RTU with M.U.K.

Rock That Uke in Marvellous Melbourne!
(for the M.U.K. Grand Launch!)

July 3, 2004

One of the great pleasures of making a documentary like Rock That Uke is seeing it used as a rallying event/recruitment video for world weirdness. Despite our proprietary claims to individualism, we Americans more often than not eschew that final frontier wherein eccentricity is not just accepted, but aspired to; unlike our counterparts in England, Canada and Australia, where fringe arts festivals flourish, Americans tend to cower cretinously when confronted with that Full Monty of Psychopathology we call "being different."

Which we think explains the arguably more enthusiastic acceptance of RTU outside US borders than within. No finer example of this phenomenon can be found than in Australia, where our pal Rose Turtle Ertler (aka, The Electrik Ukelele Lady) included RTU in her Ukulele Land extravaganza at the Live Bait festival in Bondi Beach and Dean Denham (aka Dino Divo) subsequently took on the promotional mantel by repeatedly screening RTU in conjunction with the activities of his Melbourne Ukulele Kollective (aka M.U.K, aka Klub MUK), currently in its freshman year.

RTU played the proud role of metaphorical champagne bottle smashing against metaphorical ship's hull when Klub MUK was launched in July 2004 in the Underpass pub at the Terminus Hotel in Clifton Hill. Since then, Dean has taken RTU and M.U.K's eclectic ukulelic shows to to the Darebin Music Feast and the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Though no one from RTU was present for the Melbourne launch, Dino was kind enough to send along photos from the concert. Below each pic is the official M.U.K. promotional bio. If you're interested in becoming part of the M.U.K, go to their yahoo group at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/m-u-k/.

Chuck "Frets" Fayne is a Professor of Musicology (having studied under John Cage, amongst others), as well a luthier, a magician, and a human trove of ukulele related information. He plays a mean uke and runs the online discussion board Uke Yak on Jim Beloff's Flea Market Music website. He describes himself as a "reformed" collector, having sold the bulk of his ukulele collection to move his family from California to Glen Iris in Melbourne and bought a house with the proceeds. A small plaque by his front door reads: This house was paid for with ukuleles.	Mixing Hawaiian, swing and blues styles with swanky improvisations and sweet vocals, Duke Kulele gives his audiences the opportunity to relive music from the early years of the ukulele, featuring Hawaiian Jazz and songs from old films and cartoons. While creating a nostalgic musical show, Duke Kulele’s talent emerges through baritone, soprano, and resophonic ukuleles, kazoo, stomp box, and the Amazing harmaphone. Solo or with his Novelty trio, Duke Kulele swings regardless. And his music is fun to dance to!
Cameron Murray has been playing the uke for 12 years. He teaches a ukulele workshop at a community college in Sydney and is the creator and editor of the ukulele newsletter The Sydney Strummer. He travels regularly to Hawaii and performed at the Ukulele Hall of Fame's 2002 Ukulele Expo in Rhode Island, and as part of RTU's Ukulele Land concert in Bondi Beach in 2004.	A ukulele and accordion player, Carolyn Connors writes original songs full of sweetness, wit, mush, and insight that warm the cockles of one's heart, as well as cockles elsewhere. She was awarded best music act of the 2001 Melbourne Fringe Festival for her show Absolutely Ukulele. In addition to sweet songs, she has been known to perform improvised experimental/minimalist uke music with vocals.
John M. Lane has been working for the Arts and Development Branch of the City of Darebin for the past three years, primarily involved in staging the Darebin Music Feast. He is directly involved in organising the Ukulele Big Band, particularly in regard to school and community involvement from the Darebin area. He has played and taught ukulele for many years.	In his banjoleleist incarnation, seasoned musician Ian Wettenhall (shown here with Jen from their band The Original Smith Family) performs American folk songs from the mid 1800s to Elvis, with some 20s tunes in the middle. Of the MUK Launch, quoth punk bassist Ian: "Finally I get to live another one of my dreams by playing uke live.” M.U.K.--making ukulele dreams come true!
Accompanied by a ukulele with lots of FX and a little drum machine, Rose Turtle Ertler, The Electrik Ukelele Lady, sings about earworms, pingpong princesses, and puppets made from old socks, performing regularly in Australia and Belgium. She was organizer and promoter of Ukulele Land at the 2004 Live Bait festival in Bondi, which featured the Australian continental premiere of Rock That Uke. Rose is a former member of the performance troupe frumpus and currently resides in a caravan in East Brunswick. Her CD Ping Pong Princess is available on scootstar records. She is shown above singing, as she often does, into her ukulele.	Presenting songs and strums of ole ye worlds, Jacka Boulevarde (aka Christa Hughes of the band Machinegun Fellatio) most usually performs in a duet with accordionist Svetlana Bunic of the band Monsieur Camenbert in dimly lit cabarets ...as well as Speigeltent, Galeon Café and La Bar, Sydney. This time, she performed in a solo uke act with a few guests up her sleeve. The camera batteries, however, ran out by the time Jacka took the stage.
Dino Divo performs a wide variety of material from the early years of ukulele to the present day. He has been playing ukulele live (solo and with other musicians and groups) since early 2002. The songs are often very removed from their original rhythms and arrangements, which allows for a fresh and occasionally insightful interpretation of the lyrical content. The sound ranges from sweet and nice to full and scary, as he employs several guitar effects pedals and plays through a 70’s guitar amp. Dino has been a singer and player (previously guitar, bass, and keyboards) for over 20 years	An original print of Dino Divo's content-intensive commemorative poster for the Klub M.U.K. Launch recently sold for $1.5 million at a Southeby's auction of early 21st Century Victorian ukuleleana.