What a great night! So nice to have a bunch of kids in the room again. A lot of people thought this was going to be a boring school event… everyone who attended were blown away by the talented kids who performed this evening. This was easily in the top 3 best ever Mullum uke nights, many patrons stating it was the best yet.

Major thanks to Mullum Public for such a great turnout and for hosting the rehearsal on the Monday Night, Kylie Martin for pulling the choir together and choosing the songs, Lorraine Marshall for your unstoppable enthusiasm for live performance…. Margaret Brandolini from Shearwater for presenting her two excellent groups and with Dad – Phillip, for birthing three amazing young ladies, Cecelia, Bridget and Monica (Three Little Sisters)… Heather McKeown for support and allowing the her daughter the beautiful Misty Henderson to appear on ABC radio to promote the night. (Misty.. you stole the sh0w with you wonderful original song ‘Lost At Sea’) Mullum high’s school captain Max Foggon who tore the place up… (what a show man)… Thierry Fossemalle for awesomeness on the double bass and bringing his beautiful daughter Tilka from Byron Community School along to sing, Matt Ogle for introducing us to his gorgeous daughters Isis and Azura from Byron Public who were wonderful. Each and everyone of the performances were top notch. Truly a cut above!! Big ups to all the parents who dropped off kids to rehearsals and attended on the night.

More thanks to Brendan Drinkwater for very tasty drumming, Joel Salom for his impromptu shaker ball accompaniment, Luis for excellent sound, Deb and Miss Amber on the door, Molly and Clare for photos and barrel girl duties and a big, big… major thanks, love and kisses to Val for excellent screen scrolling (sorry I left you out on the night… can you ever forgive me?) Of course, as always… many, many thanks to The Courthouse Hotel and Restaurant for their support and greatness. Stu ‘n Amber are re-invigorated and gearing up for next month.

Thanks to all who attended The Mullum Ex-Services club on Thursday 25th July for Uke Mullum’s 2nd Birthday celebration. It was the most ambitious Uke Night to date with the amazing Mana Aloha Hula Dancers who were graceful and gracious and simply devine. (I love my Shirt Lilith)…

Elvis (Craig Teys) rocked the house as did Fiona Knight with her Motown set. The Northern Rivers Uke Orchestra strutted their stuff and Eric The Dog did a fine job of embarrassing Rosie. It was simply an amazing evening and I am so proud to have been a part of it. Big thanks as always to Luis Christia who did a mighty job on sound, Deb on the door, Rod Coe on bass, Jason Capsen on Drums and a huge thank you to Paul Agar who’s Lap steel and guitar were yummy icing on the cake… and by the way. Great cake Miss Amber!!!

Video coming soon. STU

Sweet Harmony is the name of the 3 piece harmony powerhouse consisting of Mullum’s Country Music Queen: Clelia Adams, Soul & Blues Diva: Dee Lavell and Uke Mullum’s Miss Amber. This show has now become an annual event, as we performed this very same songbook almost song for song in June 2012.

The confidence that comes from having performed a show before is amazing… the harmonies were very tight as was the band. Such good fun tunes to sing and play… they really knew to how to have fun in the 50’s and 60’s.

There was a small but appreciative audience by comparison to last year. These are the reasons I think this is so:

1. Last year the door was $5
2. We have started a new Uke Night further up the coast
3. It was bloody cold and rainy
4. Some of the novelty has worn off?

And here are my answers:

1. We wish we could maintain the quality of the performance and enthusiasm for the Uke Nights at $5… unfortunately that is just not sustainable for the level of professionalism required to make a great night.
   Uke Mullum runs on the skin of it’s teeth and we are very lucky to live in an area of very talented performers who practically donate their to time and be involved. Let’s not forget, with so many establishments who can afford to put on free live music, we are spoiled for entertainment around here near the Bay.
2. It was expected that with the new Tumbulgum Uke Night that we would lose a few people from up North… I’m happy to say that there are still a few folk that make the journey. (We do miss our friends from Brisbane).
3. Uke Mullum began in July 2011 in the middle of winter and we had around 130 people.. cold? rug up!
4. I hope people realise that the night is about coming together in song. The Uke is easier to travel with and that is the main reason why it has been such a great catalyst too these get togethers… human connection is what we are craving.  Making memories and creating feelings of belonging and pure joy. That’s the pay off!

Big thanks to The Courthouse Staff and The Restaurant, top notch service and food. Thanks to Ashara for the door (excellent job), Val for screen scrolling (truely on it… and multi tasking… scrolling whilst playing uke), and Luis Christia for the sound which was again fantastic last night. Big thanks to Chad Sheather,  you are a walking legend, Rod Coe and Jason Caspen for being a mighty fine rhythm section. Most importantly thanks to all our supporters in audience.

STU

PS: I would also like to acknowledge Sue Stenning who was in the line up last year and did a great job.

Thank you patrons of tonight’s Mullumbimby UKE NIGHT.

We once again feel invigorated to continue in our passion of creating memorable musical evenings at The Courthouse Hotel. That wonderful community feeling of real love pervaded strongly once again. There were a lot of faces  in the crowd that haven’t been seen in a while and we were so happy you were there, including Roe and Tracey, Sergio, Bronnie and Mark and the rest of you, as well as some welcome newcomers Steve and Bin. Thrilled to bits we were to see you in the front line.

The flu stopped Andrea Soler from appearing tonight and we were all disappointed not to play together and see her perform as planned. The very concept of the evening was dreamed up with Andrea and she helped make it a great night with her song choices and I truly felt she was there in spirit. She is a wonderful positive force of nature… as is the very inspirational Soulman O’Gaia.

Soul or Souly to his friends, such a great joy to behold! Soul by name and soul by nature… delivering stirring versions of all the tunes lead tonight including, ‘Change is Gonna Come’, ‘Love Train’ and some original tunes from his 2012 album, the not so coincidently en-titled ‘Freedom Songs’. Thanks again to Ashley Bell … a great singer and good all round bloke with a great sense of community. You did us proud with Tom Petty’s ‘Won’t Back Down’ and convincingly pulled of Farnsey in ‘That’s Freedom’.

The great band : Rod Coe, Kim Moxham, Chad Sheather and Jason Caspen… (Bass, Wind, Uke and drums) had their ears and hearts open. Val Kean – singer songwriter / screen scroller… where would we be with out you and may I say a mighty job. Luis Christia going all out with his PA did a fine job on sound tonight. Fee Fee with your vocal support on George Michael’s Freedom. Thanks to Deb and Ashara for helping us all to be remunerated for our efforts. To The Courthouse Hotel and all involved in tonight’s gathering… we thank you.

Sincerely,
Stukulele and Miss Amber

Thanks to Rusty for inviting Stukulele , Miss Amber, Rod Coe and the Northern Rivers Uke Orchestra to perform at The Mullumbimby Markets. It was a lovely day. After we played ‘We Like Bananas’, Stu jokingly said perhaps someone from a fruit stall could donate some bananas… No one saw where they came from, though at the end of the set… there they were. And very yummy too. Six young ladies from Coorabell Public came and performed two songs and Andrew from Rocky Creek Strings spoke about how he makes his wonderful instruments. (Go JAN!)

Great night had by all…  wonderful performances by Dave Sanders on drums, Rod Coe on Bass and Kim Moxham on wind instruments.  Awesome job on sound by Chris Chandler (who can’t help but make himself part of the show) and everyone again was blown away by the spectacular harmonies of Three Little Sisters. (what are they putting in the water in Clunes… that Brandolini family are mighty talented).

The most popular song in the poll 2 years in a row was Pumped Up Kicks… such cool tune about a sadly grim subject… there were 29 separate votes and it was revealed that Miss Amber voted twice. Still the song list was a great mix of old and almost modern songs and everyone seemed to enjoy playing and listening. Heather Jacks was treated to a uke-ful rendition of Happy Birthday. Her husband Jeremy blind folded her and lead her into the venue as we sang to her… great reaction when Heather took off her blindfold to see all her friends and quickly realised she knew only 3 or 4 people in the room… all these strangers smiling and playing Uke. The Lucky Door prize was won by a visitor from Dresden, Germany who was tatooed just that afternoon in Byron Bay.

The Courthouse is a great venue for Uke Night. It has a real family atmosphere. Unfortunately some people in our community don’t feel the need to support the efforts of the many people involved in putting on such a great evening of entertainment and after “just coming in to dine”… they stay all night and enjoy the show for free. The bar and the restaurant don’t want to turn away customers so the night relies on the honor system to cover costs. That means we are hoping people will be honest and, if they hang around and watch the show, they will pay the $10 entry fee. Many people don’t and that’s just not fair for all concerned. This may spell the end for UKE NIGHT at The  Courthouse as a result and after next month we may have to move to a different venue.

Blues Uke Night 2013

What a great night! Playing the blues is a gas!!! Man!!…  Special guests Larry Larstead, followed by Ray Burton, then Big Stan Ceglinski and wait for it… Lil Fi and The Candy Apples. The most fun any one ever had playing the blues in my estimation. Thanks to all the guests who were all equally wonderful and giving of their talents…  and mostly thanks to all of you who came along this evening even though Jake Shimabukuro was just 7 minutes drive away… loads of love STU!!!

It was The Valentines Is Over Special… this year (like last year), we mapped the arc of a relationship in song. From the first kiss to breaking up and crying at your own party though eventually, after being torn apart we all came to except crazy love as something we can’t live without.

We had Michael from Gold Coast Ukuleles up early in the set with a fine version of ‘I’m Yours’ (Jason Mraz).  Stu did well leading many of the tunes… he was out to impress as his parents attended this uke night (for the first time) … BJ Thomas’ ‘Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ went down well as the first song back after the Break. (Betina Moyle-Bryson won the Lucky Door Prize), Then Rosie Eadie tackled the Birdy version of ‘Skinny Love’. Miss Amber was in fine voice with excellent versions of Beyonce’s ‘Irreplaceable’ and Pink’s ‘Who Knew’.

Then special guests Jesse and Emma from the Lucky Wonders graced the stage with 2 of Emma’s songs followed by their version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance Me To The End of Love’. Miss Amber delivered a faultless version of Crazy Love with Jesse and Emma relishing their first ever chance to be doo wop girls. Then the secret tune even got an airing… Tim Roger’s ‘My Heavy Heart.’

Rod Coe on bass, as always was the backbone of the evening with some very expressive and most awesome drumming from new comer Brendan Drinkwater who bought in his entire kit (much to Stu’s delight). It was good sized turn out considering the deluge of rain we had all month (which is continuing even as I type). Great sound from Luis Christia, superb scrolling by Skye Stenning, great backup Uke by Chad Sheather..  Thanks to Deb on the door. and a big huggy thanks to all who came along to make the night… such a great way of coming together. See you next month.

STU

For the first Uke Night back in 2013, we followed suit from last year and paid homage to being Australian. The night turned out to be much more of a celebration than the actual Australia Day which was the beginning of a 3 day storm thanks to ‘ex-cyclone Oliver’ who took out trees and caused week long power outages all round the region.

The first set was dedicated to traditional Australian songs and featured two tunes with some of the Northern Rivers Uke Orchestra followed by songs about not having any beer then drinking too much. Stu introduced the house to a great, though lesser-known Australian singer songwriter, Steve Appel who has released 6 albums of quirky and wonderful songs under the name of King Curly. We played a version of A Good Song. Stu learned what it’s like to wear out his voice as he sang the whole first set himself, though was ably assisted by son Reuben who whistled on Waltzing Matilda.

Miss Amber sang a great version of Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ which was greeted with rapturous applause. We were then treated to a visit by Clelia Adams who lead her awesome train song River Valley Express which was # 1  for the 3rd week on the ECMA (European Country Music Association) charts. Uke Mullum favourite Kathryn Jones was also in tow, the pair had literally just returned from Tamworth and were in very fine voice. The song is so great for the region as it has all the names of all the towns… “Mullumbimby, Billinugel, Stokers Siding too…”

It was so great to have Sara Tindley back again to lead Took the Children Away by Archie Roach and My Island Home and Black Fella White Fella by the Warumpi Band. Sara has the ability to focus an audience’s energy with her own pure grace… a wonder to behold. Then the boys Ash and Matt from Starboard Cannons took the stage for their instant Aussie classic Bowen Station, a duet which was recorded with Sara. This was a very special moment. After Paul Kelly’s Dumb Things, Poor Ned, I Still Call Australia Home and Stu’s personal favourite The Real Thing it was time to start preparing for next month.

Big thanks to all the special guests, Deb on the door, Dave Sanders on drums, Rod Coe on bass, Luis Christia on sound with Warren Thompson stepping up and taking care of the screen scrolling duties. Thanks to the Courthouse Hotel… most of all thanks to all of you who came.

Let us give thanks for a wonderful evening  of Christmas cheer  had by all at the Courthouse Hotel for the 2012 Christmas Uke-Tacular – THURSDAY 20 FEB.

An array of staggering vocal power including (in order of appearance): Stukulele, Miss Amber, Rosie… The Tinsel Tones; Clelia Adams, Kathryn Jones and Miss Amber, Soulman O’Gaia, Scarlet Affection and Ben Hur with pal Cathryn on uke, PLUS Ashley Bell from the Starboard Cannons.

Yes, Mullumbimby  Courthouse Hotel patrons were again treated to a wonderfully orchestrated community event… raising the spirits, reaffirming the goodness of life with the gift of Christmas song. The evening was described by one supporter as being “every bit as good, if not better than any televised Christmas Spectacular”.

Musically and production speaking, we have never had it better. Aaron from Biggs sound on audio with the brilliant sound system and Aaron’s mighty fine ears, Luis Christia provided a screen and projector for both sides of the stage for the song chart projection by Skye Stenning… great talent, fantastic sound, brilliant screen sight from anywhere in the room…. just brilliant!!. also special mention to Molly Campbell for her wonderful photography.

Great job from Santa, Mrs. Claus and his Elfantine helper… (Jon Fog, wife Sharon and son Max respectively, great work!)…

All round a great and memorable evening. (special thanks to the couple who gave us a 9 volt battery for the uke in the second set.)

Many Thanks
Stukulele