Mighty Uke: More random commentary

Before I wrote some comments on the movie Mighty Uke! in the last post, I had watched it a couple of times. I watched it again after that and I figure perhaps I can post some more personal comments from watching the movie. I think what I'll do is just post random comments about various things I thought while watching the movie. Some of these thoughts might make more sense if you had seen the movie, but here we go:

-Befitting a proper ukulele film, there are plenty of nice ukuleles in it. I don't remember all of the makes in there, but let's see, I remember seeing: Kamaka, Kala, Pohaku, DaSilva, Glyph, Martin, Fluke/Flea, G-String, National, Compass Rose, and many more I don't recall. Strangely, I don't think there were any KoAlohas, Ko'olaus, or Kanile'as in the movie. So it appears that the "Hawaiian K's" is only represented by Kamaka and "G"-String. But I could have just forgot about seeing the other K's too.

-James Hill has a lot of ukes for being a virtuoso. In my mind, most virtuosos tend to stick with one instrument. But apparently not him. I think he played two or three different G-String James Hill signature models in the movie. For sure he played a slotted headstock version and a Telecaster headstock version. He also has a DaSilva James Hill Signature model and I know he has a few lap steel ukes, including a Mya-Moe. Come to think of it, he probably leads the ukulele world in signature model ukuleles.

-That British lady who worked for some rock magazine talks in a rather "interesting" way: "...(some rock stars) played ukes, loved ukes, had ukes." & "...people you took seriously, took it seriously, but in a not-serious way..." I don't know, maybe I'm just strange, but the way she spoke weirded me out a little bit.

-I could hardly believe it when I heard the words "Hip-Hop Ukulele". Remember "Jazz Yodoling" from the McGriddle radio commercial???

-I guess that hip-hop ukulele dude is kind of interesting. His name is Jon Braman, and it turns out he is the father of hip-hop ukulele! I guess I've always thought pretty much anything can be played on the uke, and this proves it. While I don't think this kind of music is my cup of tea, I have to admit it takes a lot of talent (and a good memory) to perform this stuff. Just check out some of the lyrics of his music on his website. It almost reads like a novel.

-In my last post I said that the movie kind of pinned the downfall of the ukulele on Tiny Tim. Well, I suppose after seeing his performance in the film, most would probably agree too. :p

-The Langley Ukulele Ensemble is friggin' talented! I didn't realized just how insane their skills are until maybe the second time I watched the movie. I think the first scene of them is when they are rehearsing "Flight of the Bumblebee". That is really difficult stuff! At least for me. I'm guessing I would not come close to making the LUE if I tried.

-The first time I've seen Uni was on Pohaku's website, where her custom ukulele is shown. I had never heard her music until this movie and I have to say I like her music. I haven't ordered her CD or downloaded any of her music yet (it seems like I haven't bought any music outside of ukulele instrumentals for quite a while now), but what was in the movie sounded really nice.

-I don't know, there were a few scenes that had probably close to a hundred ukes all strumming the same thing, and I was not enjoying that sound. When multiple ukes all play the same thing with the same strum, it always sounds like a lot of droning to me, and that's not too enjoyable. Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way, but I much rather hear multiple ukes all playing different parts of a song. Of course, that becomes really hard when you have a hundred ukes playing together...

Anyway, that's all I can remember for now. I guess if I think of anything else I'll add to it. Having watched the movie several times now I will say that I think it's pretty entertaining. Try to watch it if you haven't!