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“My Dinner With Dave”(or “The King and I”)
For the past 20 years Dave King and I have been members
of C-U’s entertainment community as well as the local media.
I have spent the past two decades longing for the title “Smartass
Laureate” and wearing the “Johnny Bravo” suit in various
successful bands. Meanwhile, Mr. King (at one time best known
as “the guy in the banana suit on the quad”) has carved a niche
as one of the area’s most recognized illustrators and recently
began a run at ascending to the Holy Trinity of Downstate
Ukulele-ists (along with Bill “Williwaw” Whitmer and Ryan
“The Viper” Jerving). His “Bob and Dave” comic strip has
been indelibly etched on the local pop-culture landscape
and his new album – “The Duke of Uke” – is garnering national acclaim.

We figured the time was nigh to sit down, compare scars
and swap gossip over dinner. Seeking the atmosphere, ambiance
and tchotskes of a popular chain restaurant – but not the crowd –
we settled on “O.F.I. Mondays” (waitrons have no minimum piece
count on “flair”). Over a heaping plate of Southwest Chipotle Potato
Blintzes and a couple of pitchers of “Virgin Mudslides” and
“Long Island Lolita Iced Tea” (definitely not virgin) I learned
a bit the Duke, his uke and his muke…er,“music”.

“My songwriting has
increased tenfold since
taking up the uke,” King
mumbles while choking
back a forkful of Jack Daniels®
Blackened Kumquat Quesadillas.
“I realized what most people were doing was using the ukulele as a novelty
whereas I view it as a serious and versatile instrument.”

Between bites of my Jack Daniels® Blackened Fried Buffalo Mozzarella
Fingers I inquired as to whether Steve Martin’s duet with Bernadette
Peters (“Tonight You Belong To Me”) in “the Jerk” was the impetus
for his foray into ukedom.

“(Laughs) Oh, yeah! That and Paul McCartney’s ‘Ram On’. Great songs!”

While our crocks of Jack Daniels® Blackened French Onion Soup
cooled Dave clued me into his own musical recipe for “Making Soup
with The Duke”:

¯ Start with a few cups of driving hip-hop
and syncopated ragtime rhythms as a base.
¯ Stir in several tablespoons of jazz, Latin
and blues chords
¯ Top with heaping handfuls of jazz and
bubblegum pop melody
¯ 2 teaspoons of Marjoram (To be honest
I just threw that in because we have a whole
jar in our spice rack)
¯ If too salty, add potatoes.

“When it comes to lyrics I prefer to try to delight as opposed
to delivering a message,” Dave says. Noting his affection for
the avant-garde as well as 70’s bubblegum pop he goes on to
reveal, “I strive to be somewhere in the neighborhood of both
Captain Beefheart and the Captain & Tennille.”

Inspired by this revelation we ask and are told, much to our chagrin;
the chef has no beef heart to blacken. We opt to double the Captain
in our next pitcher of Lolitas.

“If you can make it in Urbana, you can make it in Tolono!”
Dave announces, spurring a spirited discussion regarding the
current music climate in the Twin Cities.

“Sometimes I see it as the town full of magicians where everybody
is tipping their hats and revealing rabbits, but no one is amazed
because almost everyone has a rabbit on their head,” Dave says.
I agree, adding, however, a lot of the rabbits are,
let us be honest, dime-a-dozen and pretty darn derivative
of other older and better rabbits.

“I think this town births brilliant babies, but it can’t feed
them all,” he adds. I concur, pointing out; however, a lot
of the babies are pretty darn similar to a LOT of babies
in other towns and flat out mimic other
older and better babies. I am just saying…

At this point we are interrupted by the entire O.F.I. Mondays’ wait
staff crooning to a patron at another table: “Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday – Death and dying everywhere – So old you soiled
your underwear – You’ll be dead, no one’ll care –
Buuuuuuut, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday…”

Over the din I inquire as to Dave’s future plans and he mentions
his combo has been invited to the West Coast Uke-Off (which, to
me, sounds both filthy and disgusting when uttered quickly).

“I have a manager in Chicago who has been getting us some
great gigs up there,” Dave announces. “The band is amazingly tight,
too. These guys are really good.”

As we bid adieu I jot down the band members’ names on the
doggy-bag containing the remains of my Jack Daniels® Blackened,
Pecan-Crusted, Crispy Asian Chicken Cobb Salad: Loren Anderson
(ex-Garrison Keillor! I sh*t you not!) on drums, Chris Pankey
playing djembe and percussion and Bill Kirby on stand-up bass.

Don Gerard- who, incidentally, refrained from making
a single scatological “dookie” joke throughout this column -
is currently one of the Duke of Uke’s 1,651 (and counting) friends
at www.myspace.com/dukeofuke and he recommends you
purchase his disc at That’s Rentertainment or www.parasol.com.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Acoustic Blog for Oct. 20, 2005