This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice.

38. Better Living Through KaraUke

There lives in each of us a Little Performer. Once when we were young enough not to know any better, the Little Performer made frequent and regular appearances – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. No family's home video collection would be complete without them.

But then something happens, we grow older, we get sensible, things change. The Little Performer is repressed and suppressed, now only infrequently released to the world. And every time… inexplicably… there has to be a reason. And this explains the relentless rise of Karaoke.

On a parallel track, another performance art has evolved to take the world by storm in recent times. This is the growing mania of the Ukulele. Ukulele players tend to be a breed apart. A defining characteristic seems to be that of a highly social collective of players often numbering 20 plus, fanatically playing with incredible and obsessive abandon!

This week I witnessed the bringing together of these two traditions, and I think I can honestly say all concerned emerged the better for the experience. The experience of KaraUke – Karaoke performances to Ukele ensemble renditions.

Rather than one Little Performer unleashed to a grateful audience, an entire stage-full.
Nice.

This Week's Niceness

It has been wet this week and it continues to be so. I have found myself drenched to the bone every time I stepped off a train or emerged from a tube station. So this week I have left umbrellas around train stations in London with a note from Team Nice attached. If you find one and it saves you a soaking, send us an email!

By Peter Muriuki