcript below)

Anchorwoman:
Today, students from the special educational school in Eeklo have had their last ukulele rehearsal. The ukulele is a 4-string instrument resembling a small guitar. For the lessons, the school made an appeal to The Uke Box, a ukulele duo from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. On Wednesday, June the 1st they perform together with the childeren in the cultural center in Adegem.
(music: Ome Kobus by the Amazing Stroopwafels)
Reporter:
"With a colorful ukulele at the ready and a few simple chords, the students follow the lead of their ukulele instructors with great concentration. Most of these children had never heard of the miniature guitar (their words, not mine) yet, the school choose this sympathetic instrument."
Rik Baerdemaeker, instigator of the project and all-round super dude:
"We really wanted to do something different with the music lessons instead of playing the recorder or the classical school isntruments. At a Ukulele Festival in Sint Niklaas i saw 'The Uke Box' at work. They had a workshop method for beginning ukulele players and spontaneously i thought that this must be possible to apply at this school."
Reporter:
"The Dutch ukulele duo, 'The Uke Box' have given diverse ukulele workshops. In our country it is a premier that elementary school children have exchanged the recorder for the ukulele."
Marko, my Big Squeeze and Ukulele Master:
"Master Rik (here they call teachers 'Meester') saw us giving a workshop at the Belgian Ukulele Festival and he thought it was a great idea to attempt a Ukulele Intervention here at this school. We are moving along quite rapidly and it's been lots fun. You get some much energy back. It's been just great."
Reporter:
"If the ukulele will replace the recorder at all elementary schools has yet to be answered but here in Eeklo the ukulele is very popular."
Rik de Baerdemaeker:
"It is just a very very nice, friendly, pleasant instrument. Everyone can start to learn it quite easily and quickly. In this way, making music becomes accessible to everyone including the kids from this school. It is a social project where the children learn to play and make music together and they realize that they can very quickly achieve something which gives them the feeling of becoming musicians in a small way. And everyone who wants to can be a musician."
Reporter:
"In two weeks the children will be performing with their Eeklo Ukulele Orchestra together with 'The Uke Box' at a sold out show."
(music: Stand By Me... well, almost, by Ben E. King)
Marko:
"Okay now, fade out..."

Stop! Motion...

Last year for Christmas, i gave Marko (& myself) an 8 week Stop-Motion Animation Course. We started 3 weeks ago and it's pretty damn cool. I've always loved Stop-Motion. Our instructor, Gerben Agterber, is great. So enthousiastic, you can tell he really loves this craft.

For our first animation, we had to make a coin 'bounce'. The trick is getting the right timing as well as the right movement. Tonight we had two challenges: With the jointed figures that we constructed we first had to raise the arms into action and in the second film we had to throw something. Here are our first attempts at Stop-Motion Animation:

"The Bouncing Coin"
"Marko Throws A Ball At My Head"
&
"Marko & i High Five, BAM!"

Since starting this course we've been investigating a lot of Stop-Motion Animation online. We've found all kinds of amazing things, which i will eventually share with you, but i'd like to start with...PES! What is particularly genius about PES his use of everyday objects to simulate other objects or creatures that he wishes to portray in his films. Here are two of my favorites, 'The Deep' & another one you may know (been watched 6 million times on YouTube) 'Western Spaghetti'. Please click here to see more of PES's amazing animated world.