Scaramouche, Scaramouche, Will You Do The Uke Tango? | The Be Arthurs are very, very frightening indeed.
Edmonton Ukulele Festival
Sep. 11 (8 pm). New City Likwid Lounge (10080 Jasper Ave).
Admission by donation, proceeds benefit Ukuleles For Peace.
The ukulele has been getting a bad rap. But maybe that’s understandable. A plucked lute from Portugal stereotypically played by hotel-lounge Hawaiians and stringy-haired girly-men makes an easy target. Still in doubt? Here’s two words for you: Tiny Tim.
However, Edmonton-based ukulele rock gods The Be Arthurs are leading a massive underground rebellion to rehabilitate the humble ukulele. This September 11, Ryan Parker, Sheldon Elter, and Bob Rasko will be kicking off the inaugural Edmonton Ukulele Festival at Likwid Lounge.
“There’s a ukulele revolution going on,” Elter says. Sex, drugs, and cover songs are the order of the day for this band of mini-guitar heroes. “We’ve had panties thrown onstage once, but that was Bob who threw them from the back. But he’s having another child so the ukulele has got him laid at least once.”
Much like The Beatles, The Be Arthurs’ fanbase spans generations. Between the young teenyboppers who swoon every time the boys get behind their four-strings, there are geriatrics wetting their diapers with each rendition of Stan Jones’ “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”
“I’ve got a lot of [sexual] offers from 13-year-olds and 65-year-olds,” Parker says. “With the ukulele, you score big with the crowds 13 and under and 65 and up.” That’s some serious tail, and 20 years from now, ukulele naysayers will eat their words. Imagine an entire generation of ukulele love babies showing up on their doorstep screaming “Viva Shimabukuro!” (Too obscure? Sorry — Jake Shimabukuro is the quick-fingered ukulele legend from Pure Heart.) It will be a movement floating on the updrafts of George Harrison’s second wind. Long live The Beatles’ four-chord progressions, and God bless Justin Timberlake.
Still don’t believe? According to Jason Noice, night manager of Acoustic Music, local music stores have seen an explosion of demand for the instrument.
“There’s been a ukulele boom this year,” he says, “so we’ve actually expanded the ukulele section quite a bit. We have a few dozen instruments in right now.”
And the rise in demand for the ukulele has meant a grueling road schdule for The Be Arthurs. The touring life of a ukulele rock band is relentless: Camrose, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Spruce Grove — the list is long. But The Arthurs say their real bread and butter comes from performing uke-driven renditions of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” for the movers and shakers in Alberta’s economy. “We’re huge in the corporate world,” Elter says.
The group were lowly struggling actors until Parker stumbled onto the ukulele in 2003 while he was shopping for a small guitar. He fell in love with the tiny thing, and cajoled Elter into forming a band. Rasko joined later on under the condition that he play a tiny drum set. (“I went shopping mostly in toy stores looking for drums,” Rasko says.)
It would be naïve to think that listening to a ukulele cover-band could get old. The Arthurs add new material to their repertoire every month to keep fans on their toes (you might recognize these cats from their regular gig as the house band for the monthly Oh Susanna! variety show at the Varscona.) Most recently, they’ve added Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” to their arsenal. And from now until Christmas, travelers heading through Edmonton International Airport will have their socks rocked off each morning as they go through security. The band is also recording an album next week, which will be released along with a couple of videos by the end of the month.
Proceeds from the festival (which also features up-and-coming uke-wielders like The Burning Hell, Doug Hoyer, and Jill Pollock) will go to Ukuleles for Peace, a charitable organization that sends ukuleles overseas to promote peaceful coexistence between Jewish and Muslim communities. Seriously.
“We’re here to spread the love,” Parker says.
