2008 Woodie Awards
In an Octopus' Garden
One musician's ukulele twist on the Beatles
Kiefer, Sally
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Community
Sounds like…Hawaii. Sounds like…a small stringed musical instrument. Sounds like Brook Adams playing the entire Abbey Road album on ukulele.
Lori Mellen came out with her young daughter to see Adams play last Friday night. "The ukulele is just fun. It can be serious, and it is in certain cultures and situations, but in this setting it's just fun," Mellen said.
Adams' ukulele was only hooked up to a 10"x12" amplifier. He had the volume up about halfway and still asked if it was too loud. He said loud wasn't the effect he wanted.
The concert was at Redwood Yogurt on G Street in Arcata, Calif. It is a plain-looking place with prints of large magnolia flowers on the faded dark red wallpaper. Couches, booths, and rows of random chairs faced toward the corner Adams played in.
"I decided to cover Abbey Road on ukulele because, well, it's trendy to do a cover of an entire album. But also it's like Kurt Vonnegut's 'Fahrenheit 451,' where people memorize whole books because books are outlawed," Adams said.
Adams, of Eugene, Ore., is not a large man and he looked at ease perched up on a stool with a ukulele held high against his chest. Both of his hands took up the length of the fret board.
He warmed up with the Rolling Stones' song, "19th Nervous Breakdown." The crowd was a hodgepodge bunch of older hippie-types, older straight-looking folks, college students, and a few kids.
Adams has short, grey hair, beard and wears glasses. He wore a pair of Birkenstocks with his black jeans and t-shirt for the show.
He asked the crowd if they'd like to get right to the Beatles or if they'd like to hear an original. No one said anything. He laughed and said, "Would you rather be drowned or crushed by a tree?"
His original was called "Tunnel of Sharks," about a cheap roadside amusement park he went to with his kids. The song was about the rounded plastic front on the shark aquarium that made the sharks look bigger. The last line of the song was, "Tunnel of sharks, tunnel of sharks, the world is a plastic bubble full of you and me."
Lori Mellen came out with her young daughter to see Adams play last Friday night. "The ukulele is just fun. It can be serious, and it is in certain cultures and situations, but in this setting it's just fun," Mellen said.
Adams' ukulele was only hooked up to a 10"x12" amplifier. He had the volume up about halfway and still asked if it was too loud. He said loud wasn't the effect he wanted.
The concert was at Redwood Yogurt on G Street in Arcata, Calif. It is a plain-looking place with prints of large magnolia flowers on the faded dark red wallpaper. Couches, booths, and rows of random chairs faced toward the corner Adams played in.
"I decided to cover Abbey Road on ukulele because, well, it's trendy to do a cover of an entire album. But also it's like Kurt Vonnegut's 'Fahrenheit 451,' where people memorize whole books because books are outlawed," Adams said.
Adams, of Eugene, Ore., is not a large man and he looked at ease perched up on a stool with a ukulele held high against his chest. Both of his hands took up the length of the fret board.
He warmed up with the Rolling Stones' song, "19th Nervous Breakdown." The crowd was a hodgepodge bunch of older hippie-types, older straight-looking folks, college students, and a few kids.
Adams has short, grey hair, beard and wears glasses. He wore a pair of Birkenstocks with his black jeans and t-shirt for the show.
He asked the crowd if they'd like to get right to the Beatles or if they'd like to hear an original. No one said anything. He laughed and said, "Would you rather be drowned or crushed by a tree?"
His original was called "Tunnel of Sharks," about a cheap roadside amusement park he went to with his kids. The song was about the rounded plastic front on the shark aquarium that made the sharks look bigger. The last line of the song was, "Tunnel of sharks, tunnel of sharks, the world is a plastic bubble full of you and me."
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