“Under The Boardwalk: A Ukulele Love Story” (Nina Koocher Films)

Way back in March, 2011, I posted a review of a DVD entitled ”Mighty Uke”, a paean to the ukulele and its marvelous comeback in the 21st Century - http://genecdvd.blogspot.com/2011/03/mighty-uke-amazing-comeback-of-musical.html - In my haste to crowd as much as possible into a manageable space, I did not at that time make reference to the world’s largest ukulele club, the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz (California). I now have a chance to rectify that omission, by telling you about another, equally entertaining uke film, “Under The Boardwalk”, devoted specifically to the Santa Cruz organization.

There are a few spots where this film (understandably) overlaps the other, in giving you a brief look at the instrument’s history and modern-day popularity, and offering additional glimpses into a few of the same people you saw in “Mighty Uke” (most notably the now-deceased Bill Tapia, seen performing with amazing dexterity at age 97). But this is very definitely a film about a specific group of people, focusing on specific members and their unique personalities (musically and otherwise), rather than treading over the same ground the earlier film explored so well..

It is to be expected that a film about a ukulele club would feature the ukulele, and of course it does. But filmmaker Nina Koocher realized that the people who play an instrument are just as important to her story as the instrument itself. So we’re given ample chance to meet a number of very interesting people with distinct personalities, but with a common musical interest - to promulgate the ukulele as an instrument people of all ages and states of well-being can have fun with in a social setting. Yes, there are collectors who show off their impressive collections of historical and unique instruments. Yes, there are performances by a number of well-known musicians, including singer-songwriter Jayme Kelly Curtis, 60’s-rockstar-turned-pop-music-historian Ian Whitcomb, guitarist George Kahumoku, and Herb Ohta, Jr., son of the famed Ohta-San, who brought the ukulele to worldwide, major-label audiences in the 1970’s.

But mostly we get to see just-plain-folks having fun playing the uke, regardless of their individual skill levels. In many cases, the skill level is quite high, but this is a club open to everybody, so members who merely strum along during the club’s entertaining sing-a-longs are just as welcome as those who can wow the crowds during the organization’s open jam sessions. And as we see people having fun, the infectious sounds they make encourage even the passive viewer to have fun along with them.

In case tou’re wondering wqy the film is entitled after a mid-60’s Drifters hit, the song has become one of the staples of the sing-a-longs. The members do a lot of Hawaiian songs as well, both from the islands and from Tin Pan Alley. But they certainly are open to all sorts of music, from Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Tommy James, even a “Hank Williams Night,” to pop songs of even earlier vintage. The idea, after all, is to have fun, not to be “ethnomusicologically correct”.

Of course, life is not always fun all the time. One of the most affecting segments is the memorial service for a key member of the club, Gene Galli, whom we first meet singing “On A Slow Boat To China” with his wife Emily. Galli also built a 12-foot pineapple-shaped ukulele for the express purpose of burning during the club’s “Burning Uke” ceremony, patterned after Nevada’s “Burning Man” ritual. So, it’s only appropriate that someone we see depicted as a colorful personality is memorialized by an event more celebratory than mournful. a surfboard-paddling service in which his ashes are dumped into the surf.

And that essentially sums up the club and, for the matter, the film - colorful, yet respectful of everyone present; lots of fun, but also thoughtful; championing an instrument and a laid-back way of life, but deserving of being taken seriously, albeit in a playful way. It’s a measure of the special qualities of this film that it makes me wish we had just such a ukulele club in MY town.

The main feature runs 74 minutes, but there is a generous offering of Bonus Features as well. Andy Andrews, who pretty much emerges as the main spokesman of the film (though certainly not the only major figure) discusses the derivation of the word “ukulele”. A couple members show us some of the more unusual items in their instrument collections, none perhaps as unusual as Ukulele Ray’s hand-crafted lunchbox ukes. And there are some fine performances, including Herb Ohta, Jr.’s full-length solo uke arrangement of “Over The Rainbow” (excerpted in the body of the film).

The DVD does not seem to be available through Amazon, which is instead selling a documentary by the very same title, about the game of Monopoly. I don’t doubt that’s a worthy film, too, but it has nothing to do with this film. Check out the ukulele “Under the Boardwalk” at http://www.NinaKoocherFilms.com

“Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback Of A Musical Underdog” (Tiny Goat Films)

As I was growing up in the continually expanding rock’n’roll eras of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, the ukulele had a pretty bad rap. For one thing, among rockers, the electric guitar was THE instrument of the moment, and the uke seemed hopelessly square. Second, it’s such a tiny thing and costs so little, who could take it seriously? Third, it conjured up images of slick-haired 1920’s frat boys in raccoon coats, as well as Arthur Godfrey, who may have been an entertaining t.v. host, but was no teenager’s idea of a hip musician. Then finally, along came Tiny Tim, and any residual interest in the ukulele was irrevocably destroyed. Or so it seemed at the time.

Forward to the end of the first decade of the 21st century. As I was expanding the number of areas of the globe covered in my “Musics of the World” course at SUNY Fredonia, and briefly discussing Hawaiian music in my “American Music” course as well, I noticed something unexpected. College students born around at the end of the 1980’s, primarily in the state of New York, professed to know who Bruddah Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole) was, though he died while they were in grade school. It was generally the case that “Over the Rainbow” was the only song they knew by him (which some students seemed to associate more with him than “The Wizard of Oz”), but they were conversant with - and had considerably high regard for - a musician who played the ukulele. Before long, Iz was joined in the next batch of students’ eyes by the great Jake Shimabukuro. Once again, they might only know one song (“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”), but at least they were giving serious props to a bona-fide ukulele innovator.

In other words, the ukulele is no longer in limbo. It can actually be considered a cool instrument by college students in the eastern US in the year 2011. Oh, yes, I still hear my fellow faculty members make derisive comments about the instrument - until I counter with Jake S., at which time they grudgingly nod assent. But attitudes are hard to change in academia. Perhaps they should all watch this marvelously entertaining and educational film, “Mighty Uke”, as fine a no-apologies-needed paean to a once-reviled musical instrument as you could hope to see.

You see, the Canadian filmmakers who put this 79-minute documentary together don’t simply take the ukulele seriously. Well beyond that, they love this instrument with a passion. The film is part history, part love letter, part demonstration of its capabilities, part tribute to many of the uke’s finest exponents, and part testimonial to how darn much fun it is to make music simply, easily, and without complication, using an instrument that my know-it-all Baby Boomer generation dismissed as something of a joke.

Watching this film, it is abundantly clear that during its long period in musical limbo, the ukulele underwent a tremendous expansion of stylistic possibilities and playing techniques. You may learn by strumming, you may also effectively accompany singing by strumming. But this is also an instrument that is capable of great subtlety, delicacy, creativity, and even complexity when melodic lines are skillfully plucked on it. It is worth noting that many of the players who are seen playing the instrument on-camera are likewise surprised to find how much pleasure they get playing the instrument, and how surprised a few are to discover they can actually make money doing so. Clearly this is a new Golden Era for what seems so humble an instrument, as well providing non-musicians (from schoolchildren to senior citizen groups) an outlet to begin expressing themselves in musical ways. Teachers, Recreation Directors, and Music Therapists might find many of these scenes to be quite eye-opening, and send Music Education in whole new directions. I don’t even play the uke, and have no need to proselytize for the instrument, but I find I’ve been inspired to talk about it to people in positions to expose it further.

Along the way, we see many shapes, sizes, and styles of ukulele, a much greater variety of options than the mini-guitar shape we generally think of when the instrument is mentioned. We get a compact history of Hawaiian music in general and the uke in particular, tracing its roots to the Portuguese braguinha (also the forerunner of the uke’s Brazilian cousin, the cavaquinho, which I thought might get more attention here, though it has never really gone out of fashion in samba circles), examining its early days in the Hawaiian islands, its inroads into mainland/mainstream American pop-culture during the early 20th century, and yes, the dark days of Tiny Tim. We also get to see rare ukes in the collection of the Honolulu’s famed Bishop Museum. We meet the author/compiler of a series of ukulele instruction books and songbooks.

And we get to see performances and interviews, lots of them. We see masters on various levels of accomplishment, such as the aforementioned Jake Shimabukuro, centenarian Bill Tapia (who talks about his early career; he’s been playing since 1915!!), the late John King, a fellow named Jon Braman who unexpectedly blends the ukulele with hip-hop, singer-songwriter Uni, the Boulder Acoustic Society, and Canadian groundbreaker James Hill. But we also get to see talented amateurs in large ensembles, in senior bands, a group of Israeli youth of both Jewish and Arab descent, and a high-school uke orchestra from British Columbia which tours Hawaii annually. Clearly this is an instrument which transcends musical, geographical, ethnic, political, and seemingly any other kind of barrier. But the point continues to be stressed that you don’t necessarily need to play with a high level of skill to enjoy the instrument, just a high level of enthusiasm.

In addition to the full-length film, there are no less than 10 short films with supplementary material. (Outtakes? No matter, they’re worth seeing.) We get to look at some vintage Martin ukes and learn how they were made. (Yes, that’s THE Martin Guitar company. During the depression, people couldn’t always afford a fine Martin guitar, but they were much more likely to afford a $5 uke.) We see some unusual looking ukuleles-as-art-objects, as an introduction to a Japanese artist/craftsman who fashions “ukuleles of the future”, amplified and with flashing lights. There are short profiles of a number of interesting performers playing a wide variety of musical styles. We are treated to some excellent live footage of the great uke master John King, who passed away in 2009, after carving out a unique position in the world of Hawaiian-rooted contemporary ukulele composition. And to top it all off, James Hill gives us an introductory uke lesson.

In all, this is a thoroughly delightful film, which should have great appeal well beyond the already converted uke community, and which will open the eyes of music lovers of many stripes. I seriously doubt you’ll find this at Wal-Mart, so I’d suggest you check it out at http://www.mightyukemovie.com