Thanks to everyone whom came to 80’s UKE NIGHT. There were a lot of regulars away, though many new faces and even some welcome little people. It was a great night. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself: SET 1 | SET 2
Tag Archives: Ash Bell
July 2018 – 7th Birthday
May 2018 – Outlaws and Cosmic Cowboys
Another very memorable evening. The size of the band was over the top. We had the collective know as Backwater Brethren as the band although Jason Caspen was drummer as Stu (that’s me) was busy playing uke of course. Keys and vocals – Justin Bannister (J.B. Fingers), harmonica and vocals – Steve (Six Guns) Gilbert, guitar and vocals – Phil (Longhorn) Levy, vocals and baritone uke – Ash (Buckshot) Bell, Rod Coe on Bass and lapsteel and vocal (Diego Zaragoza) + plus guest Sara Tindley. Wish you were there. It was just the best feeling to be on the floor playing with the ukesters and these great people and musicians. Every song was a highlight. It was also great to have Clelia Adams in the audience for the first time since here surgery. Lot’s of new face in the crowd as well. It was a great community feeling.
Oct 2017 – Gunfighter & Murder Ballads
This was a really fabulous night… due to the roll up, the superb musicianship from Warren Earl and fantastic vocal performances from Ash Bell, Clelia Adams, Miss Amber (particularly Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang) and yours truly didn’t fare to badly neither, channeling Marty Robbins and mostly in key. The flow of the evening was wonderful, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There was dark and scary moments which made the laughs more heartfelt. Wish you were there. Just a great bunch of tunes with compelling stories. Great sound from Luis, Thanks to Ashara on the door. Great bass and drums from Rod Coe and Jason Caspen (respectively).
Guests up from Adelaide said it would make a great event for the Adelaide Fringe. Sadly unless someone offered a huge budget it would be hard to replicate outside of Mullum. We are so spoiled for talent and the great auditorium we present the night in each month.
See the pics from Lyn McCarthy at Niche Pics and they’ll tell the story.
April 2017 – Hits Of The 70’s
One of the best nights we have had in a while, both attendance and the quality of the show. New comer Justin Bannister on Keys was a huge hit. He played most awesome keyboards and even sang ‘Spirit In The Sky’. Monday night crew Erina and Mac did a great job on ‘ Meet Me On The Corner’ guests Ash Bell and Sara Tindley brought down the house as usual. Very fine version of Piano Man in the original key must have special mention.
The coolest moment for me was when Daughter Rose and Sara’s daughter Poppy danced to Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ and nailed the movements. Rod Coe on Bass, Jason Caspen on Drums and Evan Landers on guitar and Mando.
Lucky Duck Brad Green again nabbed the poster. There was laughter and smiles and even dancing. The themed nights seem to be more popular and better attended so for now that’s what we’re gonna do. Back to themes every Month.
Thanks to Lyn from Niche Pics for the photos.
Jan 2017 Modern Australian
Thanks to everyone for coming to the Modern Australian UKE NIGHT. It was in the end a fantastic evening albeit with a late start and even later finish. I was up at the crack of dawn and so was our trusty sound man Luis Christia and Door Technician Deb Stoker at the Brunswick Heads Breakfast in the Park Australia Day celebration. The NRUO was leading the songs for the forth year in a row. So we were a little pooped.
This book featured Australian songs from the last 20 years. So not surprisingly some folk had never heard of them. This was the exact reason I did the book. It seems ludicrous that songs most people want to hear and play are the ones they know, usually from their youth when they first fell in love with them. While I understand why that is, in the past 20 years 10s of thousands of songs have been written… some real treasure too. We must keep moving along folks.
With this in mind I thought it important to have some young folk up on stage with us. Local band 100 Words consists of 12 year old – Miller Stuart-Long, (fantastic singer / song writer in the making), Jack Edmonds and Sam Sanders. These guys share the instruments around and have learned how to hold it down and keep it tight. So refreshing to see. Milly sang with daughter Rose Eadie on ‘Big Jet Plane’ before the band got up and played two original songs. Also Sonny Flynn played trumpet. What a great feeling to share the stage with these young musicians. Sam Sanders was actually in the UKE NIGHT band as guitarist and did a mighty job with a talent way beyond his years, playing some wicked riffs and solid grooves and solos on songs he heard for the first time the week before.
The first half of the show was full of pop songs from Australian bands and solo artists, including the wonderful message song ‘Caught In The Crowd’ by Kate Miller-Heidke. Guest vocalist Sara Tindley’s daughter Poppy Baily-Tindley sang this one with Rosie – they were amazing. Both Miss Amber and Sara sang harmonies with the girls unable to contain their proud mother smiles.
Brad Green won the highly coveted poster in the raffles and Noel won the two tickets for next month. Barb won the Australia Day ukulele and promptly told Miss Amber to bend over so she could show her were to stick it. (Barb is over 80 and doesn’t fancy learning I guess).
The 2nd half of the show was more singer songwriter flavoured, perfect for our guests Sara and Mr Ash Bell. Ash is having a break from performing at the moment and it was so great to hear his voice again. See clip of Ash singing Paul Kelly’s ‘They Thought I Was Asleep’. A few people had left by now as it was getting late so it was a very special intimate 30 minutes, finished of by a rockin’ version of ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ from Jet sang by Sara, who can belt out a rock tune with the best of them. (I love when Sara Rocks out)
There was a lot of learning from the musicians this month and I really appreciate the time and effort that went into recreating all the little details. Brilliant keys from new comer Dan Brown who was the perfect man for the job with the ability to pull authentic synth sounds one minute and beautiful piano solos the next. Thanks To Al Brooker and Jason Caspen for their exceptional rhythm section work. The night was ended with a soulful version of Nick Caves ‘Into My Arms’ with impromptu 4 part harmonies in the last chorus. We were packed up and out of there before 10pm.
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- Poppy and Rose with Mums – Sara and Miss Amber
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- Proud mum
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- Miller Stuart-Long and Rose Eadie
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- Dan Brown on keys, Sonny Flyn on trumpet, Jason Caspen on drums, Al Brooker on bass
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- Dan Brown on keys and Sam Sanders on electric guitar
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- Sam Sanders (son od drummer Dave Sanders
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- Jacky Boo Edmonds
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- Miss Amber & Stukulele
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- Brad Green jagged the poster
See more pics from Lyn McCarthy at Niche pics here
Modern Australian
Riptide – Vance Joy
Cry – The Mavis’s
Lighthouse – The Waifs
Coin Laundry – Lisa Mitchell
Caught In The Crowd – Kate Miller-Heidke
Big Jet Plane – Angus & Julia Stone
Don’t Be Silly – 100 Words
Hoops – The Rubens
To My Table – Mama Kin
Walking on A Dream – Empire Of The Sun
Black Bugs – Regurgitator
I’m Not Coming Back – Husky
Buttons – Sia
Time – Sara Tindley
We Won’t Run – Sarah Blasko
Bowen Station – Ash Bell
They Thought I Was Asleep – Paul Kelly
My Happiness – Powderfinger
Heart Beating – Suzannah Espie
Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye
Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
Into My Arms – Nick Cave
Jan 2016 – Pub Rock
This was so much fun. We realised the audience was drowned out by the loud monster stage sound we had, though that’s the only way to play Pub Rock with guitarist Tim Longworth, drums by Jason Caspen (who lived these songs) and Rod Coe on fender precision bass plus newcomer Zane on Sax who featured brightly in Men At Works ‘Who Can It Be Now’ and The Models ‘Barbados’. The set list was full of favourite moments from Countdown… ‘Unguarded Moment’ by the Church, ‘Happy Man’ by Sunnyboys, ‘Don’t Change’ by INXS to name a small selection.
Miss Amber did a great Jimmy Barnes for ‘Forever Now’ completely ripped as Chrissie Amphlett in ‘Boys in Town’ and pulled off a very convincing Continental Robert for ‘Soul Kinda Feelin’ then did great backing vocals all evening.
For the third year in a row Sara Tindley and Ash Bell were back to lead some big tunes. And lead they did, Ash always delivers and his versions of two Hunters and Collectors tunes were mighty as was his The Angel’s ‘No Secrets’, Aussie Crawl’s ‘Boys Light Up’ and Dragons ‘April Sun In Cuba’.
We won’t mention the technical glitch we had with ‘Girls On The Avenue’… (for the first time in a very long time this song fell into ruin) though some nice free form vocals came out of that miss hap while Stu struggled to download the chart in the correct Key.
After so many big moments the audience was mouth agape to see Sara Tindley absolutely rock out on ‘Long Way To The Top’. Bon Scott would have been proud. Then we ‘Threw Our Arms’ around each other and it was time go home. It was like going back in time. Probably not the Ukes greatest moment in terms of anyone being heard though Lot’s of smiles at the end of the night and a great way to celebrate Australian Music.
See photo album from Lyn at Niche Pics here
June 2015 – Name Your Poison
I must have bogarted the joint a little too much last night. I forgot to thank everyone at the end of the 2nd set, which is the best part. Massive thanks to special guests Clelia Adams, Ash Bell and Parissa Bouass who were all fantastic. (Miss Amber and I aspire to be great singers like these guys one day)… Thanks to The Courthouse and the restaurant and thanks to Luis Christia for excellent sound and Deb on the door. Congrats to Donald who took out the raffle (free entry and free meals for two next month + a bottle of wine) and to Erina who won the framed poster (2nd time in a row). Thanks to Lyn from Niche Pics who got to take a few pics before her camera malfunctioned. Rod and Rex the silver haired rhythm section were amazing as usual and special thanks to Rex for charting out the entire drum part for Cheap Wine. (that’s dedication). Although the numbers were down compared to the rest of the year, it was a fun and entertaining evening and we had some new happy faces in the crowd. Mostly, thanks to all of you who made it and joined in the fun. See you next month for our 4th Birthday.
Uke Mullum 3rd Birthday – July 2014
With the apt theme of ‘3’ we had such a great time for our third birthday… Rod Coe on bass, Jason Caspen on drums and Evan Sun on stringed things. All the important folk who have helped these nights to be so great were there. The Northern Rivers Uke Orchestra kicked of the night… we are still working on amplifying the sound of the orchestra and had a few problems on the night.. trail and error. Nothing beats an a nice live room though the Courty requires a PA. Our favourite MC / Juggler funny guy Joel Salom managed to juggle 3 ukes for 2:28 before being put off by the flash photography (better luck next year).
Fiona Knight and Chad Sheather came down from up north to play three great tunes. Fi’s singing was very strong and she made a meal of Meatloaf’s ‘2 Out Of 3 Aint Bad’, Patsy Cline’s ‘3 Cigarettes in the Ashtray’ and ‘You’re So Vain’ by Carly Simon. Chad’s noodle-style picking was very tasty also.
Misty Henderson graced the 2nd set with ‘3 Little Birds’ and her own calypso love song ‘Island Boy’ with ‘I Can’t Help My Self’… such a talent at only 14 years old. She is a great singer and is so very grounded in her delivery for her age. The band were on fire… then ‘ol mate Ash Bell (Starboard Cannons) floored everyone with laughing fits during his rendition of ‘3 Times A Lady’. It was great to see people standing and rocking out on the ukes to ‘Johnny Be Goode’ adorned by Warren Earls‘ tasting and fluent lead work. Miss Amber did a great job of 3 Dog Night’s ‘Joy To The World’ to bring the night to an end.
Great cake by Miss Amber and Deb.. Great sound by Luis Christia as usual. Thanks to The Couthouse Hotel for hosting the event for 3 years in a row. Thanks to all who attended the evening. It was the biggest and best crowd we have had thus far. It was really great to see faces who haven’t been in a long time. Welcome back and Happy Birthday to Us!