The New York Times has finally discovered the Ukulele. And it took Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam to do it. Vedder is releasing a solo album of Ukulele songs on May 31.
The Times is running in its “Arts & Leisure” section tomorrow the article “Ukulele Crazy.” It’s in the print publication today (Arts & Leisure is an advance section), but dated tomorrow. It’s not online yet. Look for it on the paper’s web site tomorrow.
The article gives a pretty good–if basic–rundown of the history of the Ukulele. Opening with Eddie Vedder and his new solo album, it moves on to mentioning the usual suspects – Tiny Tim, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and Jake Shimabukuro. It also mentions some of those less well known (mostly by the media) Uke players like Amanda Palmer, Magnetic Fields, Buke and Gass and Dent May.
It’s an interesting read, though if you are at all interested in the Uke, you won’t learn anything from it.
Check it out when they post it online.
By the way, the headline of this post is Vedder’s description of the Ukulele’s advantages.
UPDATE 4-17: Here’s a link to a PDF copy of the story -
I can’t wait to get my hands (and ears?) on this album!!