Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Show at Marvell Event Center 7/30/08
Hey Everybody,
We're playing a benefit on the 30th. Please come out and see us and make sure to say hi. Here are the details:
**FREE BENEFIT nite for DestroyIndustrY distro/zine, etc.** w/movies @ 8pm & concert @ 930pm mysp...
Age Limit: All ages Tickets: *FREE, donations if u got em*
119 W Main St Durham, NC, US 27701
See you there!
We're playing a benefit on the 30th. Please come out and see us and make sure to say hi. Here are the details:
**FREE BENEFIT nite for DestroyIndustrY distro/zine, etc.** w/movies @ 8pm & concert @ 930pm mysp...
Age Limit: All ages Tickets: *FREE, donations if u got em*
119 W Main St Durham, NC, US 27701
See you there!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Ackland Art Museum Gig
We just wanted to say thanks to all the folks who came out to support us at the Ackland Art Museum on Sunday. You all were a wonderful and enthusiastic crowd. We had a great time and hope you did too.
Cheers,
D.U.O.
Cheers,
D.U.O.
Friday, May 16, 2008
This from the Herald Sun...
Ukulele orchestra to play at Ackland Art Museum
By Susan Broili : The Herald-Sun
sbroili@heraldsun.com
May 16, 2008
DURHAM -- They sing, whistle and play accordion, bass, cow bell and other hand percussion instruments. Sometimes, they even play violin and kazoo. But mostly they play ukuleles.
On Saturday at a run-through for their upcoming gig at the Ackland Art Museum, Durham Ukulele Orchestra members sprightly and brightly picked and strummed these four-stringed instruments. They played standards that included a number of "dreamy" tunes: "Dream a Little Dream," "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" and "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." At their warm-up at High Strung Violins & Guitars on Broad Street, their play list also featured the Beach Boys' "I Get Around." They even ukuleled their way through Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" and the Who's "Pinball Wizard" from the rock opera, "Tommy."
This group likes to throw in such tunes because for them, the instrument has no bounds when it comes to musical genre. They're also crowd-pleasers. "When we play 'Pinball Wizard,' they go 'Whoa,'" orchestra member Brian Lewis said.
Lewis met with orchestra members Paul Overton, Jay Cunningham, Scot Billman, Marilee Annereau, Sara Moore and Ted Hannon a year ago at a ukulele jam session held at High Strung. Overton started the sessions, which continue to take place on the first and third Mondays every month. All players, including beginners, are welcome.
Overton picked up the ukulele when he came to Durham four years ago from Oakland, Calif. "I played a little bass as a kid and the piano for a minute. The ukulele is my first serious instrument, if you can call it that. A lot of people don't think of the ukulele as a serious instrument," Overton said.
Many folks associate the instrument with Tiny Tim and his soprano ukulele, Overton said.
Yet over the years, the ukulele (which roughly translates as "jumping flea"), developed in Hawaii in the late 1800s and based on a small Portuguese guitar-like instrument, has experienced waves of popularity, including a current one with stars such as Hawaiian-born virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. Shimabukuro, 31, has appeared on "The Conan O'Brien Show," and his YouTube performance of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has drawn raves and much exposure for the instrument. Shimabukuro will also appear on some of Jimmy Buffett's upcoming tour dates.
"It's hot," Overton said.
Orchestra members cited some examples. The instrument appears in commercials. Jason Castro played it on "American Idol." And, over the years, it's had a wide appeal for musicians. Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MGs said the ukulele was his first instrument. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam plays ukulele and has written music for it.
"It's easier to handle," orchestra member Marilee Annereau said.
Annereau, trained as a concert pianist, likes the fact that the instrument is so portable and that she can make music on it by using just three chords, she added.
"It's a happy little instrument. It's a plucky kind of sound," Annereau said.
The upbeat nature comes, in part, because of the way the four strings are traditionally strung so that the tone rises on the two outermost strings, so that no matter which way you strum, it always ends on the up side, Annereau said.
The strings are softer than those of a guitar, and this may explain why orchestra member Jay Cunningham, who has a broken wrist, said he can still play the ukulele but not the guitar.
"The ukulele was my 11th instrument," Lewis said. During the Saturday set, Lewis played the accordion and bass as well as the ukulele. But only the ukulele draws a certain response. "Everybody smiles when they see the ukulele because it's cute," Lewis said.
"It's a great instrument for kids. The violin is so hard to start out on," Overton said. "A lot of my students have picked up the ukulele, oddly enough."
Overton teaches stage craft at Riverside High School in Durham, where another orchestra member, Sara Moore, a violinist, teaches strings.
Overton and a young boy, 13, that he mentors through the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization, spend time playing the ukulele together, he added.
The instrument comes in five sizes: sopranino, soprano, concert, tenor and baritone, with most sizes part of the Durham Ukulele Orchestra. Members decided to include other instruments to expand the group's range because as Overton put it, "Seven ukuleles all the time is seven ukuleles all the time."
Since they started only a year ago and it has taken a while to learn the 26 tunes currently in their repertoire, they haven't given many public performances so far. They played during a holiday home tour in Hillsborough and a "Bookulele" gig at High Strung at Halloween, Overton said.
They're currently "ramping up" their exposure with a blog and Facebook page and planning to give more performances, Overton added.
But they never plan to show up dressed the same -- such as wearing Hawaiian shirts and dresses. Billman usually wears a tuxedo shirt and bow tie, and the women tend to dress up more than the rest of the guys. "We wear collared shirts and try not to lower the property value," Overton said.
---
GO & DO
What: Durham Ukulele Orchestra performance
When: 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: UNC's Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill
Admission: Free
For more information: Call (919) 843-3676
Uke Jams: Free ukulele jam sessions, open to all levels of players, take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first and third Mondays every month at High Strung, 1116 Broad St., Durham. For more information, call (919) 286-3801.
By Susan Broili : The Herald-Sun
sbroili@heraldsun.com
May 16, 2008
DURHAM -- They sing, whistle and play accordion, bass, cow bell and other hand percussion instruments. Sometimes, they even play violin and kazoo. But mostly they play ukuleles.
On Saturday at a run-through for their upcoming gig at the Ackland Art Museum, Durham Ukulele Orchestra members sprightly and brightly picked and strummed these four-stringed instruments. They played standards that included a number of "dreamy" tunes: "Dream a Little Dream," "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" and "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." At their warm-up at High Strung Violins & Guitars on Broad Street, their play list also featured the Beach Boys' "I Get Around." They even ukuleled their way through Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" and the Who's "Pinball Wizard" from the rock opera, "Tommy."
This group likes to throw in such tunes because for them, the instrument has no bounds when it comes to musical genre. They're also crowd-pleasers. "When we play 'Pinball Wizard,' they go 'Whoa,'" orchestra member Brian Lewis said.
Lewis met with orchestra members Paul Overton, Jay Cunningham, Scot Billman, Marilee Annereau, Sara Moore and Ted Hannon a year ago at a ukulele jam session held at High Strung. Overton started the sessions, which continue to take place on the first and third Mondays every month. All players, including beginners, are welcome.
Overton picked up the ukulele when he came to Durham four years ago from Oakland, Calif. "I played a little bass as a kid and the piano for a minute. The ukulele is my first serious instrument, if you can call it that. A lot of people don't think of the ukulele as a serious instrument," Overton said.
Many folks associate the instrument with Tiny Tim and his soprano ukulele, Overton said.
Yet over the years, the ukulele (which roughly translates as "jumping flea"), developed in Hawaii in the late 1800s and based on a small Portuguese guitar-like instrument, has experienced waves of popularity, including a current one with stars such as Hawaiian-born virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. Shimabukuro, 31, has appeared on "The Conan O'Brien Show," and his YouTube performance of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has drawn raves and much exposure for the instrument. Shimabukuro will also appear on some of Jimmy Buffett's upcoming tour dates.
"It's hot," Overton said.
Orchestra members cited some examples. The instrument appears in commercials. Jason Castro played it on "American Idol." And, over the years, it's had a wide appeal for musicians. Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MGs said the ukulele was his first instrument. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam plays ukulele and has written music for it.
"It's easier to handle," orchestra member Marilee Annereau said.
Annereau, trained as a concert pianist, likes the fact that the instrument is so portable and that she can make music on it by using just three chords, she added.
"It's a happy little instrument. It's a plucky kind of sound," Annereau said.
The upbeat nature comes, in part, because of the way the four strings are traditionally strung so that the tone rises on the two outermost strings, so that no matter which way you strum, it always ends on the up side, Annereau said.
The strings are softer than those of a guitar, and this may explain why orchestra member Jay Cunningham, who has a broken wrist, said he can still play the ukulele but not the guitar.
"The ukulele was my 11th instrument," Lewis said. During the Saturday set, Lewis played the accordion and bass as well as the ukulele. But only the ukulele draws a certain response. "Everybody smiles when they see the ukulele because it's cute," Lewis said.
"It's a great instrument for kids. The violin is so hard to start out on," Overton said. "A lot of my students have picked up the ukulele, oddly enough."
Overton teaches stage craft at Riverside High School in Durham, where another orchestra member, Sara Moore, a violinist, teaches strings.
Overton and a young boy, 13, that he mentors through the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization, spend time playing the ukulele together, he added.
The instrument comes in five sizes: sopranino, soprano, concert, tenor and baritone, with most sizes part of the Durham Ukulele Orchestra. Members decided to include other instruments to expand the group's range because as Overton put it, "Seven ukuleles all the time is seven ukuleles all the time."
Since they started only a year ago and it has taken a while to learn the 26 tunes currently in their repertoire, they haven't given many public performances so far. They played during a holiday home tour in Hillsborough and a "Bookulele" gig at High Strung at Halloween, Overton said.
They're currently "ramping up" their exposure with a blog and Facebook page and planning to give more performances, Overton added.
But they never plan to show up dressed the same -- such as wearing Hawaiian shirts and dresses. Billman usually wears a tuxedo shirt and bow tie, and the women tend to dress up more than the rest of the guys. "We wear collared shirts and try not to lower the property value," Overton said.
---
GO & DO
What: Durham Ukulele Orchestra performance
When: 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: UNC's Ackland Art Museum, 101 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill
Admission: Free
For more information: Call (919) 843-3676
Uke Jams: Free ukulele jam sessions, open to all levels of players, take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first and third Mondays every month at High Strung, 1116 Broad St., Durham. For more information, call (919) 286-3801.
Friday, April 4, 2008
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