Here’s a little something I want to share with you. I put this video together for a video contest.

Speaking of contests… Back in January, I entered (and won) a contest where the challenge was to write ukulele-themed limericks. I wrote several obscene ones that I was rather proud of, but this was my winning entry:

There once was a cat named Bailey
Who learned how to play ukulele.
He never chased rats
Like all other cats;
He preferred to caterwaul daily.

But the cat was kind of a putz.
And his cat friends thought he was nuts.
Did he know how they made
The strings that he played?
‘Cuz they came from a relative’s guts!

That is all.

My new album comes out next month. Keep an eye out for it, won’t you?

COMICS UPDATE: Comic Con was last month. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the Eisner award, but it was still really cool being nominated and attending the award ceremony. Dave blogged about it here. I had a lot of fun at the show, hung out with the family, went to Sea World, and just generally enjoyed San Diego.

Oh, and while I was at the show, I discovered a comic called Super Siblings which has a lead character named James Clark who looks just like me circa 2002. Like me, the character has a wife and two kids — a boy and a girl — and his dad even looks like mine. And he acts kinda like me, too.

It’s both eerie and cool to see myself in a comic book, especially since the comic’s creator Patrick Scullen and I had never heard of each other before. Weird.

MUSIC UPDATE: I’m about 90% done working on my album of children’s music, and maybe 80% done on my second rock/pop album. I’m hoping to finish up a bunch of those tracks in time to have a demo CD together for when I perform in LA next month. You can read about that here.

OTHER STUFF: My kids turn five this month. FIVE! Where did the time go??

I’ll try to get back in the habit of writing more often, in case anyone actually reads this thing.

(It didn’t work.)

More inspiration from Mindy Gledhill. This time it’s a chance to win $50 and a free CD! Read on.

What I’m trying to do is formulate my “perfect pitch”, a phrase or slogan that describes my music in an appealing way. Below I’ve listed several adjectives in an attempt to reveal all the feelings and vibes that I am trying to create with my music:

* bright
* quirky
* light-hearted
* fun
* jovial
* emotive
* catchy
* uplifting
* nostalgic
* energetic
* hopeful

Now, let’s look at my other lists.

Singers I sound like. You said: Don McLean, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Jack Johnson, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, John Denver, Ghostwriter, Buddy Holly, Chris Isaac, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson.

Here are some of my influences:

* Author and book: Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere.
* Film: A mostly unknown movie Fandango starring Kevin Costner.
* Composers: Vivaldi, Debussy, Mozart.
* Growing up: The Beatles, John Denver, Jim Croce, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt.
* As a teen: Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, John Lee Hooker, The Police.
* Currently: Mike Doughty, Jake Shimabukuro, Marcy Playground, The Beatles, Glen Phillips, Cake, Jack Johnson, Colin Hay, Rocky Votolato, Gomez.
* Poets: Charles Bukowski, ee cummings.
* Painters: Mostly contemporaries like Jeffrey Jones, Kent Williams, George Pratt.

Using these lists only as a guide, I am inviting you to have a stab at writing my pitch. If I use yours, I will send you $50 and a free copy of my album, “Ukulele Jim’s Authentic Down Home Marital Aid.” Remember, this is short and sweet. Your pitch must be posted by 10:00 p.m. MST, on Sunday night February 28.

Some examples of artist pitches are:

Mindy Gledhill – “Music that recalls the sweetness of Ingrid Michaelson and the quirk of Regina Spektor, Mindy Gledhill will leave you floating like a scoop of vanilla cream in a strawberry soda.”

John Taglieri – “If Vertical Horizon and Third Eye Blind got hit by Train!”

Devil Doll – “Jessica Rabbit meets Joan Jett.”

My music can be sampled here: http://ukulelejim.bandcamp.com

Don’t hold back. All ideas are welcome! Entries must be posted in the comments section below. Ready, set, GO. And thanks!

I’ve decided to take a cue (and an idea) from Mindy Gledhill by trying to figure out what defines me as an artist in the minds of my fans and potential fans, aka “my brand.” I haven’t done much with branding myself as a musician, aside from using the name “Ukulele Jim” — which, in retrospect, may end up hurting me more than helping. I may have boxed myself into the “novelty” arena rather than trying to appeal to the masses as a “singer songwriter.” But hopefully I can get past that “too late now” hurdle by developing a bit of branding that I can use to market myself better.

As Mindy explains: “so many artists (and people in general for that matter) are not specific enough about who they are and what people can expect from them. When people I meet learn that I am a recording artist, they almost always ask what genre I sing and who I sound like. Many artists (including me, at one time) want to believe that they don’t sound like anyone else out there, but I have learned that potential fans lose interest if they can’t walk away with a firm idea of what you stand for.”

These words are well put, and they have inspired me to try and find my own brand and come up with the perfect pitch. Like Mindy, I’m hoping that having a pitch will help me define myself to fans and important people in the music industry.

This is where I need some objective help from you. The first step is to try to figure out where my music fits.

So I ask you: What artist(s) do I most sound like? And as a bonus question: What genre would you define my music as?

(If you’d be so kind as to leave your opinion in the comments below . . . Thanks!)

This might be my last post for a while, too. If you want updates on what’s going on with me, you can follow me on Twitter. I tend to update there way more than here.

Do you listen to Pandora Radio? They’re a very popular streaming music site, and I would love to have my music included in their library. It would help my exposure tremendously. But alas, it looks like it ain’t gonna happen.

I’ve tried submitting my two albums to them, and they rejected them both times. I am not allowed to resubmit my music for inclusion on their service… apparently they consider stuff one time and then it’s rejected forever.

They gave no explanation why they rejected my music. It’s professionally produced, it spans several genres, there’s comparable music out there, so what’s the problem? Is it just not good enough? I have no idea. I can assume based on what I’m seeing elsewhere online that Pandora simply doesn’t accept independent artist submissions. If you’re indie, if you’re unsigned to a major label, you’re unwelcome.

The only other way (based on what I see in the FAQ) to get my music included in their private club is to have fans write in and request my music :

“How do I suggest music if it’s not already on Pandora?

When you try to add a song or artist to one of your stations, or try to create a station from a song or artist, and Pandora doesn’t recognize it, please let us know!

Send your music suggestions to:
suggest-music@pandora.com”

So then I reached out to my fans for help, asking them to send an email requesting that my music be added to their catalog, just as the FAQ says. But even after several hundred such requests from fans, friends and followers, Pandora came back and said “no” yet again.

They’re response was actually, “We appreciate your fans writing into request your music, but we cannot re-review your music at this time.” Still no answer as to why. In fact, I was told, “As a policy, we choose not to discuss these matters on why we pass on certain albums.”

In other words: we don’t support independent artists.

If Pandora rejected your music, post a comment and let me know. I’m curious as to how many others have had this happen to them.

Did you get your copy of my album yet? NO?? Well, now’s your chance. I’m offering the album for sale at ANY PRICE until the end of the month. That’s right, you decide what you want to pay! Download the album for as little as $3 or $4, or $5 if you feel like being nice to me, or only $1 if you’re cheap, or get it FREE if you’re really broke like me!

Pay whatever you feel it’s worth.

This offer is being extended only to my friends and fans on Facebook, Reverbnation, and readers of my blog — and only until the end of the month!

Head on over to ukulelejim.bandcamp.com to buy the album today and name your own price!

http://www.tricornpublications.com/uke_player.htm

The album is available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Napster, and any other online music retailer you can think of. And it’s cheap. So please buy one.