ROCK THAT UKE
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WILLIAM PRESTON ROBERTSON: producer & co-director
Male
53 years old
Sacramento, CA
United States
Last Login: 12/22/2009
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ROCK THAT UKE's Film Bio
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| Website | Official web site: rockthatuke.com | | Awards | Best Film - Brampton Indie Arts Festival; Buddy Atkinson Award - Louisville Film Festival; ProductionHub.com Award - Sidewalk Film Festival; Paid for in part by a grant from the KET Fund for Independent Production | | Festivals | Don’t Knock the Rock Film and Music Festival; Sound Unseen Film and Music Festival; Noise Pop Film Festival; True/False Documentary Film Festival; Brampton Indie Arts Festival; Live Bait Indie Arts Festival; Melbourne Fringe Festival; Darebin Music Feast; Sidewalk Film Festival; Louisville Film Festival; Portland Ukulele Festival; Colorado UkeFest; Ukelear Meltdown--A Festival of Extreme Ukulele; New York Ukulele Festival; Berkshire Fringe Festival; Electrofringe Festival; Finnish Ukulele Network’s 2nd Uke Matinee; Ukulele Festival of Belgium; 2009 Paris Uke Fest | | Professional Affiliations | WGAw |
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ROCK THAT UKE's Interests
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| General | Ukuleles, experimental film, 78s. | | Music | Though the documentary was completed in 2003, the interviews in Rock That Uke took place between 1997 and 2001. The artists featured are Ukefink, Oliver Brown, Frank Novicki, King Kukulele, Heinous Rynes, Janet Klein, Williwaw, Carmaig de Forest, Songs From a Random House, The Rumble Pups, Pineapple Princess, Uke Til U Puke, Robert Armstrong, Travis Harrelson, Robert Wheeler, The Haoles, and Ian Whitcomb.
Since Rock That Uke's completion the global ukulele scene, called by some "The Third Wave," has continued to explode. Online phenonmena such as YouTube and MySpace have arisen to connect ukulele players around the world, many of whom are traditionalists, many of whom are raw punk, many of whom are technologically experimental. Performance artists have pulled the instrument into their work. Neo-burlesque performers have made it part of their acts. And as so often happens, the experimental influences the mainstream and the mainstream influences the experimental and things in between the two get created.
The recent resurgence continues to evolve, but Rock That Uke will forever be fixed at the onset, still asking the question: "What the fuck--?" | | Heroes | My wife, Claire Pomeroy. |
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Myspace Ukulele Recording Artists, Experimental Ukulele Players of the World, United Ukulele Liberation Front, Rise of the Ukulele, Uke, Ukulele! Does your dog have fleas?, Crackers Ukelele, Ukulele Pie
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ROCK THAT UKE's Details
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| Status: | Married | | Zodiac Sign: | Libra | | Occupation: | Writer and phlegmmaker |
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ROCK THAT UKE's Latest Blog Entry
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Rose Turtle Ertler Cooks!
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RTU and Ukulele Loki! July 10! In Sacto!
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John King, ukulele scholar and master
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Aussie Uke Legend Rose Turtle Ertler's Sticks and Twigs Tour!
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Ukelear Meltdown II: The Second International Festival of Extreme Ukulele!
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ROCK THAT UKE's Blurbs |
About me:
Rock That Uke is a curiously philosophical documentary that examines the near mystical allure of the ukulele and the recent surge of alternative and experimental musicians on the American mainland who have taken up the four-stringed underdog of the musical world and incorporated it not just into their art, but into their personal ethos.
Interviewing a broad range of ukuleleists of varying levels of skill but consistently enthusiastic creative spirit, Rock That Uke asks, among other probing questions: ..Is there a ukulele personality?.. and ..What compels a person to electronically distort this little instrument and play loud, aggressive music?.. The answers reveal a fascinating Zeitgeist of irony and impotent rage that transcends the subject. In Rock That Uke, the ukulele is an unexpected metaphor for the human experience.
Rock That Uke examines the big questions by asking the small ones. It's a peek at human nature through a very tiny sound hole.
Rock That Uke runs 62 minutes. It is directed by William Preston Robertson & Sean Anderson, and features introductory voice narration by Academy Award-winning actress Holly Hunter. It is unrated, but contains strong language. The Rock That Uke DVD features extras with over 80 additional minutes of performances. It is in NTSC format, Region 0 coding.
"A rollicking anagnorisis of Ukulele Truth!" --Ethan Coen, Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer.
“Subtly hysterical, in the tender, hands-off way that makes documentaries so precious!” --Marjorie Skinner, Portland Mercury
“Charming and informative!” --David Cornelius, DVD Talk
“It's nice to watch a documentary that doesn't have me placing a shotgun to my head!” --Mark Bell, Film Threat
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Who I'd like to meet:
Ukulele players from all cultures and all corners of the globe, including those interested in using the ukulele to explore new musical boundaries as well as those creative artists whose work suggests that they ought to play the ukulele though they themselves may not even know it.
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