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What is Good will now continue on my Design Practice and Design Context blogs.

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Ukulele: Famous Ukulele players.

George Formby.

Formby was born at 3 Westminster Street, Wigan, Lancashire, as George Hoy Booth, the eldest of seven surviving children (four girls and three boys). Formby was born blind due to an obstructive caul; his sight was restored during a violent coughing fit or sneeze when he was a few months old. His father James Booth, who also used the stage name George Formby, adopted from the town of Formby, Lancashire, and was one of the great music hall comedians of his day, fully the equal of his son's later success. His father, not wishing him to watch his performances, moved the family to Atherton Road in Hindley, and it was from there that Formby was apprenticed as a jockey when he was seven and rode his first professional race aged ten when he weighed under 4 stone (56 lb; 25 kg).

The family then moved to Stockton Heath, Warrington on a property on London Road. It was from there that the young Formby embarked on his career as an entertainer.

Three months after the death of his father in 1921, Formby abandoned his career as a jockey and started his own music-hall career using his father's material. He originally called himself George Hoy (the name of his maternal grandfather, who originally came from Newmarket, Suffolk, a town known for horseracing, where the family were involved in racehorse training). In 1924 he married dancer Beryl Ingham, who managed his career (and it is said his personal life to an intolerable degree—see biographies below) until her death in 1960. He allegedly took up the ukulele as a hobby; he first played it on stage for a bet.

Formby endeared himself to his audiences with his cheeky Lancashire humour and folksy north of England persona. In film and on stage, he generally adopted the character of an honest, good-hearted but accident-prone innocent who used the phrases: "It's turned out nice again!" as an opening line; "Ooh, mother!" when escaping from trouble; and a timid "Never touched me!" after losing a fistfight.

What made him stand out, however, was his unique and often mimicked musical style. He sang comic songs, full of double entendre, to his own accompaniment on the banjolele, for which he developed a catchy musical syncopated style that became his trademark. His best-known song, "Leaning on a Lamp Post" was written by Noel Gay. He recorded two more Noel Gay songs, "The Left-Hand Side of Egypt" and "Who Are You A-Shoving Of?" Over two hundred of the songs he performed, many of which were recorded, were written by Fred Cliff and Harry Gifford, either in collaboration or separately, and Formby was included in the credits of a number of them, including "When I'm Cleaning Windows". Some of his songs were considered too rude for broadcasting. His 1937 song, "With my little stick of Blackpool Rock" was banned by the BBC because of the suggestive lyrics. Formby's songs are rife with sly humour, as in 1932's "Chinese Laundry Blues," where Formby is about to sing "ladies' knickers" and suddenly changes it to "ladies' blouses"; and in 1940's "On the Wigan Boat Express," in which a lady passenger "was feeling shocks in her signal box." Formby's cheerful, innocent demeanour and nasal, high-pitched Lancashire accent neutralised the shock value of the lyrics; a more aggressive comedian like Max Miller would have delivered the same lyrics with a bawdy leer.

George Formby had been making gramophone records as early as 1926; his first successful records came in 1932 with the Jack Hylton Band, and his first sound film Boots! Boots! in 1934 (Formby had appeared in a sole silent film in 1915). The film was successful and he signed a contract to make a further 11 with Associated Talking Pictures, earning him a then-astronomical income of £100,000 (roughly USD 4 million in 2009 terms) per year. Between 1934 and 1945 Formby was the top comedian in British cinema, and at the height of his movie popularity (1939, when he was Britain's number-one film star of all genres), his film Let George Do It was exported to America. Although his films always did well in Britain and Canada, they never caught on in the United States. Columbia Pictures hired him for a series, with a handsome contract worth £500,000, but did not circulate his films in the US.

Formby appeared in the 1937 Royal Variety Performance, and entertained troops with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) in Europe and North Africa during World War II. He received an OBE in 1946. His most popular film, still regarded as probably his best, is the espionage comedy Let George Do It, in which he is a member of a concert party, takes the wrong ship by mistake during a blackout, and finds himself in Norway (mistaking Bergen for Blackpool) as a secret agent. In one dream sequence he punches Hitler on the nose and addresses him as a "windbag".

Formby suffered his first heart attack in 1952. His wife Beryl died of leukaemia on 24 December 1960. He planned to marry Pat Howson, a 36-year-old schoolteacher, in the spring of 1961, but suffered a second heart attack and died in hospital on 6 March 1961. His funeral was held in St. Charles' Church in Aigburth, Liverpool. An estimated 100,000 mourners lined the route as his coffin was driven to Warrington Cemetery, where he was buried in the Booth family grave. Pat Howson was well provided for in Formby's will, but died in 1971 after a long legal battle with Formby's family who contested the will.

For many years Fred Knight was Formby's chauffeur, driving him to the studios and music halls across the country. At that time Formby had a prestigious Lanchester car.

George Formby is a perfect example of why ukuleles are good because he used his to write such memorable and entertaining songs that would bring joy and humour to the masses in times of the great depression that preceded World War II.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

He became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993. His medley of "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and commercials.

Through his ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres (such as jazz and reggae), Kamakawiwoʻole remains one of the major influences in Hawaiian music.

Kamakawiwoʻole formed the musical group Makaha Sons of Niʻihau with brother Skippy plus Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray and Jerome Koko. They recorded No Kristo in 1976 and released four more albums, including Kahea O Keale, Keala, Makaha Sons Of Niʻihau and Mahalo Ke Akua, before Skippy died of a heart attack in 1982. The group became Hawaii's most popular traditional group with breakout albums 1984's Puana Hou Me Ke Aloha and its follow-up, 1986's Hoʻola. Kamakawiwoʻole's last recorded album with the group was 1991's Hoʻoluana. It remains the group's top-selling CD.

In 1990, Kamakawiwoʻole released his first solo album Ka ʻAnoʻi, which won awards for Contemporary Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year from the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA). Facing Future was released in 1993 by The Mountain Apple Company. It featured his most popular song, the medley "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", along with "Hawaiʻi 78", "White Sandy Beach of Hawaiʻi", "Maui Hawaiian Sup'pa Man", and "Kaulana Kawaihae". Facing Futuredebuted at #25 on Billboard magazine's Top Pop Catalogue chart. On October 26, 2005, Facing Future became Hawaii's first certified platinum album, selling more than a million CDs in the United States, according to figures furnished by the Recording Industry Association of America. On July 21, 2006, BBC Radio 1 announced that "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World(True Dreams)" would be released as a single in America.

In 1994, Kamakawiwoʻole was voted favorite entertainer of the year by the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA).

E Ala E (1995) featured the political title song "ʻE Ala ʻE" and "Kaleohano", and N Dis Life (1996) featured "In This Life" and "Starting All Over Again".

Kamakawiwoʻole was known for promoting Hawaiian rights and Hawaiian independence, both through his lyrics, which often stated the case for independence directly, and his life.

In 1997, Kamakawiwoʻole was again honored by HARA at the Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Favorite Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, and Island Contemporary Album of the Year. He watched the awards ceremony from a hospital room.

Alone in Iz World (2001) debuted at #1 on Billboard's World Chart and #135 on Billboard's Top 200, #13 on the Top Independent Albums Chart, and #15 on the Top Internet Album Sales charts.

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Ukulele: Sizes, Tuning and Types.

Sizes

Four sizes of ukuleles are common: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. There are also less common sopranino and bass ukuleles at the extreme ends of the size spectrum.

The soprano, often called "standard" in Hawaii, is the smallest, and the original size ukulele. The concert size was developed in the 1920s as an enhanced soprano, slightly larger and louder with a deeper tone. Shortly thereafter, the tenor was created, having more volume and deeper bass tone. The largest common size is the baritone, created in the 1940s.

Type	Scale length	Total length	Tuning (Helmholtz notation)
soprano or standard	13" (33 cm)	21" (53 cm)	g'c'e'a' or a'd'f#'b'
concert	15" (38 cm)	23" (58 cm)	g'c'e'a' or gc'e'a'
tenor	17" (43 cm)	26" (66 cm)	gc'e'a', g'c'e'a', or d'gbe'
baritone	19" (48 cm)	30" (76 cm)	dgbe'

Tuning

Another common tuning for sopranos and concerts is D-tuning, a' d' f#' b', one step higher than the g'c'e'a' tuning. D tuning is said by some to bring out a sweeter tone in some ukuleles, generally smaller ones. This tuning was commonly used during the Hawaiian music boom of the early 20th century, and is often seen in sheet music from this period. D tuning with a low 4th, ad'f#'b' is sometimes called "Canadian tuning" after its use in the Canadian school system, mostly on concert or tenor ukes.

The standard tuning for soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles is C-tuning, g'c'e'a'. The g string is tuned an octave higher than might be expected. This is known as reentrant tuning. Some prefer "Low G" tuning, with the G in sequence an octave lower. The baritone is usually tuned to d g b e' (low to high).

Hawaiian ukuleles may also be tuned to open tunings, similar to the Hawaiian slack key style.

Related instruments

Ukulele varieties include hybrid instruments such as the guitalele (also called guitarlele), banjo ukulele, harp ukulele, and lap steel ukulele. There is an electrically amplified version, the electric ukulele. The resonator ukulele is louder and of different tone quality from traditional wooden ukuleles, producing sound by one or more spun aluminum cones (resonators) instead of the wooden soundboard. The Tahitian ukulele, another variant, is usually carved from a single piece of wood and does not have a hollow soundbox.

Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele

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Ukulele: History.

Hawaii

Ukuleles are commonly associated with music from Hawaii where the name roughly translates as "jumping flea", perhaps due to the action of one's fingers playing the ukulele resembling a "jumping flea". According to Queen Lili'uokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch, the name means “the gift that came here”, from the Hawaiian words uku (gift or reward) and lele (to come). Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on two small guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the cavaquinho and the rajão, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they landed aboard the Ravenscrag in late August 1879, the Hawaiian Gazettereported that "Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts."

One of the most important factors in establishing the ukulele in Hawaiian music and culture was the ardent support and promotion of the instrument by King David Kalakaua. A patron of the arts, he incorporated it into performances at royal gatherings.

U.S. mainland

Pre–World War II

guitar in the early years of rock and roll. A number of mainland-based instrument manufacturers, among them Regal, Harmony, and Martin, added ukulele, banjolele, and tiplelines to their production to take advantage of the demand.

The ukulele was popularized for a stateside audience during the Panama Pacific International Exposition, held from spring to fall of 1915 in San Francisco. The Hawaiian Pavilion featured a guitar and ukulele ensemble, George E. K. Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartet, along with ukulele maker and player Jonah Kumalae. The popularity of the ensemble with visitors launched a fad for Hawaiian-themed songs among Tin Pan Alley songwriters. The ensemble also introduced both the lap steel guitar and the ukulele into U.S. mainland popular music, where it was taken up by vaudeville performers such as Roy Smeck and Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards. On April 15, 1923 at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, Smeck appeared, playing the ukulele, in Stringed Harmony, a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on film process. On August 6, 1926, Smeck appeared playing the ukulele in a short film His Pastimes, made in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process, shown with the feature film Don Juan starring John Barrymore.

Post–World War II

From the late 1940s to the late 1960s, plastics manufacturer Mario Maccaferri turned out about 9 million inexpensive ukuleles.The Ukulele continued to be popular, appearing on many Jazz songs throughout the 50's, 60's, and 70's.  Much of the instrument's popularity was cultivated via The Arthur Godfrey Show on television. Singer-musician Tiny Tim became closely associated with the instrument after playing it on his 1968 hit "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".
After the 1960s, the ukulele declined in popularity until the late 1990s, when interest in the instrument reappeared. During the 1990s, new manufacturers began producing ukuleles and a new generation of musicians took up the instrument.

Post-1990 Revival

Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole helped popularise the instrument, in particular due to his 1993 ukulele medley of "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World", used in several films, television programs, and commercials. The song reached #12 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004).

Extract from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele

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Ukulele.

Why are they good?

They sound nice.

Easy to learn to play.

Makes you feel happy to hear one being played.

George Formby played one.

Reminds people of Hawaii and tropical destinations.

Cheap to purchase.

WIG? - Opinion.

Cat Diet, Health and Behaviour. Cats respond most readily to names that end in an "ee" sound. The female cat reaches sexual maturity within 6 to 10 months; most veterinarians suggest spaying the female at 5 months, before her first heat period. The male cat usually reaches sexual maturity between 9 and 12 months. Female cats are "polyestrous," which means they may have many heat periods over the course of a year. A heat period lasts about 4 to 7 days if the female is bred; if she is not, the heat period lasts longer and recurs at regular intervals. A female cat will be pregnant for approximately 9 weeks - between 62 and 65 days from conception to delivery. Female felines are "superfecund," which means that each of the kittens in her litter can have a different father. Many cats love having their forehead gently stroked. If a cat is frightened, put your hand over its eyes and forehead, or let him bury his head in your armpit to help calm him. A cat will tremble or shiver when it is in extreme pain. Cats should not be fed tuna exclusively, as it lacks taurine, an essential nutrient required for good feline health. Purring does not always indicate that a cat is happy and healthy - some cats will purr loudly when they are terrified or in pain. Not every cat gets "high" from catnip. If the cat doesn't have a specific gene, it won't react (about 20% do not have the gene). Catnip is non-addictive. Cats must have fat in their diet because they can't produce it on their own. While many cats enjoy milk, it will give some cats diarrhea. A cat will spend nearly 30% of her life grooming herself. When a domestic cat goes after mice, about 1 pounce in 3 results in a catch. Mature cats with no health problems are in deep sleep 15 percent of their lives. They are in light sleep 50 percent of the time. That leaves just 35 percent awake time, or roughly 6-8 hours a day.  Cats come back to full alertness from the sleep state faster than any other creature. A cat can jump 5 times as high as it is tall. Cats can jump up to 7 times their tail length.

Spaying a female before her first or second heat will greatly reduce the threat of mammary cancer and uterine disease. A cat does not need to have at least 1 litter to be healthy, nor will they "miss" motherhood. A tabby named "Dusty" gave birth to 420 documented kittens in her lifetime, while "Kitty" gave birth to 2 kittens at the age of 30, having given birth to a documented 218 kittens in her lifetime. Neutering a male cat will, in almost all cases, stop him from spraying (territorial marking), fighting with other males (at least over females), as well as lengthen his life and improve its quality. Declawing a cat is the same as cutting a human's fingers off at the knuckle. There are several alternatives to a complete declawing, including trimming or a less radical (though more involved) surgery to remove the claws. Instead, train your cat to use a scratching post. The average lifespan of an outdoor-only (feral and non-feral) is about 3 years; an indoor-only cat can live 16 years and longer. Some cats have been documented to have a longevity of 34 years. Cats with long, lean bodies are more likely to be outgoing, and more protective and vocal than those with a stocky build. A steady diet of dog food may cause blindness in your cat - it lacks taurine. An estimated 50% of today's cat owners never take their cats to a veterinarian for health care. Too, because cats tend to keep their problems to themselves, many owners think their cat is perfectly healthy when actually they may be suffering from a life-threatening disease. Therefore, cats, on an average, are much sicker than dogs by the time they are brought to your veterinarian for treatment.   Never give your cat aspirin unless specifically prescribed by your veterinarian; it can be fatal. Never ever give Tylenol to a cat.  And be sure to keep anti-freeze away from all animals - it's sweet and enticing, but deadly poison.  Most cats adore sardines. A cat uses its whiskers for measuring distances.  The whiskers of a cat are capable of registering very small changes in air pressure.

WIG? - Opinion.

Cat Facts: Physiology. Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion. A cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog. A cat has more bones than a human; humans have 206, but the cat has 230 (some cites list 245 bones, and state that bones may fuse together as the cat ages). Cats have 30 vertebrae (humans have 33 vertebrae during early development; 26 after the sacral and coccygeal regions fuse) The cat's clavicle, or collarbone, does not connect with other bones but is buried in the muscles of the shoulder region. This lack of a functioning collarbone allows them to fit through any opening the size of their head. The cat has 500 skeletal muscles (humans have 650). Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (compared to human's 6 muscles each). A cat can rotate its ears independently 180 degrees, and can turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog. Cats' hearing is much more sensitive than humans and dogs. Cats' hearing stops at 65 khz (kilohertz); humans' hearing stops at 20 khz. A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night, and needs 1/6 the amount of of light that a human does - it has a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light. Recent studies have shown that cats can see blue and green. There is disagreement as to whether they can see red. A cat's field of vision is about 200 degrees. Unlike humans, cats do not need to blink their eyes on a regular basis to keep their eyes lubricated. Blue-eyed, pure white cats are frequently deaf. It may take as long as 2 weeks for a kitten to be able to hear well.  Their eyes usually open between 7 and 10 days, but sometimes it happens in as little as 2 days. Cats can judge within 3 inches the precise location of a sound being made 1 yard away. Cats can be right-pawed or left-pawed. A cat cannot see directly under its nose. Almost 10% of a cat's bones are in its tail, and the tail is used to maintain balance. The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. You can also learn about your cat's present state of mind by observing the posture of his tail.

If a cat is frightened, the hair stands up fairly evenly all over the body; when the cat is threatened or is ready to attack, the hair stands up only in a narrow band along the spine and tail. A cat has approximately 60 to 80 million olfactory cells (a human has between 5 and 20 million). Cats have a special scent organ located in the roof of their mouth, called the Jacobson's organ. It analyzes smells - and is the reason why you will sometimes see your cat "sneer" (called the flehmen response or flehming) when they encounter a strong odor. Cats dislike citrus scent. A cat has a total of 24 whiskers, 4 rows of whiskers on each side. The upper two rows can move independently of the bottom two rows.  Cats have 30 teeth (12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines, and 4 molars), while dogs have 42. Kittens have baby teeth, which are replaced by permanent teeth around the age of 7 months. A cat's jaw has only up and down motion; it does not have any lateral, side to side motion, like dogs and humans.   A cat's tongue has tiny barbs on it. Cats lap liquid from the underside of their tongue, not from the top. Cats purr at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine, about 26 cycles per second. Domestic cats purr both when inhaling and when exhaling. The cat's front paw has 5 toes, but the back paws have 4. Some cats are born with as many as 7 front toes and extra back toes (polydactl). Cats walk on their toes. A domestic cat can sprint at about 31 miles per hour. A kitten will typically weigh about 3 ounces at birth.  The typical male housecat will weigh between  7 and 9 pounds, slightly less for female housecats. Cats take between 20-40 breaths per minute. Normal body temperature for a cat is 102 degrees F. A cat's normal pulse is 140-240 beats per minute, with an average of 195. Cat's urine glows under a black light. Cats lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as they do through urination. A cat has two vocal chords, and can make over 100 sounds.