the pen is mightier than the spork: My new hobby

the pen is mightier than the spork: My new hobby

I love James Moran. I do. He's me, with a penis, and a wife. I have an amazing musician husband, and he has an amazing singing bride. I write nonstop all of the time, comics, books, blogs, etc... and he does the same, and gets paid well for doing so.. His Dr. Who eps alone are worth searching for, but if you catch Severance or his films. DO It! he's a genius. Here is a picture of our friend Irene Adler, (the woman), and in the center, James, along with the gorgeous lovely and ever so exhausted, Jodie, after we had a tour through Comic-Con.

James has a recent blog of playing Ukulele, (pronounced ook-ooh-laylay, please white folk). I bought a Mitchell one for myself and another Lanakai for a friend for Giftmas, and I've been playing it nearly every night for about an hour each time, enjoying the hell out of it. Why? I saw Eddie Vedder's show in October and thought it was the prettiest sounding rock toy ever played. (Eddie could play with a yo-yo and make it musical, but that's another story for another time.) I'm also a huge fan of Arlo Guthrie and his Ukulele Lady is in my head nearly every day for random reasons. I love the idea of playing four strings and having a melody come out. I play my bass that way, too, but that's a Primus influence more than anything else.

James visits a website he quotes on the blog pointed out above. I use that site, pluse several others that also hang out on my "Droid" as well, and  my Kindle hosts several Uke tabs from Led Zeppelin, to Frank Zappa, to aforementioned Vedder via Ukulele Scales • UkuTabs

If you want to annoy a bunch of people in a coffee shop, I highly recommend using this page: Oasis uke tablatures and chords . "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is also a great one to get people to leave you with comfy chairs in your local cafe. I've also been using video lessons via Ukulele Lessons – Learn How To Play .  

Unlike James, I went to music school, and as a kid, like he did, I studied the stringed instruments, although mine was a viola. I also studied flute, which I now consider a personal tool of torment. (Sorry Tull, I can't handle you.) In music school, my focus was jazz vocals, and I had a great time singing with some brilliant people in an A Capella jazz "choir", and with Ben Flint playing piano in another. I sort of play piano, keys, guitar, bass, and now Uke. Like I do with the other instruments, I also found that I enjoy writing music directly with the Mitchell, and have a few really fun recordings of stuff I'm working on for an album I'm doing.  Like James, it's a great way for me to turn off my brain from all the things that used to be fun, but now are work. the difference, my work is now music, and my fun is also music. Quandry.

Whilst James is in London, writing and ensuring Sci-fi, mystery, and horror fans are happy, I'm still in Las Vegas, ensuring my rats, cats, chinchillas (chinchillae?) and husband is happy. We both are giddy over the Uke now and hopefully when we see each other, sooner or later, an impromptu jam session likely will last for as long as the beer pours. (or ale, whatever those little irish chaps drink...) Maybe I'll write a song about a sci-fi uke player, and maybe some zombie instrumentalist with rats will end up in his tales. The world will have to wait and see... and hear.


roar.