Lil' Rev sez, "Check This New Play-Along Tool Out"

Here's a tool that ukulele players can use to play along with songs. It has various tunings available but is set up for Soprano as ADF#B, Concert and Tenor as GCEA, and Baritone as DGBE. Be sure to check out UKULELE PLAY-ALONG and explore its powers.

Lil Rev's Merchandise

Lil' Rev at the Sunset Playhouse

Footlights Article

Lil Rev makes the NY TIMES!

That's right Lil Rev was featured in an article back in December of 2010 in The NY Times Chicago Section.

The story was about House Concerts and showed a picture of Lil Rev doing a house concert in IL.

If this interests you, click on the link below to read the story!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05cnchouseconcert.html

Philosophical Music Tips for the Aspiring Musician by Lil' Rev

Lil' Rev sez,

1) Look like you are having a good time. Otherwise, blacken a tooth or two.

2) Let the mistakes roll right off you! Don’t call attention to them, we all do, including me, but it is best to let them go by, often folks don’t even know half the time when you screwed up, for the sake of professionalism, just keep going!

3) Good eye contact is the key to playing well with others.

4) For BIG concerts, know your tunes well.

5) Talk to your audience, they love to be engaged!

7) Be in the moment! Not somewhere else.

8) Smile! Even if you are terrified! Or make sure you are wearing a dry pair Depends.

9) Think confidently and positively and you’ll play well.

10) In leading a song, be confident enough to pretend that your cheat sheet isn’t there.

11) Sing into the Microphone, not the air

12) Music comes from the deepest part of the soul, if you are tired, stressed, overworked or unhappy, it will show.

13) It never hurts to know a few Jokes!

14) Be a character….on stage, all possibilities exist! Release your inner clown!

15) Stay Positive…this bears repeating!

16) If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

17) Self confidence is the key…I think I can, I think can, I think ….

18) Never be critical of others, even if you are perfect. We all biff it once in a while.

19) Music is about the heart & soul, not perfection.

20) Surround yourself with people who are better than you, and soon, you too will rise!

21) Playing with your-self is important, but playing with others is divine.

22) There is no substitute for lack of practice.

23) Music should be joyful! If you aren’t having fun…maybe curling would be better.

24) Be open to learning something musical from everyone.

25) Beethoven was almost totally deaf, that never stopped him. Don’t let handicaps stop you from enriching your life with music, cause man, the beat goes with or without us.

26) On the one hand the old blues guys played cheap guitars and the jug bands played homemade instruments, yet, they made the most beautiful music. Ultimately, a good instrument can inspire you to be a better player, but the caliber of the musician shall never be determined by the quality of the instrument you play. For soul knows no substitute.

27) Back when I first started playing music (age 11), it was magical and mysterious. Since those early days, I have never stopped searching for the lost chord. If life isn’t an adventure, whatever are we doing here?

28) Style and ability are not synonymous, but man! It sure helps to look good!

101 Licks for Ukulele & Other News

Dear Friends,

This is a post to let all of you know that my new book: 101 Licks For Ukulele is now available thru Hal Leonard Publishing.

Please spread the word to your ukulele groups and local music stores.

This book is a unique collection of blues, country, old time, bluegrass and jazzy-blues intros, endings, fills, hooks and cool little riffs to add to your grab bag of ukulele tools for all levels. The music is written in tab and standard notation and there is an audio CD for every track as well as a backing track for each chapter to try these licks out. The book sells for about $15.00

Soon it will be available on Amazon. Good sources for ordering would include:

Elderly Instruments: http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=101+licks+for+ukulele

and....

Hal Leonard's Website: http://www.halleonard.com/search/search.do?subsiteid=1&keywords=101+Licks+for+Ukulele

Currently, i am on tour on the West Coast and won't return to the Mid West until April.

I have a new CD with my good buddy (Wisconsin Folk Legend) Larry Penn now available called: Around The Campfire available thru Elderly Instruments of Lansing, MI:http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=around+the+campfire

I also have a new collection of poetry titled: Lil Rev's Lil Rev Gold Poem Book available from: lilrev.com $5.00 plus shipping.

Lastly, catch me and many other stellar players in the new International Documentary: The Mighty Uke: http://www.mightyukemovie.com/

Uke-Fully,

Lil Rev
January 30th Los Angeles, CA

A look back at the 2010 Milwaukee Ukulele Festival (and ahead to 2011)

Calling All Ukulele Festival Goers: (From The Directors Perch)

A look back at the 2010 Milwaukee Ukulele Festival (and ahead to 2011)

The 2nd annual Milwaukee Ukulele Festival was held in downtown Milwaukee on September 25th 2010, and by all accounts was a huge success. After a year of planning and organizing, things came together masterfully in large part due to our highly efficient planning committee and a large legion of Ukulele Club volunteers!

As a performer, I am always looking at Ukulele Clubs and Camps,
asking myself, in what ways could this experience be improved upon?
Sometimes, there are minor tweaks, and other times it is highly obvious what didn’t work. (I have watched many uke fests die a hard death for oh so many reasons, with the most obvious being pure exhaustion, but that’s another story!)

For example, the first annual Milwaukee Ukulele Festival ran workshops back to back all day and there was little time for jamming, socializing or shopping and the vendors travel a long ways to showoff and share their wares, so I could understand their frustration around this issue. Anyhow, this was an obvious blunder on my behalf the first year and we easily corrected this on our 2nd attempt by making a schedule that was porous and open throughout the day. It is awesome as a director to see a whole year of hard work unfold before your eyes and run smoothly…it is even greater when everyone expresses to you that they couldn’t believe how well organized it all was.

Our committee met once a month to plan the festival and as the festival drew closer we met a little more. As director, I logged 636 hours (take note all you future Uke festival planners). Some of our featured performers included: Victoria Vox (a favorite and a repeat from our 1st annual), Ralph Shaw and Joel Eckhaus, Aaron Keim (teacher), The Milwaukee Ukulele Club, Lil Rev (MC), The 4 Strings of Swing, The Ditchlillies and Curt Sheller (teacher) to name a few. Everyone played well and the workshops were a huge hit with attendance running a good balance between the two classes we ran off and on throughout the day.

The headliners, Joel Eckhaus and Ralph Shaw definitely stole the show. Ralph Shaw is not only a great singer, dancer and strummer, but a consummate showman in the finest Vaudeville traditions…his animated shtick took Milwaukee by surprise with laughs galore! People really want to be entertained and instrumental music only goes so far no matter how good it is…so to have Ralph step in and deliver the goods with Joel (also a consummate performer), it was a highly memorable evening. I have seen Ralph many times over the years as we work together, but I ain’t lying when I say he was on fire in Milwaukee in 2010.

Workshops ran the gamut from Beginners classes with Curt Sheller, to Novelty Songs with Aaron Keim and yours truly. Other great classes included Victoria’s Mouth Trumpet Class and Ukulele Building Talk with Todd Korup to name but a few. Oh! Everyone packed in to hear Joel Eckhaus discuss the Techniques of Roy Smeck and many left determined to learn Ain’t She Sweet A La Smeck!

One other aspect I thought was especially wonderful was a dinner time jam/concert with Jon Prown, Dominator and Seeso. Together they displayed unparalleled talent and skill, weaving a variety of songs and styles with an intense progressive bent to it all. Jon is on our planning committee and this was his baby, I am grateful that he had the vision to think up a dinner time concert, because it offered lots of folks a chance to hear some really progressive playing as well as sit and relax during the dinner hour and not have to run out somewhere for something to eat (Milwaukee Ukulele Club Member Cherylann Kelly catered with a scrumptious meal option for all…thanks Cherylann!).

We plan to do this dinner concert again in 2011, and all agree it should be better promoted ahead of time so everyone knows about it, also those who want to come for the evening concert would be welcome to come early and catch these guys as well in 2011.

While I have never been more exhausted as I was after the 2011 Uke Fest, I must also say that everything from Registration to the raffle was handled by our team with such professionalism that I stood in awe! I am grateful that so many have invested their heart and energy into helping The Milwaukee Ukulele Festival to become one of The Midwest’s best little one day Uke events.

We also had a ton of Ukuleles to give away from Kala, Mya-Moe and Todd Korup to Ohana and Mainland Ukuleles. We are thankful to all of those who helped us raised quite a bit of money. Perpetuation is our goal!

We set up the Milwaukee Ukulele Festival as a 501c3 non-profit, so funding this festival and pulling it off takes a lot of work and sales savvy, in a recessionary economy. Again, thanks to all of our sponsors (visit: MUFest Link to see who our sponsors were).

2012 brings with it a few changes. First of all we will be moving from our funky, soul-filled, old, downtown church space to the suburbs of Milwaukee by way of Elm-Grove’s Sunset Playhouse. The playhouse will offer us a tech crew, ample space for vendors, jamming and an actual Theater for performance as well as a legit box office and concession space for food and alcohol. This is a classy little theatre with a great team in place, so there will be a lot of opportunity for us to help them realize some new customers as well as the theater can help us connect with some new attendees as well. Lastly, the Sunset Playhouse is located in close proximity to many restaurants, hotels and shopping on Blue Mound Rd. so it is a win-win choice we have made in deciding to move the festival to the outskirts. I am sure you will all agree.

Our website (thank you Tim Sverlong of www.ukeeku .com ) has many pictures and info so please check it out http://mufest.com/ . Also there is a great You Tube Video about our club at, YT ink. You can also find The Milwaukee Ukulele Club on Facebook at, FB link.

Our 2011 Festival Lineup will include: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Craig Chee, The Lil Rev Blues Quartet Featuring Jon Simmons, Peter Roller & Steve Cohen (W/special guests: Robyn Plurer and Dave Fox) Harmonious Wail, Marianne Brogan, Rob Bourousa, The Barnkickers, Dominator, Seeso & Jon Prown and MC Mark Peterson (Plus possibly one more act!)

Hope to see you all there!

Ukefully,

Lil Rev
www.lilrev.com
1/5/2011 Written in Tarpon Springs, FL