Updates from Viggy HQ - August 2025 😎

Hi friends! 👋🏻

August is here! I can’t believe the summer has gone by so quickly already. July was a super fun month, between Midwest Ukulele & Harmonica Camp and some birthday fun towards the end of the month, I’ve been a bit busy. Busy with all good things though, so I can’t complain!

With the new month comes all new things on Patreon. Thank you as always for your support!! Here's what we got going on this month: 👇🏻

👩🏻‍🦱 What’s happening in Viggytopia this month?

Skills Workshop: Bluesy Beatles! ~ Saturday, 8/16 @ 1pm Eastern

There's a ton of Beatles songs, from the early years to the white album, that are really simple and fun blues chord progressions. We'll learn a handful of Beatles tunes, get comfy with our I IV Vs, and learn some bluesy soloing techniques!

Want a taste of what Viggytopia has to offer? You can buy a drop-in seat for Bluesy Beatles by clicking here! You’ll get the Zoom link, PDF materials, and video replay.

Songs on the Fly! ~ Saturday, 8/30 @ 1pm Eastern

We had a blast this past month arranging We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister by ear! What'll it be this month? You'll have to join us to find out and spin the song wheel!

Monthly Recap ~ Tabs & Workshops for July

Here’s a recap of the tabs & workshops that were added to Viggytopia this month:

New tabs! annotated copies + mp3 files for…

High D - Stuck In The Middle With You by Steelers Wheel

High G - Wouldn't it be Nice by The Beach Boys (updated)

High G - Bad Guy by Billie Eilish

High G - Misirlou from "Pulp Fiction"

Low G - Birthday by The Beatles

Low G - Hotel California (outro)

New workshops!

Skills Workshop - Music Theory & Songwriting in C Major

Songs on the Fly - We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister

Thank you, Midwest Ukulele and Harmonica Camp! 🪕

It was such a blast to return to Toledo for my second year in a row at MUC! I taught four classes that went swimmingly and got to perform with my pals on stage. As always, I had way too much fun and I’m not sure how I get away with it every time. It’s always a treat to play on stage with Conrad, we’ve crossed paths many times in our journeys and it wasn’t until Port Townsend earlier this year that we became good pals. Victoria Vox has always been such a huge inspiration of mine, so to jam on stage together was a true bucket list moment. Neal Chin also jumped on stage with me (literally) for a crazy rendition of the Scooby Doo theme. Like I said, I have too much fun! You can catch my whole set HERE.

Now, although I am gen-z and hate to admit it, I am very much a “live in the moment” type of person, and never take enough pictures of my events. (shameless plug, if you have any pics from MUC, please send them to me lol). I only took one single picture the entire weekend, and it is the following picture:

I am happy to announce I will be at two other Ben Hassenger organized events - Uketoberfest this October 25th as well as Mighty Uke Day next May, completing the Ben quadrifecta of uke fests (Ashokan, MUC, and these two). I hope there is a knighting ceremony of some kind, that would be kind of cool… Huge thanks to Ben for inviting me to get jiggy at all of his uke events!!!

Viggy runs on PERC Coffee! ☕

News and brews! I’m an ambassador for what is legit my favorite coffee company, PERC Coffee! Storytime as to how this partnership came to be - I have been a subscriber of Trade Coffee for years now, it’s a coffee subscription service that pairs you with local roasters across the US based on your preferred brew method / coffee strengths etc. Through Trade I found Perc, and I began to reorder bags of Perc instead of trying any other new beans, because I loved them so much! When I found out they had an ambassador program, I knew I had to apply. I am very selective with brands that I work with to make sure that I can be the most authentic I can be, and to make sure that I actually use the products/services I am promoting. I know cawfee isn’t super ukulele related, but before I start strumming every day I start with a fresh cup!

To do the ol influencer thing, I have a discount code if you’d like to try some beans for yourself. Use my code VIGGY15 for 15% off your order! I recommend the “Perc Up” roast 🙂‍↕️☕

Some other stuff!!!

• heavily inspired by Gerald Ross from Midwest Uke Camp, I got a lap steel guitar for my birthday! I’m having lots of fun sliding all around, but working on my note accuracy and pitch is going to be the trickiest thing. I would love to play all those instrumental Hawaiian songs that I know from Spongebob.

• Also - it was my birthday!!! I’m a little bit older now. I went into NYC and had a lovely lunch and went to a spy museum, then the next weekend I saw one of my favorite bands King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard play with an entire orchestra. It absolutely rocked

• 🍿 Some movies I saw this month and my quick ratings of each:

  The Naked Gun (2025) (absolutely loved it, 5/5 stars)

  Superman (totally loved it and had so much fun 4.5/5 stars)

  Sorry, Baby (pretty sad but also pretty good, 4/5 stars)

  Eddington (I’m a fan of the director Ari Aster so I liked it!! 4/5 stars)

  Happy Gilmore 2 (exactly what you think it’s gonna be, 3/5 stars)

  Fantastic Four: First Steps (might be a hot take but I hated it LOL 2/5 stars)

that’ll be all for this update! Thank you so much for your support, it means the world. I hope you have fun strumming wherever you may be in the world, and always getting jiggy!

xoxo Viggy