As always The 2012 Mullum Music Festival was an amazing event. Such diversity of music and talent… a smorgasboard of styles and vibes. The feeling of freedom and community love this festival creates is unique. Well done Glenn Wright and team… you’ve done it again.

First appearance of the ukes was during the opening night Gala. Stukulele went to hop up on the little stage with MC Mandy Nolan who hastily berated Stu with “what do you think you’re doing?” She went on to inform Stu and the audience that “the ukes can’t just show up and play where ever they like… any way what’s so special… anyone can play a uke…”. She demonstrated this by picking ‘random’ people out of the audience who could adequately play. Stu was handed back his uke and replied with the riff from Miles Davis’s ‘So What’… suddenly 10 people from the audience stood to play the answering chords and swarmed the stage like Uke playing cockroaches. When they had all assembled the Northern Rivers Ukulele Orchestra performed ‘Tijuana Taxi’ to the delight of the bewildered crowd. A great moment. (during the festival The NRUO popped up unannounced in various locations each day and performed their set for smiling onlookers.)

On Saturday Stukulele and Miss Amber’s Chocolate Wheel was a lot of fun though might have been better attended if it the venue was mentioned in the program…whoops. Festival artists and patrons alike delighted in the prize money donated by The Ex-services club and the onlookers had a good ol’ sing along. The chocolate wheel itself seemed jolly to receive so much attention as the patrons gave her a spin after the show had finished.

Come Sunday and the Ukes were out leading the Street Parade… The brass and drums drown out just about everything though there was a rendition of ‘Tijuana Taxi’ performed as the parade halted for a moment at the Courthouse that was slightly more audible. Then, at 1pm back home in the Courthouse, the Uke Mullum Troupe played a ‘best of’ set including songs lead by Rosie Eadie (Paris Unicorn), Miss Amber & Stukulele lead a few, Peter Haddock (Ain’t She Sweet Melody), Sue Stenning (Make You Feel My Love) followed by the official festival debut of The Northern Rivers Uke Orchestra. The stand out was ‘Paint It Black’ which thrived with the addition of Rod Coe (Bass) and Jason Caspen (drums).  It was very stirring… Pete Haddock nearly popped a vein delivering his best ‘Mick Jagger’. The set was then topped off with “All You Need Is Love” and ended with smiles, laughter and great applause.

Can’t wait for next year!

This was a stripped back affair with only one Uke through the PA, Dave Sanders on Drums, Rod Coe on double bass and Kim Moxom on soprano sax, Harmonica, flute and percussion. Miss Amber and Stukulele lead all the songs apart from Ashley Bell who guested on Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are”. (This was by design as Stu and Amber performed at the Newkulele Festival on the Saturday following and needed to get their confidence up.) The effect was, the ukes in the room became much more a part of the mix. The songbook was well received and enjoyed. Lots of smiles. 75 payers on the night.

Excellent playing by all and a really good mix from Luis who was experimenting with the stereo mix. Many Thanks to all.

Man!…  does anyone still have a face after Mick Lonsdale’s lead break in ‘The Final Countdown’? 80’s night went off in a big way.

Despite many people saying they hadn’t even heard some of the songs, there seemed to be some very confident strumming going on in the room. Many thanks to all who showed up and special mention must be made for Peter Haddock who committed the entire set with all the tricky melody lines and lead breaks to memory (he doesn’t like to read).

Big thanks to Dave Sanders on drums (filling in for Jason Caspen) & Rod Coe on the electric bass pumping the 8th notes, a scintillating rhythm section.

‘The Final Countdown’ was a highlight for me… a dream come true. The only thing that would have made Mick Lonsdale’s  lead break  more perfect would be if he burst into flames. Mark Heazlet stood up to the plate and smashed the vocal, there was head banging, there were two bar drum fills… I was in uke metal heaven.

Great work all night from Mark and Ilona Harker. They owned the stage and each song they performed. Clare Campbell and Miss Amber were a strong vocal duo and looked amazing. Happy Birthday to Sue Stenning who did a lovely version of the Pretenders ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ and looked very cute in her husbands sleeves for leg warmers.

Another special mention to Ilona Harker and Ashley Bell for their efforts with the awesome poster.

Thanks to: Molly Campbell (staff Photographer), Skye Stenning for screen scrolling, Luis Chistia for sound, Delicious Deb Stoker for the Door, Chad Sheather for constant support, Ashley Bell for harmonica and filling in on ‘White Wedding’ (for poor Michael Smith from Gold Coast Ukuleles who fell ill on the day), Kim on Soprana Sax, Frankie – God of Hair for Stu’s hair, The Courthouse Staff and most importantly for everyone who was in the audience for making a truly memorable and wonderful evening. Hope to see you again in October *(Wed 24th October).

First 0f all.. thank you! All logic reveals there would be no Uke Mullum Night if it was not for you, the great folk who regularly attend our little get together. We do so very much appreciate your support. ( Stu, Amber, Reuben and Rose.. kulele).

Second, thanks to Luis Christia (so sorry I forgot to mention you tonight in the thanks Luis) you did a bloody top job of the production tonight. We love the Courthouse Hotel, Laurie, Kelly and staff… James Cox on the drums .. steps up to the plate and smashes it!!! Many Many thanks for coming on board at such short notice. Rod Coe is presently living in a very difficult stage of life… and is carrying it off with grace and great virtue… easily the most wonderful human and musician I have ever met, we all wish you and Jenny all our LOVE Rod. Thanks for being such a passionate and thorough practitioner of the contra bass.

Special guests Melia Naughton and Soulman O’Gaia… what treasures you are and how you lifted our souls with effortless ease tonight. I, for one of many, would like to see you both on Christmas Carols this year. So sorry we missed Nerida Naughton tonight who has been terribly ill with the nasty flu/bug thing that has been doing the rounds. Really hope to see you on the Uke Mullum stage soon.

Mullum Uke Troupe… it was a hard month for us all for one reason or another and tonight there was a  whole lotta shinin’ goin’ on. Miss Amber, Clare and Molly, Sue, Peter and Chad… I am proud to call us a troupe after our performance tonight. I only wish we had recorded the evening so you could see how well we all did.

I hope with your support we can continue to put on a great night of entertainment… which fosters and promotes out local talent, in a wonderful community sing-a-long (which heavily involves ukuleles… ) for a very long time to come. Next Month – 80’s night… (Can’t wait!!)

Man oh man!! What a great night. So much love in the room. So many smiles… such a huge cake!! Love and thanks to everyone involved. (It’s getting to point where I can’t thank anyone for fear of leaving someone out.) Suffice it to say… together, we made beautiful lasting memories that I hope will see us all through anything life throws at us.

We have video taped the evening and will have that as a reminder soon…  the standout performance on the night was Three Little Sisters who completely stole the show, then of course Starboard Cannons were folking great mate. Joel Salom never fails to amaze… as well as seeing, did you hear what he was doing with those ukes… then along came Mae Wilde who conquered despite the fact her close friend Ilona Harker was quite sick on the evening.  New comer Peter Haddock’s medley was superb fun. First song of the night ‘You Are My Sunshine’ with everyone smilin’ and strummin’ with such joy was another great moment.

Looking forward to another year of Monthly Uke Mullum nights at The Courthouse Hotel. Thanks to everyone who makes an effort to get together and to keep this glorious fun going.

Stukulele

What a great night… despite the ridiculous amount of rain, there was a record crowd in attendance tonight. Lead by our three fantastic singers… Clelia Adams, Dee Lavell and the  scrumptious Miss Amber, (Sweet Harmony) the room has never sounded so good. We were assisted by Skye Stenning (M.U.T’s  Sue Stenning’s daughter) on projection tonight, which enabled Luis on sound to use his new wireless rig to walk about the room and create a fantastic mix of the harmonies.

Tonight, the 11th month of Uke Mullum, was a benchmark in production values and henceforth audience participation and enjoyment of all concerned. Also, the Monday nights at the Ex-services club have paid off. I could see from stage that more people were making the changes and we were all in there making beautiful music happen together. Matty Bone (the first Uke Mullum bass player ) commented that tonight was the best night so far. Matty doesn’t throw that stuff around and his opinion does mean a lot to me as I respect him as a musician and a ‘sensitive Mullum individual’. Really beautiful playing one and all for the slow ballad ‘Dimming Of The Day’  the entire room supported the song and the emotion. Well done! There was a lot of listening going on tonight… what a difference good sound makes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who got amongst it, despite the still raging rain. Looking forward to our first birthday next month. Make sure you vote for your favorite 20 songs here.

Loads of love from Stukulele, Miss Amber, Reuben and Rose.

Thanks to all who came last night. It was a big one, at least one hundred folk in the room. Why is it we have a big night every time Mae Wilde is involved? There were quite a few songs that a lot of people had never heard of before in the songbook. That’s not such a bad thing right? The Uke Night at the Courthouse is a performance night, so it’s great the setlist has current tunes. Rod Coe and Jason did a great job again keeping us all together.

Ashley Bell’s version of Lonely Boy (Black Keys) was stirring, It was also the first appearance of ‘Dorothy’ , Clare Campbell’s new electric red ukulele. Michael from Gold Coast Ukeleles lent a fag pack amp that distorted the crap out of  Dorothy… She sounded like a plane taking off.  After the performance a remark was heard “that was the most indulgent thing I have ever seen.” Mission accomplished I reckon.

A big thanks to Green Ukulele who donated two beautiful T-shirts for our raffle which helped to pay for our guest artist and poster girl. Looking forward to next months all girl three part harmony night.

Another mixed bag of eclectic genres and moods, lucky door prizes and good vibes!! Good turn out. Great night!

There were two tunes we played twice back to back. The Turtle’s “Happy Together” (thanks Mark Virtue) and Culture Club’s “Kama Chameleon”. The tempo was not quite right (or something…), both sounded better the 2nd time through, just like a band rehearsal and I’m glad we persevered and went for gold.

Our guest vocalist tonight was Sarah-Grace Buckley. She has the calm, collected presence of a seasoned professional at the age of 12. Though, there’s no ‘youtube mentoring’ going on here… Sarah-Grace comes from a musical family. Dad – Mick Buckley – rock drummer turned boogie woogie / stride piano player and Mum – Sharon Buckley – supportive wonder woman, have worked diligently over the years, with music, to fuel, travel and feed their 7-piece family with many amazing experiences and loads of love. Sarah-grace is the oldest of their clan and is a remarkable talent, as are every single one of her amazing younger siblings. Beautiful and life affirming. Many, many thanks Sarah-Grace and all the Buckley’s for being you!!! see more here.

Much thanks also to Joel Salom for his special version of ‘Don’t Worry.. Be Happy’ with lyrical adaptions and juggling – shaker gymnastics. I have seen Joel perform many, many times and I have never seen anything less than pure wonderment on the faces of his audience. (The man is a freak in all the best ways). Fresh from his first ever vipashina, Joel was peaking!!!!

Then, out of the blue… Ben Hur (Helwend) was in the house. I love Ben, he is a very empathetic performer who has the power of listening and also the power of embellishing a lead vocal with beautiful harmony… (even mine)… thanks for indulging us Ben. You are the goods and I can’t wait to hear you new collection of songs.

I cannot adequately express in mere type how thankful I am to Rod Coe on bass, Jason Caspen on drums, Luis on sound and projection and Deb on the door. We rely on you and you have never let us down. Hat’s off to all who travelled from afar to take part in our Mullum Celebration of the Uke. As far as Brisbane .. as far as Sydney. Many many Thanks.

See you next month. Stukulele.

Goodness me… I just got home from the April 2012 uke night and realised I have yet to do the wrap from March…. we had guest vocalist Ashley Bell and the songbook was focussed on ease of play-ability. It was a really great night. Ashley ‘slayed ’em’ with his tunes and thanks to the little video and a quick workshop on the strum pattern, Miss Amber got to sing the version of I Will Survive we had hoped for in the previous month. Other stand out performances were Dan Matthias’s version of The Church’s Under The Milky Way and also Dan and Clare Campbell’s rip roaring rendition of Radiohead’s Creep. Many thanks to all who came along and well done.

Last night Uke Mullum, Lismore Ukulele Club, Gold Coast Ukuleles and Planet Music Lismore put on a show at the A & I Hall in Bangalow. From 6pm,  two simultaneous informative and wonderful  worshops took place, then we broke for wonderful curry (Thanks Bombay Cherry). At 8.10 pm all 70 or so of us witnessed the uke prowess of Bosko & Honey who were very entertaining and charming and memorable,… followed by the most amazing display of interesting and progressive uke chops and tasty percussion I have ever seen. Needless to say, it was a fantastic night and I am proud to have been a part of it. Big thanks to Luis for sound and a special mention to GCU & Planet Music for fronting the dough for the hall hire. Thanks to all who came and supported the regions Uke community. We had fun!