Week 396: Ukulele Drag Race

Joko

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Welcome to Week 396 of the Seasons of the Ukulele. I’m your host, Joko, my first hosting duties since Week 69. Our theme this week is Ukulele Drag Race.

Basically, the music we're looking for expresses aspects of a gender that you didn’t happen to have been born with. I’ll save my commentary about gender identity for the video, and get straight to the rules:



Entries should include one or more of the following:

• Go all out and perform on your uke in full drag and makeup. Do that and you can play and sing whatever your want. Heck, you don't even have to play a tune! Lip-synching is a drag queen tradition, and gurrl, if you work it, work it! If you identify as male, then you don’t necessarily have to be Ru Paul fabulous, but look pretty. If you happen to have breasts, then in your male drag, tape em down, dress like a lumberjack and paint on a moustache and stubble.

NOTE: I’m asking that everyone make at least a token expression of femininity, masculinity or androgyny that you wouldn’t normally express. I’m not asking Pabrizzer to shave his beard, but maybe tie it with a ribbon.

• There aren’t that many, but any song about being transgendered or gender fluid or a song about one (eg, Lola) – In my intro video, I hoped to include my take on “Sweet Transvestite” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s not done yet.

• A song about being a man or being a woman. Of course, you’d sing it about the opposite gender of your birth. (eg, Stand By Your Man)

• Songs from musicians who pushed gender lines, including (but not limited to): Marc Bolan, Ziggy Stardust, Boy George, Annie Lennox, Prince, Pete Burns, Grace Jones and Marilyn Manson. Don’t worry too much about whether they actually crossed gender lines or not. If you think they did, then they did. That said, gender expression and sexual orientation are two different things. In other words, this isn’t “gay week”. I put Tiny Tim on this picture, but I'm not sure he belongs.

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• Any song from a film expressing transgender themes, seriously or in fun, or in which trans characters play main roles. These include: the Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Crying Game, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Boys Don’t Cry, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The World According to Garp and many others.

• Any song featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race There are 217 listed here. Probably best to choose from the 'Lip Sync for Life List" Here

• Anything from these two because my ex liked them:
o Boney M
o Lana Del Rey

No song limit.

Judging and Prizes: I'm giving away three traditional Myanmar musical instruments - they're all percussion instruments which I'll show you in the video of my performance. I'm the judge and will pick winners based on skill, performance, feeling and style.


So many great songs still can be sung for week 395! No one has done a Weird Al Yankovic song yet! Hard to believe.

Have Fun!

PLAYLIST WORKING NOW
 

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There's two threads because I didn't realize you couldn't change the name...
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Can I post something that’s written from the perspective of a specific man?
 
There will be a short pause ... I can't find my beard!
 
love RuPaul's drag race for the drama. I already did the Ha Dance the other week so I have to find another song to do.
 
This might be a good moment to revisit a song I wrote for Season 186 based on the experience of a Transgender friend of mine who outed herself to many people's total surprise.

 
I will throw this one in using the David Bowie connection - I listened to a live recording of him doing it only yesterday. Written by Lou Reed, who himself had a lengthy relationship with a mysterious trans-sexual called Rachel/Tommy. But in this song, the man he is waiting for is a drug dealer.

 
I can’t think of any other artist in my lifetime that had a greater instant impact on the music scene and way beyond than Boy George when Culture Club first came to prominence in 1982. Here in the UK the glam rockers of the 1970s had started to push the boundaries of gender identity, but George very bravely moved it on to an entirely different level. He was incessantly hounded by the tabloid media, who in less enlightened times coined the phrase ‘gender bender’ for him and those that followed. Hardly surprising that under all the pressure and scrutiny he went off the rails for a while. Sadly I don’t think his music after this ever quite attained the same level of quality and consistency of the early Culture Club albums.

 
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A week ago, after being very frustrated with trying to multi-track using Audacity and a USB microphone, I invested in new gear. The package included a Focusrite interface, a condensor microphone, and ProTools First. I'm learning something about home recording after 10 years of doing it - software that makes things easier doesn't necessarily make it easier. The more capabilities you get, the more that can be done, the more you try to do! It gets so complicated and confusing, and when it comes down to it, I'm still the same mediocre musician underneath.

Anyways, I said I'd reveal the prizes in my opening song... but there's issues. Beyond the issues of my man-boobs not filling out the cups of this faux-leather corset. My first song isnt ready.

So, determined to just do something simple, Jokina showed up to present the prizes!

 
Screenshot-20190916-100905.png


So not one to shirk a challenge, and noticing no-one else has taken on the main request of the host, I decided to raid my wife's wardrobe while she was out. Sadly I've managed to snap her 'pearl' bracelet taking off of my fat man wrist.

Wasnt brave enough to have a go at eyeline/mascara but hopefully I've done enough here.

I also feel the refrain "I know what I am, they know what they are, so let me be" is all anyone really needs to hear in the transgender debate.

HOLY TAN LINES BATMAN!

 
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Maybe what I've been wearing since you've known me IS the drag! Did you ever consider that?
 
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