What can you do in nine and a half hours?
You can read a very big book; clean your tiny apartment, probably several times; see four movies on the big screen (for a whopping $60!); or you can listen to the entire Beatles discography — strummed on a ukelele!
It’s time, once again, for the annual Beatles Complete on Ukelele extravaganza, where Beatles lovers will join uke master Roger Greenawalt at Brooklyn Bowl on Jan. 14, for a performance of all 185 of the rock legends’ classic tunes, as plucked on tiny guitar.
“The instrument has a spirit and that spirit is aloha Zen. It has an energy just coming through it,” said organizer Greenawalt, who has been playing ukelele for more than 10 years, and founded the annual marathon in 2005 as an homage to the greatest rock band of all time. “You combine that with the Beatles, and when you play the Beatles’ songs you’re doing the same thing with your body that they did, you feel their feelings — and it was awesome to be a Beatle.”
The show features more than 100 musicians — some amateur, some professional, many of whom Greenawalt befriended throughout his 20-plus years as a record producer — who will rotate throughout the afternoon and evening, playing one song at a time. Greenawalt, however, plans to play along to each and every tune.
That’s the Catholic agony David Blaine stunt,” he said. “I’ve been encouraging other musicians to do the whole thing with me, and everybody says ‘yeah,’ but when it gets down to it, nobody does.”
Think you have the guts to be a contender? Anyone who shows up — with a uke, of course — is invited to strum along.
Brooklyn Bowl [61 Wythe Ave. between N. 11th and N. 12th streets in Williamsburg, (718) 963-3369] Jan. 14, at noon. Tickets $10. For info, visit. www.beatlescompleteonukulele.com
Reach reporter Colin MIxson at [email protected] or by calling (718) 260-4514.
