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On Saturday, August 1, The Heavy Boxes are very excited to play a full set to close out the latest edition of the Chicago Ukulele Cabaret. The Uke Cabs are always highlights for us anyways, but now we'll have an opportunity to throw together a whole bunch of crazy stuff for you. All the other performers throughout the evening will also be great, of course. This time, the theme is Ukers Wild - design your own theme. It starts at 9 p.m. at Silvie's Lounge, 1902 W. Irving Park Rd. We'll likely go on at some point after 10:30. No cover!

The Uke Cabaret here in Chicago is always the highlight of my month when it comes around. On May 9 was the latest installment — titled Uke Zoologica, this time around all of the songs had to be animal themed. There were some really great acts, as always. Cabaret organizers Mike, Heather, and Tony tore it up with renditions of "Bungle in the Jungle," "Apeman," and "Barracuda." There were also some nice uke covers of David Bowie, Neko Case, Nick Cave, Duran Duran, and more.

Unfortunately, Melanie wasn't able to make it to Chicago because she had to finish up her schoolwork, as she finally graduated yesterday(!). Without her around, I had to rethink what I could do at the Cabaret. I seriously considered gathering a huge band with a choir and devoting my entire set to a full-length version of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out Of Hell," but alas, it was not to be.

But even though we were halved, The Heavy Boxes went on, with help from Kimberly and Stuart. Thanks to Alan for the videos of our set:

"Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail

"Simon Smith & the Amazing Dancing Bear" by Randy Newman

"Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club

See also: Uke Valentino

The Heavy Boxes performing at Uke Valentino, the February 14, 2009 Chicago Uke Cabaret.

The Heavy Boxes performing at Uke Valentino, the February 14, 2009 Chicago Uke Cabaret.

The Heavy Boxes performing at Uke Valentino, the February 14, 2009 Chicago Uke Cabaret.

On Valentine's Day, The Heavy Boxes returned to the Ukulele Cabaret and played three songs. Melanie didn't think she was going to be able to make it, but pretty close to the last minute, thankfully, she figured things out, which means I didn't have to resort to plan B: a mournful solo rendition of Cher's "Believe."

We were expecting a sparse crowd, considering the holiday, but were surprised to find the place pretty packed - definitely the biggest audience so far. There were new performers, too - overall, probably the strongest set of musicians so far, playing covers of Leonard Cohen, Sam Cooke, Magnetic Fields, Lily Allen, etc. We went on near the end of the night, when ukulele fatigue is easy to set in, but I think we reinvigorated the crowd with the Uke Cabaret debut of our friend the drum machine (someday soon we will have to name him).

I'm going to post videos of our performances in separate posts...right....NOW.

[photo by i.b.]