Performers
Alan Drogin
Alan Drogin co-founded in 1985 the premier ukulele rock band Songs From A Random House. In their twenty years they have toured across the nation, performed on radio (including NPR's New Sounds, Weekend Addition and Mountain Stage), recorded for the soundtrack to "Raising Arizona", and produced various recordings (including 2 CDs, "Random Numbers", and "gListen"), and was featured in the documentary "Rock That Uke".
Alan Drogin studied composition with Joan Tower, performed for choreography and musical theater, and has also played in the bands of Ottmar Liebert, Walter Thompson, Frank London, Jim Leff, Tom Chapin, and Uke Jackson.
Andru Cann
Andru Cann is a native of Manchester, England. He started playing music at a tender age with the rock groups "Life" and "Tin Biscuit". Andru toured and performed on albums for The Kinks, Peter Frampton and Uriah Heep. He currently works with Sony recording artist Shalaine Adams and "Saturday Night Fever" star Karen Lynn Gorney.
Andru's latest solo project is the musical "Albert and Alice", based on Andrew's early experiences (real or imagined) living on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Andru says he has undergone a mystical awakening that includes becoming aware of telepathic powers, automatic writing, speaking in tongues, and befriending his own archangel.
Andru mostly plays keyboard these days, but has recently rediscovered his childhood fascination with the Ukulele.
Ballard C Boyd
Born in Louisville, KY and raised south of Nashville, TN, Ballard C. Boyd is a product of the American South. He began directing short films in high school, where his work played in numerous film festivals, as well as on HBO Family in 2000. He attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where he graduated magna cum laude in 3 1/2 years with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production.
He is a member of the comedy group Secret Circus, along with Emerson alumni Dave Burdick and Elisha Yaffe, where he works as director, writer, and official “third guy”.
He currently lives in Harlem, New York, and he plays the ukulele.
Carmen Borgia
Carmen first picked up the ukulele with the Dixon Place Ukulele Ensemble around 1987. He learned a Doug Skinner song and Also Sprach Zarathustra (AKA the theme from 2001). A couple of years later his best buddy Ed sent him a Martin soprano uke as an incentive to strum and it's been love ever since.
He has written music for film, theater and just for the pure hell of it. He was a founding member of the group Orson Welk and was composer-in-residence at the Western Stage in Salinas, California. He composed underscore for Kriota Wilberg's film The Bentfootes and In 2007 he created his first animation for one of his own songs, It's Love Boys, which features the baritone uke. He is at work on more animations, including a feature length musical, South.
He currently runs the sound department at DuArt Film & Video where he instigates sound designs and composes music and figures out how to make it all sound right.
Charlie & Nancy
Nancy and Charlie (wife and husband) have been playing together for three years-the same amount of time they have known each other. They met playing music and the music plays on. Nancy was into old timey music and folk. Charlie was into standards, swing and originals. They learned each others music and now we have swingy-old timey-folkie. We are currently working out some foreign language songs such as Le Feuilles Mortes and Anama e Core. We search for timeless tunes.
Chris Combs
Chris Combs is a "post-punk experimental" musician, but is also known to pen some weepy emo crap from time to time. He can play any instrument he picks up, but when we're talking about playing well, the options narrow greatly. Often taking on ridiculous song-writing challenges, he is a wildly prolific outsider artist (like Daniel Johnston, but without the commercial appeal).
Colin Manuel
Colin Manuel was inspired to uke stardom by Navin Johnson's soul-stirring rendition of "Tonight You Belong To Me" in the critically acclaimed 1979 motion picture, "The Jerk." Much like Navin,
Colin employs his team of ukes in long strums on Boston-area beaches, beer gardens and bars. A Kansas native, Colin is the fifth wheel of the newly formed N.E. Uke Orchestra that is set to sweep through New England like a five-wheeled Ferrari of rock.
Craig Robertson
Boston ukulele impresario and singer/songwriter Craig Robertson explores the darker side of this diminutive instrument. Since 2004 he has put on the popular cabaret show “Ukulele Noir” throughout New England. Robertson presents a mix of vintage and original tunes; his own songs explore stories of hypnotism, murder and dancing bears.
Dana McCoy
Dana's love affair with music, film and theatre seemed to begin when she did. Ballet classes, city choruses, community theatre led to North Carolina School of the Arts High School of Ballet, Boston Conservatory Musical Theatre Program, and finally Berklee College of Music.
After graduation Dana moved to Detroit, and from Detroit, she made her way to Manhattan. Her first New York Rock band was supported by Hilly Krystal of CBGB's. Later, Dana opted to open her own production company, Featherweight Productions. Early in the new Millenium she wrote, and produced a Rock Musical called Prom Queens.
Dana is now in production on the next Rock Musical, Cube Rat.
David Hornbuckle
M. David Hornbuckle is a writer and songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama. He currently lives in Manhattan and leads the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra.
D'yan Forest
Cabaret singer, D'yan Forest has performed for years in clubs throughout Europe and across America. She sings in French, croons in Italian, dabbles in Irish, serenades in Spanish and polkas in German. While piano is her mainstay, she loves playing 7 other instruments including the glockenspiel and ukulele. Her singing and acting career has taken her to stages in New york as well as 2 different films (including getting to wheel Brando around.) A woman of 9 lives, she recently began a comedy career and takes here ukulele with her everywhere she goes.
Whether at Carolines, Mo Pitkins, Don't Tell Mama, the Duplex, or at Ukulele Cabaret, audiences thrill to her delightful and risque humor.
East Boston Makeout Club Band
Since 2006, The East Boston Make-Out Club Band has been rocking the clubs, bars, and other local hang-outs of Greater Boston and beyond. EBMOCB features the musical talents of Davina Yannetty (lead vocals, ukulele, melodica, and hand percussion) and Heather Mumford (backing vocals, guitar, and hand percussion). Their brand of comical acoustic rock has been heard at establishments such as TT the Bear's Place, The Phoenix Landing, The Bell In Hand Tavern and All Asia. Central Mass has also played host to the quirky duo at Worcester's Hotel Vernon and Ralph's Chadwick Square Rock Club.
Greg Hawkes
As keyboardist for The Cars, Greg Hawkes pushed the limits of available technology and sequencing helping to forge the sound of the 80's. His signature sounds include the Prophet V Touch Sync sound heard on Let's Go and Hello Again as well as arpegiated and syncopated synth lines such as on Shake it Up and Heartbeat City.
During the last two years has been performing in a series of Ukulele Noir concerts around Boston and the East Coast.
Ian Schwartz
Ian Schwartz may not be the world's tallest ukulele player, but he is the tallest in Cambridge, MA, so that's worth something, right? The 25-year-old Berklee alumnus and New Jersey native has been performing originals and covers in the Boston area since 2000. Whether on the streets of Boston or the stage in New York City, Ian is known for high energy performances. But don't look too long or you might just forget about your boyfriend...
Hailey Wojcik
“Similar to a female Conor Oberst – with a ukulele… The newest genius of the music scene.” – Playback stl Magazine
Indie singer-songwriter Hailey Wojcik first picked up the ukulele while on a family trip in Hawaii three years ago, and despite battling second-degree burns from the sun, which she got while surfing, it was love at first sight. Hailey had been performing as a singer-songwriter guitarist/pianist for five years before incorporating the ukulele into her act.
Her fourth, and most recent CD, Jealous Sees, features several ukulele songs, and has attracted attention of many uke blogs as well as national attention from the press, festivals and college radio.
Hailey has long been a fixture in the Michigan music scene, and her popularity is quickly spreading as she tours throughout the country and continues to perform in her new home, the ukulele Mecca of the Northeast, New York City.
Jamie Scandal
Okay, the name is intriguing. It's cool, mysterious. I mean life is NOTHING without a hint of scandal, right ?
Jamie began sewing her "scandalous" ways in Philadelphia, where a creative spark seized her soul and psyche. It turned her onto art, writing, and music and a move to the Big Apple's Upper West Side.
Don't let her desperate love of karaoke fool you - she's sung with prominent Jazz outfits like "Jasafar" serving up some original urban rock and blues in a band called "Spellbound" and played in a heavy metal band by the name of "Evil-kitty". No joke. She even did a rock opera about the assassination of JFK while fronting a band called Death of the Party. She also wrote, directed, and starred in her own One Woman Show last year called "AMERICAN SURVIVOR".
Jamie Scandal is the new voice-to-be-reckoned with. She's cute, fun-loving - digs Blondie, Mr. Bungle, and Pee-Wee Herman bicycles (fast ones!). but oh! what a voice!
Jason Escape
Getting tied in endless amounts rope, escaping from tiny locked boxes, and suspending himself upside-down while high in the air in a Straight Jacket. These are a few of the talents of Jason Escape. Everything he does is designed to make you laugh as well as freak you out You will leave his show truly amazed.
Jason Escape's performances are individually tailored to the venue and type of event, ensuring that each show is received as unique and personal.
Jason has performed worldwide at Festivals, Universities, Fairs, Hotels, Resorts, Corporate and Non-corporate events, Town and City Celebrations and much more.
Jason Maniscalco
Jason likes to play the Ukulele. It's fun! It's almost as good as eating Gummi Bears and Pie! Hooray for the Ukulele! Hooray!
Jazz Ukes
One of the original, regular members of Ukulele Noir. Mark's website is dedicated to his music, instructional videos and materials. A highly accomplished ukulele player, he is an enthusiastic performer and supporter of ukulele music worldwide.
Jim Berkeley
For years, one my favorite things to do was to fish my ass off all day long in Maine and then listen to the Sox on the radio at night. A couple innings on the drive home from the woods and then the rest in camp. Radio never had any of the bullshit commercials or windbag announcers that the nationally televised games have today. There was also many many great Sox who were just as good at fishing as they were at baseball. But when it got cold it was football time.
Good old time America - Big Hands, Little Frets.
Jon Braman
Dubbed the "father of ukulele hip hop" by the Washington City Paper in 2006, Jon Braman is a rapper-songwriter with a story to tell. Jon's music gives people something they don't quite expect, but are surprised to immediately dig. Folkies and indie rockers vibe with the living-room aesthetic, hip hop heads and poets get hooked on the flow, and no one expects a ukulele to provide such driving, even danceable accompaniment. Jon isn't trying to be weird, just doing what he can't stop doing: writing and performing songs. It just happens that his sound of choice is an organic funk centered around a baritone ukulele he found in the garbage, and his delivery of choice is a flow of of rhymes about growing up, love, injustice, and eco-cataclysm. As a recent review on NBC4.com put it, "Imagine Outkast had a baby, and it was Jimmy Buffet."
The last two years have seen Jon performing at clubs, bars, rallies, living rooms,bookstores and colleges in DC, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Boston, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, North Carolina, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Minnesota.
Jon just released a new album - 'Climatastrophunk'.
John Kavanagh
I've played since the Great Uke Boom in Halifax in the seventies, and learned - as did so many Canadians - through the program started by J. Chalmers Doane. I play upright bass, viola da gamba, and uke professionally, and sometimes guitar and banjo. I play jazz, pop, folk, and classical music on the ukulele, with a love of hot jazz and songs of the 20's. My heroes are Johann Sebastian Bach, Django Reinhardt, and Cliff Edwards. I play a lovely rebuilt tenor/baritone in lowbass D tuning, and also a little soprano in highbass C and a Venezuelan cuatro.
Katie Down
Katie Down, composer, sound artist, and multi-instrumentalist (flute, ukulele, voice, percussion, bass, guitar, homemade instruments) has created and performed numerous sound scores for theatre and dance companies and international festivals throughout the U.S. and Eastern and Western Europe working collaboratively with theatre and film directors, choreographers, writers, painters, dancers, and of course other musicians.
Katie performs in many different genres including jazz and free improvisation, Sephardic songs from the Balkans with her group Adelantre, and swing music from the 20s and 30s with ukulele trio The Ukuladies.
Khabu
Khabu began twanging on a toy ukulele as a young boy. When the instrument disappeared from sight and mind, a long period of emptiness and vacancy began. And then one fine summer day in Bozeman MT, many years later, Harold presented a baritone ukulele to Khabu at a family gathering. Harold (Khabu’s wife’s grandfather) became herald to a new multi-colored age of minstrel-dom for ‘Bhu’. Bhu spent many long summer days uking around his East Village neighborhood gardens. He continues to improvise, compose, arrange/derange, and teach (much like he did in his ‘days of yore’); but now he is fully armed with several different ukuleles!
Bhu works with many styles of music - collaborating with musicians, actors, dancers, poets, visual artists, performance artists, and generally anyone possessing a taste for creative adventure.
Khabu recently received a Sabbatical Program grant from the Armour Foundation, where he composed over 10 new pieces for solo ukulele. He is currently making plans to release a live solo concert DVD featuring this new body of work.
He is a founding partner of the Creative Music Workshop.
Lloyd United
Lloyd Gold is the energetic singer, songwriter and ukulele artist who fronts the uke rock band Lloyd United. A ukulele player since age 8 and a regular performer at The New York Ukulele Cabaret, International Pop Overthrow and Block Island Music Festival, Lloyd's distinctive music has been featured in two films, "I'll Bury You Tomorrow" and "Blood Shed." An international entertainer whose artwork and uke stylings were featured on NPR's "Metro Connections," Lloyd has also performed with the New Jersey Arts Collaborative at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick and Hoboken's SWEAT Dance Festival.
The Mad Tea Party
Mad Tea Party brews up roots music and rock 'n' roll to create a fresh and intoxicating sound. Collaborators Ami Worthen (vocals, ukulele) and Jason Krekel (vocals, guitar, fiddle) have managed to forge their own postmodern path, taking elements of early stringband styles, psychedelia and vintage rock 'n' roll to create something entirely unique. Their lyrics offer clever commentary on love, life, death and the music business. Their vocals, painted across a backdrop of trippy, indie, artful music, give the thought-provoking, smile-inducing Mad Tea Party an edge.
Mary Martin Schaefer
Having studied under the progenitor of the North Atlantic ukulele school through most of her teenage years in Nova Scotia, Mary J. Martin has continued on with the same German concert ukulele. She is the Ukulele Player at Large for the Scandelles of Toronto, and plays jazz viola. She has performed with The Dears, The Collosal Egos, and Deerhunter, among other Montreal bands.
A regular at the New York Ukulele Cabaret and Ukulele Noir, she recently premiered Mary's Ukulele Show, broadcast over WOMR.org. An original composer, currently she is exploring electric ukulele.
She has produced two ukulele cds,the more recent of which, The Sleepy Ukulele, is available on CD Baby.
Meaghan Farrell
Meaghan started playing uke the summer of 2005. It was all inspired by her cousin Emily. Emily ran around the house with a broken ukulele screaming "Back to the Islands", that moment inspired her to play the ukulele. As soon as she began writing songs she got the chance to perform them with the Ukulele Disco. She has been writing songs ever since that first performance with Sonic Uke at a tiki lounge in the East Village.
Her style is generally inspired by crazy experimental music and standard blues and The Beatles and everything else she's ever listened too.
Meaghan's performance ukulele is named "Moscada" which means nutmeg in spanish. Her other less prominent ukes are a white one "Nancy" (named for Sinatra), "George" (her first one named after the master G. Harrison), "Ernie" (b/c she wanted to name it Ernie), "Annecy" (a green uke named for her friends in France), and "Lemily" (a purple one named after her cousin who inspired the uke craze).
Michael Wagner
Ukuleles can do some surprising things if you hit them just right. In fact, everything you're hearing percussion-wise on my recordings (minus the occasional washboard) is the ukulele, without overdubbing. It's a technique I fell into one summer day while writing a spoof Led Zepplin song about hobbits. Through a series of happy accidents the spoof evolved into Spooky Uke, which is not a spoof but a very serious song about the very real-life problems of farmers being attacked by the undead, or possibly aliens, or maybe undead aliens. You could even say that the song is really symbolic of small farmers being driven out by the agro-industrial complex. You could say that, I wouldn't mind.
The Moonlighters
The Moonlighters have been a part of the New York City jazz and pop music scenes since they formed in 1998. Based around a core of harmonized vocal duets backed by warm acoustic instruments including Hawaiian lap steel guitar, ukulele, guitar and bass, they explore traditional and classic tunes with a unique, romantic approach that is appealing to listeners of all ages.
Their original songs encompass many styles of 20th Century jazz and pop: ragtime, swing, Hawaiian, country, blues, and even be-bop flavors can be found among their recordings. They list among their influences Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, the Boswell Sisters, Sol Hoopii, King Bennie Nawahi, Annette Hanshaw, Al Bowlly, George and Ira Gershwin, and many more illustrious entertainers from the golden age of popular music, when tunes on the radio held appeal for every member of the listening audience.
Norm Reim
Norman Reim is new to the uke, but he has been in love with music making for most of what we fondly call adulthood. He played with the country-rock band Ned in the early 1970s and more recently in this area with a number of local musicians, providing and receiving support. His main love is writing songs, and if he could get some more accomplished players to work various pieces of that material into their repertoires, he would be content.
New York Ukulele Meetup Group
Let's meet, play, teach and talk story! Let's hear some ideas on where, when, etc. on anything and all that is ukulele.
The New York Ukulele Meetup Group meets Wednesday evenings at Lotus Music and Dance Studios.
Bring 2-3 pieces of music to share with others, and your ukuleles!
Patsy Monteleone
Patsy Monteleone began his career in music at age 3 when he stood up on the bar at a tavern in New York's Little Italy and sang Neapolitan love songs for his paisans. Patrons would throw him nickels and dimes. Once, a miserly elder tossed Patsy a quarter (a lot of money for the old cheapskate), which prompted gasps of amazement among the bar crowd.
These days, Patsy plays and sings hundreds of his own arrangements of songs from great 20th Century writers such as Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, and Duke Ellington. But that's not all: any of Patsy's musical sets is likely to include a mix of cowboy songs, novelties, blues, Tin Pan Alley favorites, '50s pop ballads, show tunes, old-timey, folk, Hawaiian numbers, originals, and early rock & roll.
Someone once labeled Patsy the "George Van Eps" of the ukulele, because of his easy-sounding, fluent playing manner. In actuality, Patsy is a self-taught musician who doesn't read music much but who has a natural stage attitude, superb singing voice, and unique ukulele style that delights audiences of all kinds.
Paul Unkert
Paul is a well-known luthier out of Toms River, NJ. He's been making a line of ukuleles lately - playing in a jazz/pop style on his custom tenor ukulele.
Reggie Wingnutz
Reggie Wingnutz - Super-duper- mod Rock Star, whose meteoric rise to fame in the late 60’s is legendary. After a mysterious disappearance from the scene from the mid 70’s till quite recently, he’s back - and looking barely a day older than when he left. Stay tuned as the mystery unravels....In the meantime come rock with him!
Rich Leufstedt
Professional Ukaholic and outstanding performer ! Rich Amazing Dick Leufstedt has learned to push the envelope of Ukulele music ! It all began 11 ukes ago and a desire to entertain people in a way thats not what they expect when they think of the ukulele. Imagine The Clash meeting Pete Seeger with some Snoop Dogg thrown in for street cred. So word to your mother ! Come check out my gigs and listen to my songs !
Rush Kress
Returning to the land of his birth in 1995, he set out one day to buy a trumpet but came back with a ukulele instead. Now he's back and ready to rock! Fuck yeah! (Sorry girls, he's married.)
Sonic Uke
Sonic Uke is the New York ukulele duo of Ted Gottfried and Jason Tagg, joined now by Alan Drogin, Mike Bellusci and recently Beth Roberts on percussion. The band also collaborates with Howie Leifer, Marlon Cherry and Koven Smith.
In the summer they play on their Village stoop or at the beach. In the winter they play anywhere warm with beer.
They performed frequently with the late great transgendered punk ukulele star (and Ratcage label creator) Donna Lee.
Sonic Uke are the hosts of New York's monthly Ukulele Cabaret, and perform at the city's annual Uke Drop.
Uke Box
After the break up of the Zaagmolen Band in the spring of 2005* we, Marko van der Horst & Shelley Rickey, had a musical breakdown… (*our fiddle player impregnated a Fin…he has since immigrated to Helsinki. Musicians are fertile….it happens) …Until, on a whim we bought two ukuleles at Japies Accordeon Palace. Well, within a month we were on stage as 'The Uke Box'. Of course, it was quite, shall we say, experimental, in the beginning. But since this time we have developed quite an eccentric little act comprised of nostalgic tunes and off-beat theatrics. Besides Ukuleles we also use and abuse a Banjolele, a Child Prodigy Midget Accordion, a Washtub Bass and a Toy Piano. Our mission is to create the best damn show ever that fits into just one traveling trunk!
The Ukulele King
Ed White, The Ukulele King of The Cantab, has been performing for over 3 years. You can find him every Monday night at The Cantab Lounge in Cambridge playing new music all the time. Ed's simple, uke-based music and up-beat lyrics will bring a room to life with high energy and enthusiasm.
Ukulele Man
Tom Harker (the "Uke Man") started performing his original material solo and soon was opening for the likes of Brave Combo, the Asylum Street Spankers, Mojo Nixon, and Leon Redbone.Along the way, he built a band, "Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons."
Besides Uke Man solo appearances all over the country, the band plays night clubs and festivals in the central Ohio area, and have toured New York, Boston, and Santa Cruz. Two CD's have resulted - SumoNinjaLele and Crazy Old World - a third is under construction.He's appeared in the film Man of Faith, the short film Auraprint, and in a stage production, Dr. Danga Grimaldi's Exhibition Fantastique.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/kofcartoons1
Victoria Vox
Victoria Vox may not have had much of an audience as a 10-year-old, but that didn’t stop her from writing and recording her first songs in her bedroom in small-town, Wisconsin. Vox has always known it was her destiny to perform, but didn’t find her true voice in performing until after tackling a Casio keyboard, violin, oboe, trumpet, guitar, bass and now, ukulele.
In February of 2006, Vox released Victoria Vox and Her Jumping Flea to rave reviews. On her first Hawaiian tour in support of the album, Vox was offered sponsorship by KoAloha Ukuleles out of Honolulu. Jumping Flea has been featured on NPR’s “To the Best of Our Knowledge”, the song “America” was used on A&E’s Random 1 and indie film “Lost in Woonsocket”, and “My Darlin’ Beau” was awarded runner-up in the International Acoustic Music Awards. She also received ASCAPlus awards for being an active writer outside of broadcast media.
In the spring of 2008, Vox released her follow-up album, Chameleon, and for the first time, mixed her ukulele ditties with the guitar songs on one album. Now, for the past 4 years, Vox has been performing full-time across the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Western Europe.
Zack Root
Born in a rather large shoe located in Shullsbury, MA, Zack took to the streets at an early age, selling his body under the name of Romaine. While living amongst the transients, a hard edged education in the dark art of Ukulele was inevitable. While performing his dirges to the horrified upper crust, he was soon noticed (and avoided) by the most notable names. He can often be found penning black verse on the back of soup can labels in the unforgiving back alleys of Lowell. Likes: Music. Dislikes: Musicians.