Category Archives: photos

Songs from Ireland: Ride On

Tonight we will be playing and singing songs from Ireland at the local library and going to a nearby pub afterwards — in Historic Lower Mills, a unique part of Boston, Massachusetts. One of these Irish songs is “Ride On” — … Continue reading

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My girl band, the Lo Lo’s

Once upon a time, five teenage girls formed a band to compete in a talent show at their high school on Okinawa. Their band performed “Our Lips Are Sealed.” They wore shiny purple blouses and sleek black slacks. They put … Continue reading

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Charlie on the MTA for ukulele

Newcomers to Boston will soon learn that nearly every Bostonian knows the song “Charlie on the MTA.” There will be an aha moment when they realise that the card they use to enter the metro system is the Charlie Card. … Continue reading

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Business models: my grandfather the entrepreneur

Over the years, I subconsciously collected stories of successful business models with a view to writing and publishing an e-book to share with like-minded individuals. Here’s the story of my late grandfather who built a successful English school in Taiwan.

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Compromised and impersonated on Facebook

Yesterday, two friends from high school sent me private messages asking why I had contacted them to request friendship when we were already friends on Facebook. I was not hacked but “compromised” — that’s the word. Regardless, it was quite … Continue reading

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Visiting Vis, Croatia – the Mamma Mia effect

Barely two weeks after watching “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” – the sequel to “Mamma Mia!” I am now on the island where it was filmed, not quite a year ago in September 2017, not Greece but Croatia. The … Continue reading

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Mamma Mia II: here I go again!

Won’t it be great to sing ABBA songs and see the new Mamma Mia movie? That seed of intention was planted back in April when my ukulele group in Boston dedicated one of our weekly jam sessions to songs from … Continue reading

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Selecting songs for a select audience: eighties extravaganza

In music, the formal or official term for song selection is “repertoire development.” It sounds sophisticated and significant, and it should be, for it is not trivial at all. Repertoire development refers to creating a balanced portfolio for performers. In … Continue reading

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Culturally themed concert: from New Zealand to Hawaii

Music can transport you to another world, another place, another time, another feeling. Such was my motivation yesterday in South Boston and today in Brockton, Massachusetts when I gave a culturally themed concert to take my audience first to New … Continue reading

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The validity of student evaluations

Whoa! A new Slate article entitled “Student Evaluations Can’t Be Used to Assess Professors” caught my attention today. Research shows that it’s biased in favor of white, cisgender, American-born men. This could explain why my ex-colleague, a white alpha male … Continue reading

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