Interview Inside Denver UkeFest 2011

It is finally time to get the ukulele jokes, puns (e.g. Duke Uke ’Em, Uke-atan Peninsula, Cool Hand Uke, Marma-uke, et al), and stereotypes out of your system. That’s right; shake ’em out good, because Denver UkeFest 2011 (Feb. 4-5) is part of a nationwide push to, as Gordon Mayer of Mya-Moe Ukuleles says, get ukuleles recognized as “serious instruments for serious fun.” The festival includes a showing of the uke documentary Mighty Uke, workshops, group jams, custom ukulele builders, sing- and strum-alongs, raffles, a free recording studio. Pretty much the only thing you won’t be able to do is play the riff from “Stairway To Heaven” on your big, clunky guitar. Wrong festival, dude. 

So seriously: Don’t sleep on the tiny, tot-sized instrument, lest you get left behind in Tiny Tim Land with the rest of the suckers. The A.V. Club conversed with festival participants Danielle Anderson (Danielle Ate The Sandwich), Michael Schenkelberg (director of the music school at Swallow Hill and the Denver UkeFest), Gordon Mayer (who runs Mya-Moe Ukuleles), and Aaron Keim (Boulder Acoustic Society) to get the story on Denver UkeFest 2011, ukuleles, and the people who love them. 

The A.V. Club: Tell us a little bit about your history with the ukulele and how you came to play it. 

Gordon Mayer: I used to build guitars. Moe Dixon, who owns guitar No. 3, asked me to build a uke for him in January 2008. I laughed and told him I only build serious instruments. Besides, I couldn’t spell “ukulele” and certainly had never used it in a sentence. We researched it overnight and decided to build him one. It’s been two-and-a-half years since we delivered the first one, and we have delivered 350 instruments and have 70 on order.

Aaron Keim: I used to work at HB Woodsongs music store in Boulder. I was mostly playing the upright bass at the time and was sick of dragging it around. The store had a lovely ukulele from the 1930s, made by the Martin company, on the wall. I used to play it when no customers came in. 

Danielle Anderson: I received my first ukulele as a gift from a friend. He left it on my doorstep as a doorbell-ditch present. I had been playing his, and I’m sure he was sick of it, so he got me one of my own. I thumbed around it, and then wrote my first song, and then wrote enough songs to make a CD, and then, eventually, it replaced my guitar.

Michael Schenkelberg: I lived in Hawaii a few years back and bought one as novelty in the ABC store—their version of Wal-Mart—for about $25.

AVC: Why the ukulele? Such a big festival for a teeny instrument ...

MS: We believe that everyone can and should play music, and we have championed the ukulele as the instrument of the people. 

AVC: How will Denver UkeFest be different from other music festivals, besides the preponderance of ukes, of course?

MS: It is important for people to actually participate instead of be passive. They get to learn, play, sing, meet, and interact with the bands ... and see an amazing concert that is driven by collaboration.

AVC: Have you ever wished your uke were a little bigger, so you could hide behind it onstage?

DA: No, I don’t want to hide onstage. I want everyone to look at me and listen to me and love me. I sometimes like that the uke is so small, so that I can stick out from behind it better. I often tell my uke, “Girl, you’re amazing, just the way you are.”

AVC: Why not just play guitar like a “normal” musician?

DA: It’s been a really good attention-getter. It pulls people in, it’s a thing to add to the “quirky and cute” list I sometimes get put on. I’d like to give it more credit than just being a novel tool to lure people in, though. Sometimes when I play guitar, I worry every song I write sounds like a song that’s already been written, or one I’ve already written, or like a Christian rock song. I find more paths to take with the ukulele. Maybe someday I’ll get tired of it and move on to a different instrument, but for now we’re very happy together, and no one can take our love away.

MS: It’s irresistible, even to hesitant non-musicians. It’s [also] small and very portable. I often travel with it and take it directly on the airplane, and play it on the airplane. I was once bumped up to first-class because I played a few songs for passengers by the request of the flight staff.

GM: Why not play both?

AVC: Have you always played uke, or have you switched back and forth?

DA: Ukulele has replaced my guitar as the primary instrument I write my songs on, and it’s one I pick up when I’m fooling around and trying to learn the newest Taylor Swift song.

AK: I am always switching around.

AVC: Are there differences equipment- or cost-wise between the ukulele and other instruments?

DA: I’m not a big gear and equipment and instrument person. I just do what I do and know what I know, but I know a lot more about uke than I do guitar. And when I see ukuleles for sale in a picture or in real life, they make me drool more than the guitars for sale do. A woman wants what she wants, ya know? 

MS: You can buy a really decent instrument for less than $150, one that stays in tune, has a good tone, and feels good to play. Just stay away from buying instruments that typically sell for less than $45. They are usually toys, and will be very difficult to play on. You can also find really high quality “professional” instruments for $2000 or $3000.

AVC: Is there a certain vocal style that fits well with the uke?

DA: Well, I think my voice fits very well with the uke. I would describe it as jazzy at times, clear and crisp, straightforward, with not too many fancy doodads and la-di-dahs. I think a lot of voices sound good with the uke though, small voices especially. The uke doesn’t overpower like the guitar often does. 

AVC: What musical styles, in your mind, work best on a uke?

DA: Since jazz can be sad or happy, lovey-dovey and cutesy, or melancholy, the uke works well covering all of those options.

AK: It depends on your musical taste. I have heard it all on the ukulele, and I really do mean all.

AVC: Why is the ukulele so popular of late?

MS: The ukulele finally grew up and had enough people take an interest in it, much like the microbrew movement, both of which are here to stay. It’s irresistible, even to hesitant non-musicians. People just feel compelled to play it when you put it in their hands, even if they have never played an instrument before. I take [mine] into bars and start sing-alongs with strangers.

AK: Simple, fun, portable, charming, accessible, etc.

DA: There’s not a lot of pressure. You can pick one up for $60, learn three chords really easily, and feel like you’ve done something! I feel like a lot of instruments are so big and scary and expensive and difficult, and the people who play them are elitists and full of bullshit. The uke is just there. You can do a lot with it, or you can just strum it a few times. I think the ukulele community and the ukulele itself are really nice and really unpretentious. Come to think of it, maybe that’s my favorite thing about playing the ukulele. 

AVC: How far away is the human race from experiencing a face-shredding ukulele solo? 

AK: It happens all time. Jake Shimabukuro, James Hill, Matt Dahlberg ... Get on YouTube and check it out!

DA: 3...2...1... Psych. It’s gotta happen before 2012, right?

AVC: Why are uke players so obsessed with puns?

GM: I hate the puns.

DA: Eh, I’m not a fan of puns. Danielle Ate The Sandwich is not the most dignified of names, I understand, but at least it’s not a play on words. I think the uke is cute, and cute names are cute, and if someone is really playing the ukulele and wants everyone to know that just by seeing their name once, the pun band name is really working for them.

AK: I have always wondered the same thing.

AVC: What’s your favorite musical moment involving ukulele?

DA: I saw James Hill do a cover of Billy Jean on the ukulele, using a plastic comb and some other weird things to make it sound like a dance club. It was one of the few times I stopped what I was doing (making fake mustaches) and stood up and just stared at him and was all, “OH MY GOD!”

AVC: Finally, what should people expect when they walk into Denver UkeFest 2011?

MS: Expect to love it. It is one of the most unique festivals in Colorado, and in the country, and it is one of the most accessible. At any moment you can turn a corner and see 15 ukulele players in a group, super excited about what they just learned. That group might include a teenager, one of the touring artists, a 65-year-old, a dad and his young daughter. You can be completely interactive or just come to see the concert. And for those of you who have never gone or don’t play an instrument, we have free loaner ukuleles for anyone who needs [them]. This is the type of event you tell everyone for the next 10 years that you went to, and it’s an instant conversation. And, in the words of filmmaker Tony Coleman (Mighty Uke), “Music self-played is happiness self-made.”