This morning, I woke to find an email from Linda Williamson, LA Weekly blogger, linking to her fantastic story about the Bawdy LA event. She even captured our dirty little ditty, “Pussy Titty,” on video! We were told more than once that people wanted *more* uke! We hope to deliver, people.

If you’re in the Bay Area, come see us tomorrow night in San Francisco at Bawdy Storytelling SF: Libertine! We will, once again, be among incredible storytellers, including Xandir and Ouchy the Clown, and another dirty uker, Belinda Blair.

If you’re in sunny Southern California, and you want to see some pretty ridiculous uking and hear some pretty ridiculous stories, don’t miss this. Get your tickets here.

Bawdy Storytelling LA: CaliFornicatin’
Saturday, June 4th, 7pm
Abundant Sugar (in the Brewery Arts Complex)
618A Moulton Ave.
Los Angeles, 90031 (map)

You can listen to the piece here: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/15/136275956/a-secret-boxed-up-bazaar-of-fantastical-things

Hooray for spontaneous creativity. And a huge thanks to Absinthia for making it all happen, and Taco for showing up and entertaining the masses!

Photo by Athea

This Saturday, I cooked up a scheme with my friend Absinthia to entertain the masses at the amazingly wonderful, magical Lost Horizon Night Market in West Oakland. Organized by a fantastic team of pranksters and creators of ridiculous experiences, the Night Market is an event that originated in Brooklyn, NY, and has been held twice now in the Bay Area. (You can read about it in this NYT article by my friend, Jess Bruder.) Each time, in a secret location, an ordinary box trucks are turned into extraordinary worlds: a garden, a diner that serves you macaroni and cheese with attitude, a western saloon, a dream library, and, in our case, an absinthe and ukulele speakeasy.

I wasn’t sure what would happen when we threw this idea together at the last minute on Thursday afternoon. It all came together in the most magnificent way. Our friend, Jonny, built us a bar on Friday afternoon. Three other friends — Brian, Aaron & Jess — helped paint it to make it pretty. Fabric was purchased. Water and sugar procured. And dozens of bottles of Absinthia’s artisanal and organic homemade absinthe were piled into the truck. In under a couple of hours, we transformed our 14′ box truck into a gorgeous little bar. In no time at all, it was packed to the gills with imbibers of absinthe singing their hearts out to “Pussy Titty,” “The Speculum Song” and our very own dirty version of “Sweet Caroline.”

The beginning of the evening was spent playing with my dear friend, CTP, him on his baritone uke and me on my concert. Our hostesses were amazing! Athea and Jess tamed the the masses in line outside our speakeasy and entertained them with their vivacious beauty. And just when I thought it couldn’t get better, Taco showed up, and we played our dirty songs outside the truck with a hundred people singing along with us. The night was pretty darn perfect.

At one point, while packed in tight and playing the uke, I noticed a guy in the corner with some recording equipment. At the end of the song, he interviewed me. Turns out, that guy was Jon Kalish, a Manhattan-based NPR reporter who produces lots of stories about art, culture, and DIY-related stuff. Though he likely can’t get our songs on the radio, we’re hoping we end up in his piece about the event anyway. We hear it may end up on this coming Sunday’s Weekend Edition.

You’ll be able to catch up with us again at Bawdy Storytelling on May 11th and May 24th! Check out our performances page for details.

xoxo
prom night

Not only can you watch us and learn a little bit about Bawdy, you can relish in every single storyteller from that night! Fantastic. Thanks, Maureen Blennerhassett, for a great post.

Our song, “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian,” is an adaptation of John Prine’s song by the same title. You can watch his version here. As is our way, we made it a little sillier and a lot dirtier. Thanks to Evan Karp for capturing it! We hope you like it.

We’ve made a pact to step up our game with this uke business. So, look out. Just when you thought we couldn’t get any more adorable…

xoxo
prom night