Beatles and Stones Ukulele Night Slideshow

On September 28, the ukes came out for a night of Beatles and Rolling Stone covers at Wild Joe’s Coffee in downtown Bozeman. Emcee (pal/collaborator/arch-rival) Samuel Sveen warmed up the crowd with his inspiring original tune, “Let’s Have Fun.” Then, members of the Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret group opened the night with “Two of Us.”

A total of 15 performers churned out covers with vocal assistance and emphatic support from a packed house. A good share of the audience members came bearing ukuleles, which they put to good use on play-along songs like “Back in the USSR,” “A Little Help from My Friends,” “Honky Tonk Woman” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

After a huge night, the Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret street team plans to rest up for a few months before promoting another big event. (“Liking” the Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret on Facebook is a good way to stay in the loop about future developments.)

But never fear: Bozeman Ukulele Cabaret isn’t the only uke game in town. In fact, we have been nurturing a peaceful coexistence/collaborative pal/arch-rival relationship with Lamewavve Uke Group (who we readily admit are are younger, hipper, more energetic and better looking than the slackers behind the sluggish, unwieldy B.U.C. juggernaut), and those eager-beaver Lamewavvers are always cooking up new ways to get your uke out!

The Lamewavve Uke Group, hosted by Samuel Sveen, meets Wednesdays from 8-9pm in the Lamewavve co-op art/music/happening venue space located at the back alley exit of Wild Joe’s. Sam describes the uke group as “1/2 open mic, 1/2 learning, 1/2 book club,” which, when translated using the LWUG-to-BUC phrasebook, means it’s a low-key collaborative thing, open to input, energy and fun ideas. Find the Lamewavve facebook page for events and updates.

Okay! With no further ado, here are the pics from Beatles + Stones night! Huge thanks to everybody who came, helped out, supported the performers, and made it awesome!

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Woodshed Sheets for Uke Beatle+Stone Nite

We will have nifty play-along booklets on hand for folks who want to join the ukulele fun at Beatles and Stones Ukulele night this Friday, Sept. 28 from 7-9 pm at Wild Joe’s.

Here’s a PDF of the play-along songs, so you can practice a wee bit if you so desire. But don’t stress, man! It’s all good! It’s only a ukulele. Only four strings, what could go wrong? So you should come have fun, even if you don’t practice ahead of time.

To give credit where due, I found most of these arrangements at Ultimate Guitar.