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10 Ukulele Songs You Need to Know

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10 Ukulele Songs You Need to Know

Since its creation in the 1880’s, the popularity of the ukulele has occurred in waves. Currently, we are in the middle of one of it’s biggest resurgences yet.

This appears to have coincided with the the rise of YouTube. With the ukulele being low cost, portable and relatively easy to learn, there are countless videos of people strumming away their favorite songs on the beach, in parks, in their cars, or just at home.

During each peak, there are songs that come to define that era. Here are 10 songs that helped define the history of the ukulele.

10 Ukulele Songs You Need to Know

1. Queen Liliuokaloni-Aloha ‘Oe

2. Vaughn De Leath-Ukulele Lady

3. Elvis Presley – Ku-u-i-po

4. George Harrison – Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

5. Queen-Good Company

6. Israel Kamakawiwoʻole-Over the Rainbow

7. Train-Hey, Soul Sista

8. Jake Shimabukuro-While My Guitar Gently Weeps

9. Taylor Swift-Fearless

10. Vance Joy- Riptide

 

1. Tia Carrere & Daniel Ho-Aloha ‘Oe

Probably the most well-known ukulele song, “Aloha ‘Oe” was written by the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokaloni in 1878.The title translates to “Farewell to Thee”. The story goes that she started humming the melody during a horseback trip to Honolulu. It was so catchy that her party hummed along with her for the duration of the trip. Tia Carrere performed this song for the Lilo and Stitch movie soundtrack.

 

2. Vaughn De Leath-Ukulele Lady 1925

One of the earliest hits on ukulele. Vaughn De Leath, known as the “First Lady of Radio”, was a huge radio star in the 1920’s. “Ukulele Lady” helped introduced the infectious jangling chords of the ukulele to the masses. This standard has been covered by titans such as Bing Crosby, Bette Midler and even Kermit the Frog!

 

3. Elvis Presley – Ku-u-i-po from the film Blue Hawaii

This film was released in 1961 while the country was still in the midst of Elvis hysteria. The soundtrack featured the ukulele on several songs.. Seeing “The King” strumming on the ukulele resulted in another surge in popularity for the instrument.

 

4. George Harrison – Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

George Harrison loved playing the ukulele probably more than he loved playing the guitar. His son, Dhani, recently shared that his dad had so many ukuleles that (to this day!) they are still finding random ukuleles George had hidden behind furniture in their residences.

 

5. Queen-Good Company

This deep cut from their “A Night at the Opera” album showcased Brian May’s love for the ukulele. Brian grew up listening to his father playing a hybrid banjo/ukulele which inspired his use of it on this song.

 

6. Israel Kamakawiwoʻole-Over the Rainbow

This haunting cover ushered in a new era of ukulele popularity. It was featured in many movies and TV shows throughout the 90s. The most well-known was on ER during the last episode featuring the final appearance of fan-favorite character, Dr. Greene.

 

7. Train-Hey, Soul Sista

This song, with it’s hopelessly catchy ukulele strumming, reached No.3 on the Billboard charts in 2009. It was also the top selling song on iTunes that year! To this day, It remains Train’s biggest hit.

 

8. Jake Shimabukuro-While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The most well-known modern era ukulele player, Jake Shimabukuro ushered in an unheard of level of ukulele skill. His version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is widely credited with being one of the first YouTube videos to ever go viral!

 

9. Taylor Swift-Fearless

Taylor Swift, one of the best selling pop artists of all time, has been known to strum the ukulele from time to time. This live performance is a great testament to her raw talent. Take away all the pop trimmings and she still has it!

 

10. Vance Joy- Riptide

One of the biggest hits of the past 10 years to feature the ukulele, Riptide was featured on the television shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and Hawaii Five-0”. On YouTube, You can even find Taylor Swift covering this song on piano! It’s worth a look.

We hope you enjoy these songs as much as we do and add them to your ukulele playlist. What songs would you add to our “need to know” list?

5 Best Date Night Ideas

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5 Best Date Nights

While “Netflix and Chill” has become the go-to date for many people, going out and trying new experiences can also be fun. True, staying in and watching a movie is a convenient and cost-saving way to spend time with your special person and experience minimal hassles. But, getting out of the house provides an opportunity for the unexpected, meeting new people, experiencing new things, and making new memories.

Taking a quick look on Google, it’s easy to see that there are a variety of dating adventures you can go on with your special person. With so many great choices, it can be hard to choose which one.

We did some research and found 5 date night ideas to mix things up a bit and experience a new way to go out and connect with your date.  To help you choose, we gathered the important details you need to know as well as how long each experience is and how much they cost.

Continue below to read more about our 5 favorite date nights.

5 Fun Date Night Ideas

1. Dinner and A Movie

2. Axe Throwing

3. Wine and Paint

4. Trivia Night

5. Brews and Ukuleles

1. Dinner and A Movie

We had to include the classic date night. To shake things up a bit and keep it interesting, pick a movie neither of you know anything about. Don’t read the review or watch the trailers. Go see the movie first and hold off on talking about it until you are seated for dinner. This way you have time to think about what happened and come up with your own interpretations. It’s a surefire way to ensure you have a great conversation over a delicious meal.

For dinner, considering an average meal price of 16.99 per person with one alcoholic beverage each at $8.00 you are looking at around $60.00 for a dinner for 2, including tip.

For an evening movie, average ticket price currently is at $12.99 per person. According to the AMC website, a large popcorn deal with 2 drinks is $21.79. Total for a trip to movies is $47.77. Total date price is $107.77. If you enjoy going to the movies often, we suggest considering an AMC stubs membership where you can see 3 movies a week for about $20 a month. Other chains offer similar memberships as well.

Lastly, depending on the length of the movie and your dinner conversation, this can be a full night. For duration, we considered an average of 2 hours for the movie and 1 hour for the meal.

Movie Price- $47.77 

Dinner Price- $60.00 

Total = $107.77

A dinner and movie date night will entertain you and your loved one with 3 hours of entertainment for about $107.77.  

 

Axe Throwing

While throwing axes and drinking alcohol may initially sound like a questionable-and possibly lethal- combination, it has proven to be an exhilarating experience for many who have attended these events. At an axe throwing facility,such as Half Axe or Bad Axe Throwing, you are coached by an expert how to throw axes into a target. Are you and your date competitive? You can compete against each other and earn points based on where your axe lands on the target. Or, if you are just looking to chill, why not just have a couple drinks and throw axes for fun? They even have axe throwing leagues if you are looking for a regular night out.

At about 30 minutes, axe throwing is the shortest duration event on this list. The average price is about $25 per person. For this event, we considered 2 drinks per person at $10 each, including tip, for a total of $40.00.

Price- $50 

Drinks- $40.00

Total = $90.00

Axe throwing will provide you and your date 30 minutes of fun for about $90.00. 

 

Wine and Paint

Who hasn’t been to a wine and paint night yet? The basic premise here is that an event leader will guide you and your date step-by-step through completing a painting while enjoying some drinks with your friends. There a variety of wine and paint night businesses, such as Pinot’s Palette, Muse Paintbar and Yaymaker (formerly PaintNite). If you don’t mind getting a little messy and running the risk of putting your paint brush in your drink, this is a great choice.

Wine and paint events can vary in length from 2-3 hours, but most are in the 2 hour range. Using the average cost per drink at $10 and 2 drinks each, you are looking at $40. The typical cost of wine and paint events is about $45 per person.

Price- $90

Drinks- $40

Total- $130

To enjoy an evening of painting and drinking, you will have to shell out $130 for this fun, 2 hour experience. 

 

Trivia Night

Many restaurants and bars are now hosting trivia nights. These events typically organize participants by teams and you can earn points, money, drinks, and more. This is a fun date night for those who enjoy testing their knowledge and competing against others. Trivia night is a low-cost option that is offered at a variety of local venues and hosted by providers such as Geeks Who Drink and Stump! Trivia.

Trivia night has the potential to be the lowest cost experience for you and your date. Most experiences we researched had no cost to participate and lasted from 1 hour to 90 minutes. It is frowned upon to attend an event and not purchase items from the hosting venue. Your purchases help support the venue and lets them know they should keep offering trivia nights. Using the meal rate from above, you are looking at $60.00 for 2 meals, 1 drink each, and a tip.

Price-No charge but it is expected you will order food and drinks at the venue.

Food and Drinks- $60

Total = $60

For $60, you can have a little competitive fun with your favorite person for up to 90 minutes. 

 

Brewkulele - FAQ

Brews and Ukuleles

To throw our own hat into the ring, strum and sips are a new entry in the creative experiences market. What sets this event apart from other creative events is that you learn a song on the ukulele. What can be better than strumming some chords, having a couple drinks and connecting with your special person? Best of all, you don’t need to bring a ukulele or have any musical experience. Brewkulele is the exclusive provider of these events.

At $30 per person, you are looking at $60 for you and your date to attend the event. As brews and ukulele events are at breweries, restaurants, and coffee houses, it is expected that you will purchase an item to help support the venue. We considered 2 drinks for you and your date at $10 each for a total of $40. These events typically last around 2 hours.

Price- $60 

Drinks- $40

Total = $100

Sharing some quality time with your love, learning how to play a song on ukulele, and having a couple drinks will cost you about $100 for 2 hours of strumming fun. 

 

We hope you’ll give our date night suggestions a try. They are all worthy activities that will provide a fun, relaxing, and memorable experience for you and your special person.  See you next week!

10 Fun Facts About the Ukulele!

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10 Facts About the Ukulele

 

Ukuleles bring out the silliness in people. Maybe its because they are so cute and small. Or, maybe its because they produce a sweet and gleeful sound. Either way, you can’t help but smile while strumming away at your favorite song. You know what else brings out the silliness in people? Fun facts!  

The ukulele has a short but quite interesting history. We researched that history and identified a few fun facts we thought you’d like. Here are 10 of our favorite facts about the ukulele.

10 Fun Facts About the Ukulele

1. The ukulele was born in Hawaii.

2. Ukulele closely translates to the Hawaiian word for “jumping flea”.

3. The Ukulele was a fixture at Hawaiian royal gatherings.

4. The first ukulele craze happened in 1915.

5. The correct pronunciation of ukulele is “oo-koo-lay-lay”…not ”you-ka-lay-lee”

6. The Great Depression brought an even greater wave of ukulele popularity.

7. Elvis Presley played the ukulele in his biggest hit movie, Blue Hawaii.

8. Late ukulele star Israel Kamakawiwo’ole was the first Hawaiian to achieve platinum status for an album.

9. One of the first YouTube videos to go viral (ever!) featured the ukulele.

10. George Harrison believed that anybody who played the ukulele was “crackers”!

 

Picture depicts sunset over a Hawaiian beach.

1.The ukulele was born in Hawaii.

The earliest known record of the ukulele is from the1880’s. It was created by Portuguese immigrants and modeled after the machete, a Portuguese 4-stringed instrument.

2.Ukulele closely translates to the Hawaiian word for “jumping flea”.

Legend has it that it was so named because Hawaiians thought the movements of the early Portuguese ukulele player’s fingers resembled that of a flea!
 

3.The Ukulele was a fixture at Hawaiian royal gatherings.

Beloved Hawaiian King Kalākaua (1836-1891) was an ardent supporter of the arts and the ukulele in particular. The Merry King’s  support helped it gain popularity across the Hawaiian Islands.

 

A ukulele is seated on a chair. 10 Fun Facts About the Ukulele

 

4.The first ukulele craze happened in 1915.

Luthier Jonas Kumulae brought his hand-crafted ukuleles to mainland United States for the Pan-Pacific International Exhibition in 1915. They were an instant sensation!

5.The correct pronunciation of ukulele is “oo-koo-lay-lay”…not ”you-ka-lay-lee”.

Now you can sound like a local on your next trip to the Hawaiian Islands!

6.The Great Depression brought an even greater wave of ukulele popularity.

During the Great Depression, instruments like the piano, violin, and accordion were costly for many music lovers. The ukulele only cost a couple of dollars at the time and was a low-cost option for struggling families that wanted a musical instrument in their homes.

 

Elvis Presley is on his toes while dancing.

7. Elvis Presley played the ukulele in his biggest hit movie, Blue Hawaii.

In 1961, Elvis starred in the movie Blue Hawaii. The movie soundtrack,which featured the ukulele, was number one on the Billboard charts for 20 weeks.

A rainbow forms over a plain.

 

8.Late ukulele star Israel Kamakawiwo’ole was the first Hawaiian to achieve platinum status for an album.

His medley,“Somewhere Over the Rainbow/ What a Wonderful World”, was featured in movies including “50 First Dates” and “Meet Joe Black” and television shows such as “ER” and “Scrubs”.

 

 

9.One of the first YouTube videos to go viral (ever!) featured the ukulele.

Jake Shimabukuro’s widely acclaimed performance of The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps has been viewed over 16 million times!

10.George Harrison believed that anybody who played the ukulele was “crackers”!

The late Beatle was a huge ukulele aficionado and said “everyone should have and play a ‘UKE’…it is one instrument you can’t play and not laugh!”

 

These 10 fun facts are only the tip of the iceberg. Want more ukulele silliness? Be sure to subscribe to our blog.  

Welcome To Our New Home!

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Welcome to Our New Home!

A brand new house with a 2 car garage.

Here we are with the official roll out of our new Brewkulele website. We received a lot of compliments on our original website (thank you!). Unfortunately, we were having some challenges with our previous home, Wix. Wix provided simplicity on our original site but it was severely limited for setting up a blog and our events page.

This whole process had me thinking how a website is a lot like a home – each page is a room and what you can do on each page is an amenity. While Wix had nice neighbors and was in a good location, it wasn’t able to accommodate large get-togethers and the amenities were lacking.  

We really wanted to have the 2 car garage, the heated in-ground pool, the dishwasher and the washer and dryer and more room to entertain. After a couple months of searching the classifieds, navigating realtors, and attending a few open houses, we finally settled on a new home.

Now that all the boxes have been emptied (most of them, anyway!) we are all moved in and ready to have a housewarming party!

 

Welcome to our new home at WordPress!

A sign that says "welcome to our home" hangs on a wall.

Let us give you a tour of our new home. We’ve made a few updates and upgrades. Here are a few:

An old style typewriter with a piece of paper that states "blog".

A Brewkulele Blog

This is the one update we are most excited about! We have a lot of information we are looking forward to sharing with you and the blog will be the best way to share that.

To preview, some of what we’ll share will be news and updates and beyond, including articles, videos and more about  fun things to do in and around Massachusetts, exciting new venues to visit, and, of course, all things ukulele! Visit here. 

A man looks confused while looking at a map.

Events Page

Our new events page is here! We really like this. You can now search for events by location, calendar view, and even see where the venues are located on a map. Visit here. 
A bowl of popcorn with tickets and 3D glasses.

Ticketing

We’ve also simplified the ticketing process. All ticket purchases can now be completed through our events page. Payments will be accepted through Stripe. You don’t need a Stripe account to purchase a ticket. You can still pay with the bank card or credit card of your choice. Visit here. 

A man holding a piece of paper that states "about us".

About Us

Our about page has been updated with more information about Brewkulele and our story.  Watch the video of our first event ever! Visit page here.

A table with a ukulele and glass of beer on it while a person strums the ukulele in the background.

Venues

If you are a venue and interested in bringing the Brewkulele experience in, visit our new venue page here.

Take Off Your Shoes And Make Yourself At Home

The Brewkulele website will continue to be a work in progress. There are still a few pages we are working on adding and tinkering with other aspects as well. Please bear with us while we work to make brewkulele.com more delightful and as easy as possible for you to navigate.

A woman is relaxing on a chair while playing the ukulele.

Take your shoes off, grab your favorite beverage, and have a look around. Make yourself at home!