Browsing my blog subscriptions rather than working, I came across a thread on MeFi asking for suggestions for the most annoying MP3 ringtone. There are a number of good suggestions, but these are my favourites so far:

• Chicken Yodel
  
• Shoobie Doobie

The person responsible for the Chicken Yodel is none other than Kerry Christensen who, according to his website is an alpine and western master yodeler. The master yodeler part has to be true because it’s his URL. So, I poked around the website a bit and found out more about Mr. Christensen. It seems as though Kerry has managed to carve enough of a niche out for himself that he is one of the "few" full-time yodelers in the US today. 

What does one do as a full time yodeler, you ask?  Well it looks like you travel to a lot of RV parks to perform. For example, if you’re in Mesa, Arizona the coming February 2nd, you can catch Mr. Christensen at the Mesa Spirit RV Resort (which seems like a pretty special place in and of itself–9 miles of paved streets!). Or you could travel on a cruise with him to the Caribbean or up the Rhine river.

Some other career highlights:

• 1977: standing ovation at his first public yodeling, held at Brigham Young University orientation assembly
• 1984: began working at the German pavilion at Epcot Center, Disney World
• Unspecified dates: cruise ships to Alaska, Panama and the Caribbean

Now, I do want to share the fact that I do have a soft spot for yodeling and the Germanic arts in general (especially Polka), so it’s with a bit of jealousy that I came across Mr. Christensen’s recordings. Not only is Kerry an accomplished yodeler, but he’s what is called an Austrian double-threat, playing the Zither too.

It’s enough to get me to visit Arizona this winter.