Seaton Swivell Ukulele Group left with One Tune Song Book after Politics Ban Move.

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The leadership group of Seaton Swivell Village Ukulele Group yesterday made the decision to ban all politics from their group including political songs along with raft of other measures to counter the ”growing tide of wokery” that is infiltrating the ukulele world.

Jonathan Bustard, president of the group, spoke to the Periodical Uke anonymously yesterday to explain what this means.

”Now this may seem extreme but then we are trying to stand up to extremist inclusivity and diversity which is being enforced on our group via online social media ukulele pages and forums.. The best way we felt that we could do this without appearing to be ignorantly white, middle class and narrow minded was to ban any kind of politics from the group all together.”

The most notable move has been to remove all political songs their treasured Seaton Swivell Song Book. Once graced with songs like ”This land is your land” and other popular songs, the song book is now reduced to the one ”Teenage Kicks”

Asked whether this move seriously limited their repertoire, their musical director Linda Quaver denied it would have an impact.

”I think to suggest that only having one song in the song book limits our scope is just an attempt to undermine what we are doing. There is a large pool of talent within out group and we have the capacity to play any song in any genre. We now play teenage kicks in a different style every week and its opened up the song in an amazing way. Last week we played it reggae style. Next week is jazz. I’m currently developing a thrash metal version.”

Vera Wayfrom-Woke, has been attending the club for many years and was always scared of singing about something she doesn’t believe in.

”Don’t get me wrong. I like Bob Dylan but we had too many of his songs in the book.I have never really understood what he’s singing about so there was always the risk I was singing in support of a cause that I didn’t agree with. Last thing we want is hippies moving to the village because they think we’re big on gays and drugs. Last year we recorded a video of the group singing “Change is Gonna Come”. We thought nothing of it until the video started to go viral with 1 or two views per month. It suddenly dawned on us that actually some songs have powerful meanings and we did not want to change anything. We really think that music is at it’s very best when all meaning is removed from it.

Bustard explains that this move is part of a village wide aproach to what he thinks diversity and inclusion should be about. ”There’s a wealth of diversity in this village. Mrs Cuthbert, for instance, likes cross stitch. My wife doesn’t. Jack Lamper comes from London. Our vicar comes Scotland. We are totally not against diversity but we dont want to set precedents that sends that diversity out of control. “

On the same day, the village council decided that use of pronouns were closely associated with gender swapping. Though a concern that people would begin to change gender through using ”he or she” repeatedly, it was decided that the terms would be banned altogether. ”It just stops any confusion. You may infact be a bloke and use the pronoun ”he” or ”him”. Ofcourse thats fine but there’s always a chance you slip up, get it wrong, and the next minute you’re buying Laura Ashly frocks from the Heart Foundation Shop.” Explains Bustar. ”We’ve also banned abbreviations to avoid any confusion. In the sandwich shop we no longer offer BLT. Instead its a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Salad. It just prevents any chance of nice folk like Ron from the pub chowing down on a queer sandwich by accident.

The Periodical Uke will be monitoring progress on this over the next few months.

Uke radical expelled from Cult due to FB Profile Faux Pas

Police rush to the border of Ukulele Cult Village, Little Wanking, to intercept one of its rare expulsions.

Terri Mia Newone was ordered to leave the village in a bizarre ceremony which involved Cult Leader Illuva Pinbridge cutting Newones strings off her ukulele and throwing her instrument into a nearby river.

Crimes within the community usually result in reprogramming however, repeat offenders (of which this is the first since the Cult took over the village last year), may be expelled. Crimes include using a strap or playing songs that aren’t contained in the Little Wanking Ukulele Song Index.

Cult expert Dr Irma Sheep believes the crime this time was putting up a Facebook profile picture which didn’t include a ukulele in it.

“It is seen as particularly detrimental to your inclusion in the ukulele Cult. If you do not have a ukulele in your profile picture, other ukulele Cult members will not be able to identify you as a brother or sister and will not automatically add you as a friend without thinking. It also suggests that the ukulele is not at the centre of your life and there fore Little Wanking is not the centre of your universe.”

Miss Newone who last night vowed never to “touch one of those fucking small guitars ever again” was shocked but unharmed last night. She was immediately given post Cult exposure reprogramming which usually takes up to weeks to years to start working. Dr Sheep explained that Newone only really needed 10 minutes and was happy never to hear King of the Swingers ever again.

New developments will be released as we hear of them.

Brudda Iz in Hawaii Five- “Oh!” Shocker

Iz revealed to be more than a ukulele singing sensation!

He won the hearts of all Hawaiians and all over the world. His rendition of “Somewhere over the rainbow” was as well known as Judy Garlands’. But new rumours are emerging that Brudda Iz wasn’t just the outstanding ukulele player and singer we knew and loved. A secret diary of a surf and ukulele teacher from the Island of Oahu has confessed that he, alongside Brudda Iz were secret Hawaii Five-0 agents.

Iz, full name Israel Kamakawiwoʻole which, coincidentally means “Fearless Eyed Man”, started as an informant with the “Five-O” after becoming increasingly dismayed at the high level of illegal fluorocarbon entering the island. From the beach where he often serenaded his audiences, he had direct eyes on fishermen smuggling fluorocarbon disguised as fishing line. As Iz became more proficient, he began to head his own investigations until the “Five- 0” brought him onto the payroll directly.

Such an arrangement wasn’t unusual for an agency unconfined by law and regulation and could employ anyone and use any technique. Indeed it is also believed that after a spate of thefts on the big Island, uke player Herb Ohta was employed briefly to seek out and retrieve stolen ukulele sound holes.

It is unknown whether any contemporary ukulele stars are Five-0 agents. The Periodical Ukulele has deliberately not sought to unearth this information in order to protect current Five-0 operations and their agents.

Uke Blog Crashes!

Ukulele Blogger Winds up Ukulele Blog After 4 Articles

The most hotly anticipated ukulele blog left uke communities in shock last might as its author announced he was bringing it to an end.

Ukulele artist and writer Darren Yuall, made himself available for comment this morning despite being on a verge of a break down.

“I’m sorry I’ve let everyone down.” He said. “You would think after a year of playing an instrument and being so opinionated on Facebook, that I would be well qualified to write a uke blog. My first blog was on how the uke was such a happy instrument. My second was on how it wasn’t. You know, the really controversial stuff. My third was on whether to wear a strap or not. The fourth was whether to use a music stand or not. From there I just totally became lost for anything to say about it all.”

The excitement over his blog named “Uke Must Be Kidding!” has been unprecedented, especially after the fourth blog. Yuall began writing the fifth until he came to a shocking conclusion.

“The fifth blog I found myself writing nothing but nonsense. Something about setting yourself aside from others by turning up at an open mic with a uke when everyone else has got a guitar. Then I remembered I did this at an open mic and someone else turned up with an Ocarina and brought the house down. It was at this point I realised……

That there just isn’t a lot to say about the ukulele.”

Indeed scientists recently discovered the roots of the strange phenomenon of such close knit ukulele groups.

Dr John Sayer from 82 Westfield Drive, Bridport , who requested to remain anonymous, said,

“Ukuleles are lovely instruments but most people find them really boring to talk about. If you don’t play a ukulele you won’t find it interesting. So that’s why most uke players stay together and talk about the same things over and over again. Stick around for long enough and you’ll realise they only ever cover a couple of subjects in each conversation. Very similar to meerkats. I think.”

Whilst the ukulele world waits in wonder as to who will fill the void of ukulele blogs, severe doubt also exists on whether ukulele blogs are all that sustainable.

Watch this space for updates.

Brandt Branded Ukulele Heretic

Man incurs wrath of radical musicians by publicly destroying ukulele.

Pockets of radical Ukulele players were enflamed with rage last night as American ukulele player Alan Brandt publicly destroyed a ukulele online. The number of witnesses to Brandt smashing the sacred instrument with a hammer is unknown but the angry responses on Facebook were unprecedented.

Police and the national guard have been mobilised to quell disquiet and riots in some communities where there has been mass chest thumping and gnashing of teeth.

Last night, prior to the act, Brandt was warned not to destroy the instrument for fear of reprisals but he refused and continued anyway. He is alleged to have intended to use the neck to build a “cigar box ukulele” but countless numbers felt this was still not “sustainable enough” and denied people in need of a decent opportunity to play.

Brandt was unavailable for comment this morning as rumours suggest he has moved himself and family into hiding. Word of this spurred hundreds of ukulele extremists to storm Brandt’s house in order to save as many ukuleles from destruction as possible. Despite exhaustive searches around the property, only one pink mahalo Ukulele was found. Despite needing a tune, it was largely intact.

“We can confirm that we have this morning removed an instrument from Brandt’s ukulele dungeon of hell where is is known to deface and maim these poor innocent instruments.” Said A representative of the Freedom For Fleas movement. “We have moved this ukulele and given it to a young 10 year old boy living in poverty”

Later this afternoon, Danny the poverty stricken boy was tracked down and asked what he thought of the gift.

“A meal would have been nicer or perhaps some footwear, but, you know I’d like to thank whoever for the small guitar. It made great firewood for warming my uncle Pete who lives outside somewhere.”

More news as it comes……

It’s On!

RAS agree to definitely write England World Cup Song following second win by England football team.

The Rats Arse Strummers can confirm that they are definitely now going to write the National theme song in honour of the England football teams performance in the 2018 World Cup against Tunisia and Panama.

Musical director, Andy Withaball, has confirmed that he and a group of friends will now definitely go ahead and write the song which they’re hoping will be ready to go viral by the time the England team get home.

“I’m not even thinking of the possibility of winning another match or even winning the cup. Their playing against world quality teams, Tunisia and Panama have been outstanding. 6 goals in one game?! I had to change my boxer shorts almost as many times!”

Withaball admits progress has been slow , hindered partly by doubts cast by the media.

“I felt a pang or doubt yesterday as everyone was saying how England were only winning because they had an easy group. But you know, someone’s got to play the easy ones. And you know, the England players have to play some sort of football to earn the money they get given for just turning up.”

The group are reportedly coming to the end of the first first verse. The content is totally secret so we can’t reveal any words or music yet but watch this space.

Man who plays ukulele finds strength in heart to hate again.

Ukulele player Buck Le Trend wants to save the world with his uke but still manages to hate Mexicans.

The ukulele world tripped up on its own positive thoughts last night as it transpired that a man who took up the instrument some years ago still hated most people.

Whilst most ukulele players were still posting messages of love and optimism about how much the uke was going to change the world , Mr Buck Le Trend was taking his own path vocalising his disdain for people who happened to live outside his front gate and especially those of a different colour.

Not being totally fulfilled with calling the UKs Duchess of Sussex names referring to her colour, he is also a proud supporter of Trumps wall and keeping immigrants from Mexico out of his back yard.

“I know people will think I’m racist but really, I just don’t want any Mexicans in my back yard. We need this wall”. Said Le Trend who lives 600 km from the border of Mexico, right after he had finished his set at his ukulele club which included songs like “love will build a bridge” and “you are my sunshine.”.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love people and I do believe the ukulele will save the world. Most importantly I am not a racist! “ Le Trend said

“But it took a long time to clear the land of native Americans so we could start afresh and become the leader of the free world. We fought for freedom and liberty and we just don’t want to undo that by letting anyone just come in and do what they want when they want.”

As a result of this occurrence, new research is due to commence. Prof S. T. Rumb from Hoaxton university explained.

“It has become apparent that the ukulele, whilst engendering feelings of goodwill and inclusion is now a popular instrument amongst pockets of racist people in the Southern US. Why they have taken up this instrument is a mystery but we think it might be because most people who take up the ukulele experience some kind of name calling. We wondered whether this population who seem to thrive on a sense of persecution naturally gravitate toward this divisive instrument. It does indeed go against the grain of most Americans who still believe in humanity regardless of colour, race, background and instrument they play. “

More news in this to follow.

Uke Club Seize Day after England World Cup Squad win a Football Match

Ukulele club plans to write national football song after England win football match.

A ukulele club north of London last night revealed their plans to write and perform a national football song after England won a football match this evening.

The Rats Arse Ukulele Strummers (RAS) President Andy Withaball explained following the 2-1 win against Tunisia.

“We really weren’t expecting this. England not only scoring goals but actually winning the match. Amazing. I did think with all the times they kicked that ball toward goal, it would go in at some point but two! Two!”

The unexpected cause for celebration inspired Withaball to get paper and pen out and call his fellow ukulele players over for some wine and song writing. He explained:

“The optimism we have now is massive. If they can just go on to win maybe a second match, that would be amazing. I mean if they don’t, one match is fine, but you know you start to get hungry for victory.”

One of the songwriters has been put in charge of song structure in order to ensure that it’s not just cobbled together. Something the England team has often looked like in the past.

“We have gotten quite far with the project in just the space of three hours.” Said Norman Sland. “ Right now we’re certain that the song will have three verses and a chorus between each. Not quite happy with the middle eight yet but you can’t rush these things. We haven’t actually got any words yet because we’re just not tuned in to this kind of song. We also expect it to start in G and end in D. The rest of the chords we’ll sort after Nora, my wife, works out the circle of fifths graph”.

If the RAS pull this off it will be the only England football team song written this year since every other artist had turned down the offer.

“Theme tunes to darts is all the rage” said Withaball. “So there’s a real chance of this football song becoming a hit in the absence of any other song.”

Watch this space to listen once it’s written.

Aloha Scandal Brings Fear to Ukulele Clubs

Ancient Hawaiians stitch up modern ukulele players.

A team of linguistics experts at Hoaxton University have unearthed a scandal that may rock the modern ukulele world to its core.

Hawaiian words adopted by non Hawaiians after taking up the ukulele may not be the pleasant greetings or have the warm meaning that they have assumed over the last century.

Dr Ava Word, who asked to remain anonymous, has been studying Polynesian languages and dialects for the last 10 years and has had a growing suspicion for the last five.

“Words like “Aloha” just weren’t used as a greeting before Queen Lilli Uo’Kilani. Of course the assumption of it as a greeting hid its original meaning so it was only upon reading a 19th Century Hawaiian play that I twigged. In the play there is a sinister and conflicting encounter between two people which ends with “Aloha”. It just didn’t make sense, but then after that it just didn’t make sense as a greeting. So after some research I found its actual meaning.”

It would appear that “Aloha” isn’t a greeting at all. It actually means “Your mother can only play the C6 chord.”

On further research the term “Ohana” originally thought to refer positively to family, actually was a term used to describe the “strange set of neighbors next door who only play C6”.

Why such words changed their meaning so rapidly at the end of the 1800s can only be speculation but Ava Word has her suspicions.

“Queen Lilli Uo’Kilani was the monarch, loved by her people and arguably a huge influence in the Ukuleles popularity. Two things happened in her lifetime. First the adoption of the ukulele by non Hawaiian Hawaiian citizens (often people from the US) and the coup by these people that over ran the island and toppled Queen Lilli.” Says Word.

“It would appear that having limited means of revenge and seeing how obsessed with the Ukulele and Hawaiian Americans were getting, she thought she would play around.

Knowing that her word was authority , she led these Americans to believe that these insults were actually pleasant greetings.”

So it seems that as the world is gripped by the ukulele craze, it has also inherited aspects of the language drip fed by playfully vengeful Hawaiians.

Dr Word has been reticent about releasing this information into the world for fear of repercussions.

“These days you can’t really be acknowledged as a decent ukulele player in all the clubs unless you’ve mastered the key terms handed down by Lilli. Though it seems strange that a middle aged white American men use the word “Aloha “ all the time, it is a key right of passage for him to be recognised as an achieved Ukulele Player.”

In anticipation of riots after this article, Police information centres have been set up outside ukulele shops and clubs.

If you are affected by this issue, psychologists have given advice on the issue.

Physchologist Leon Mecouch has suggested:

“Just try not using the words Aloha and Ohana until the issue is cleared up. Up until then you can use perfectly reasonable words used in your own language such as “Hi” or “goodbye” like most other people in your country that do not play the ukulele.A good replacement for Ohana is “family”.

Anyone in need of further advice can call:

07463856253.

New Ukulele Movement Reshapes Chord Structures.

New group protests against difficult chords.

For over 100 years, Ukulele players have listened to their teachers or copied you tube tutorials to the T. But now a new movement has been formed which hopes to turn playing the ukulele on its head.

Hank Erring had been playing the ukulele for two months when he smashed his Kamaka soprano against a coffee table and got online to vent his anger.

“I just don’t see how it’s fair that if a song has F#M7 in it, and I can’t play it, I’m then expected to go through the actual process of forming the chord only to hear it sound like shit!” He said in his initial rant which he has repeated since to nearly every news agency and online ukulele Facebook.

“If I’m honest, it’s not just F#M7. A, A#, B, Bb, C#, D, Eb, E, F7, Gmaj7 and H are all absolute fuckers to play. People said it would be easy to learn the uke but they’re wrong. What’s more, no body seems to want to tell me alternative chords instead. Very often I resort to playing C6 instead of pretty much every chord and if that doesn’t work, I just blow into my ocarina. “

Whilst Erring may seem a loan complainer, it appears a movement has started in response with many people now refusing to learn any more chords until someone in authority steps up to the plate.

“It’s become a bit rediculous. Ukulele chords have just become so rediculously complex for no reason at all. “ said Fin Gerfail. “Until someone in authority comes in to sort out the complexity of ukulele chords, I’m with Hank Erring. I will now only agree to play C6.”

Yesterday YouTube became awash with videos posted of various covers only using C6.

“Whilst most people will find that the sound of C6 being played instead of all other chords, isn’t the nicest sound,” explained Erring, “it does, however mean the ukulele has returned to its previous position as the most inclusive instrument in the world. No ukulele chord should ever have to suffer the indignity of being made up of anything other than two finger structures.”

Yesterday ukulele tutorial book author Hal Leonard was unavailable for comment as the ukulele world increasingly becomes divided between the “three finger ass hats” and the self proclaimed “C6ers”.

Watch this space for updates.