From time to time I get told about events which are happening locally, but not always in time to publish the info. So it was great to hear about a concert by the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra (Hago) well in advance.

For thems that don’t know, Hago is a classical guitar orchestra based in, well Hampshire surprisingly. The Orchestra was formed by Derek Hasted in 1999 and will be celebrating its 100^th concert in June of this year. The Orchestra has raised a shedload of cash for both local and national charities and fully intend to continue in that vein.

Hago has performed in venues all over the South of England and play music which is as varied as the sizes of instruments they use; from Baroque to Spanish, The Beatles to Dvorak on four different sizes of guitar. There’s the tiny Alto, the baby of the family (but the most tricky to play!) the Prime (the ‘ordinary’ one we all know well) the Bass (bigger than the Prime and lower in pitch) and finally the Contra (which the Hago Director states is a little like a wardrobe in its size!) this has the lowest pitch of all the four.

So yes, all very interesting you say but so what? Well here’s where you come in. Hago are playing a once-only concert on 26^th May 2012 at All Saints Church, Milford-on-Sea. It’s on behalf of Naomi House and Jack’s Place and tickets are £8 in advance or £10 on the door. These can be purchased by calling 01962 672457 or email Nicole.denison@naomihouse.org.uk  Or send an SAE & cheques payable to The Wessex Children’s Hospice Trust to Nicole Denison, Naomi House fundraising office, Unit 3, Sun Valley Business Park, Winnall Close, Winchester, SO23 OLB.

If you haven’t heard about them, Naomi House and Jack’s Place are two children’s hospices based at Sutton Scotney in Hampshire. They provide support to children and young people with life-limiting conditions from all over the South of England. The two units mean that the hospices can provide care structured to the needs of both younger and older children as well as now also helping young adults (over 18’s) at the recently opened Jack’s Place.

The hospices provide a range of service from end of life care to respite care, bereavement services and family support. They also provide a hospice at home service. It costs £5 million to keep the hospices running each year; only 10% of these costs are paid using money given by the department of health which means a staggering £4.5million must be found through charitable work and donations.

So there you have it, a worthy cause and a good time. Unbeatable. If you need further convincing some of the music being played is as follows;

Plink Plank Plunk

Bransle de la Torche  (See Below)

Penny Lane

Elizabethan Serenade

Danza Cubana

plus more which you’ll only find out about if you go!

One of the joys (and dangers) of t’Internet is following links and ending up someplace totally unexpected. For certain types of unexpected there’s always content filters, for others there’s generally a lot of time spent when you least can afford it. Oh well, that’s progress folks…

So anyway I was on LinkedIn looking for potential Links and came across a guy I knew from back in the Big Smoke who was apparently now oop t’North. (I seem to recall I knew that, but age, memory, etc.) He always was a good photographer, but I have to say I hadn’t realised quite how good. If you have a deadline to hit and no time to spare, use some of it taking a look at his site http://www.hansonphoto.co.uk you won’t be disappointed.

Good as Richard’s photos are, they weren’t what inspired these latest burblings. No, following a link from his blog post through another website I came across http://www.anythinggoesorchestra.com who purport to be The World’s Greatest Ukulele Feel Good Big Band! Obviously not lacking in confidence then. What initially caught my eye was that they had a live version of Tainted Love played on ukulele. Now I don’t recall having heard the Gloria Jones version, but anyone of my age will remember the Soft Cell song with clarity. If you are one of those or can find it on YouTube then you’ll realise a ukulele version is not the first thing you would think of. Fortunately the AGO did and I am very glad they did too! This is the kind of music that will change the world, or at least put a wry smile on your face. Search iTunes for them and you’ll come up with stuff from them including a version of Should I Stay or Should I Go with kazoo. Now why didn’t the Clash think of that? To be perfectly truthful the very first thing I noticed about them was they have a Resonator ukulele, well at least in the style of, and that just plain appeals to me. A baby brother for my Resonator, how sweet!

The AGO haven’t been the only ukulele focused entertainment on my horizon. I suppose because it was the first instrument my parents ever purchased for me I have a bit of a soft spot for the uke, but when I first came across the Jive Aces version of Bring Me Sunshine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXvJ8UquYoo I had to play it back to back several times. They are making some waves right now and of course have their own website http://www.jiveaces.com and though I like their slick presentation, I’m not quite so enamoured of the bright yellow uke. Still each to their own.

And since I still have my original instrument, I think I’m off to hunt online for new ukulele strings…

There comes a point in every guitarists life (and maybe every other musicians’ as well for all I know) when they see The Guitar (insert other Capitalised instrument of choice if required). It’s the guitar they were born to play, the One they will cherish for ever, or at least until the next Guitar comes around. Yes I know, it’s essentially wood and metal assuming you confine yourself to what used to be called ‘folk’ guitars and electrics. But try telling that to BB King as you try to prise Lucille from his grasp.

Not suprisingly there is a Wikipedia (aka always utterly, utterly true) entry just on that one guitar. However if you view it any romantic ideas of one man, one guitar are quickly dispelled. Lucille is many. And some weren’t even Gibsons, oh the horror. I guess if you’re not into guitars then that won’t make any sense to you, but at least I didn’t start on about whether the guitar had  a Tune-o-matic bridge or a TP-6 stop tailpiece. It does amuse me how intense some guitarists get about the techie side of things. I’m not one of them, if it sounds right then it is right as far as I am concerned. So get to the point I hear you say. OK, I will.

For I while now, well since I made the mistake of looking on the Dean Guitars website, I have been somewhat enamoured with one of their acoustic guitars. Watching the documentary about the bloke from House and his blues music I saw him play the exact same model. Sounded mighty fine. But still costs money for those of us who aren’t sufficiently gifted or high-profile to have one with our own signature printed on it given free by the kindly manufacturers. But a chance to sell one of my current guitars came up and so taking the plunge I got the object of my desires and sold my previous BFF. Best Friend Forever if you’re not down with da kidz. Whatever.

Which got me thinking. I also own a Fender 12 string electro acoustic JG12CE-12 (image below) which would get played more if there were more blue moons. As it stands it is therefore not only surplus to requirements, it is also an asset. So anyone with 300 of the Queens pounds gets the guitar along with a pretty decent hard case and I get to wonder what delights I can purchase in the music shop next visit. Now that I think you will agree is what we call an equitable agreement. If interested, use the Contact page to send me a message. If not interested, find someone who is and pass it on. Simples.