An afternoon at The Roxbury

While Melvin Guillard was assassinating Evan Dunham in the main event of the UFC's Fight For The Troops 2, I was at Glebe's Roxbury Hotel for the launch of CM's ukulele magazine, "Kamuke" (which you'll soon be able to order from the under-construction kamuke.com). The many familiar and unfamiliar faces who turned out were rewarded with a neat venue, friendly staff, cheap booze and, against a background of vintage beach movies and an inflatable palm tree, plenty of live entertainment. In my biased opinion, CM's set was the peak, consisting of an Old Crow cover, Hawaiian-esque original and George Formby classic that built to a ridiculously fast strum (whistles and cries of "Faster!"). However, every act offered something different - from MC Mic Conway's history lesson and legerdemain to the big-band jazz numbers brilliantly arranged for uke by a father-son duo from the Blue Mountains. But whether sweetly traditional or playfully satirical, the songs had in common that feelgood and relaxing vibe for which the ukulele is renowned. The finale saw CM bust out another oldie, then 15 players take the stage for a rousing group rendition of "Surfin' USA". Can we do it all again for issue #2?