So, I’ve pretty much got one good life story to tell, and most of you have heard it already. For the sake of any new readers, I’m repeating it.
I am a ukulele enthusiast. I bought one for my classroom a few years back and memories of the one I had as a kid came flooding back. I thought that the best song to learn to play on it would be “Tonight You Belong To Me”, as sung by Steve Martin and Bernadete Peters in the movie The Jerk. I searched around for the sheet music and bought a ukulele book that had the fingerings printed. I wasn’t sure how to play the first two chords and I needed to have someone explain it to me, or perhaps watch someone play it – someone like….. Steve Martin! Now, this was back in the day when the internet was young and YouTube hadn’t been invented yet, so I rented the movie to see if I could see how Steve Martin played it. Turns out he’s faking the fingerings. (You can see that here.) Further investigation revealed that Lyle Ritz, the man who wrote the song book I had, actually played it. I took a gamble, looked up his Hawaiian phone number on the internet, and called him up.
Now, you should know that he is famous in his own right. He’s been the bass player on Righteous Brothers and Beach Boys recordings, among many other famous musicians. Shaking in my boots, I asked his wife (who answered the phone) if this was the home of Lyle Ritz who played the ukulele.
“Yes, dear,” she replied.
“Um, could I ask him a question about how to play something? I promise I’m not crazy.”
“Certainly. (aside) Lyle – it’s for you.”
I bumbled my way through explaining the trouble I was having and he was so kind and helpful. When he cleared up my confusion he asked, “So, how do you know this song?” I explained how I liked the movie so much and wanted to learn it. In the cutest way he said, “You know, I played it for that scene.”
“I know!” How cute is that!
Now we’re caught up to last week. A package came in the mail from Mark Guiterrez, the leader of our ukulele group, and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet in your life. He had been at a uke convention and sent me this:
No, not the ukulele – that’s mine. It was a cd that Mark made (and is quite excellent, if I may say so) and a book! It was funny because I’ve almost bought this book twice, but put it back. Check out what’s on page 3 –
Isn’t that hilarious?? What a guy! What a couple of guys!