It’s said that when Evel Knievel showed up at Woodstock in 1969 on his ’67 Triumph Bonneville 650 T120 TT Special it wasn’t the bike (a masterwork of American industrial design) or his tight, unwieldy, collared polyester jumpsuit (a masterwork of American costume design) that unhinged the crowd but rather it was the star studded Ukulele strapped to his back…
Now while this story is about as stretched as the material of the great daredevil’s jumpsuit (Evel spent all of 1969 on the West Coast), we decided to pay homage to the Uke playing daredevil of our imagination, who at the age of 69 in 2007 met his end, haphazardly trying to jump the Scarborough Bluffs, cutting short a legendary daredevilling career and depriving us of Hawaiian folk songs that would surely have rivaled and exceeded the output in sweetness and Polynesian spirit of another American dreamer, a hip-swiveling fellow by the name of Mr Presley…
The logo is now currently used by the Scarborough Ukes: a fun, low-pressure workshop focusing on playing and singing real songs with real people, every second Monday at The Olde Stone Cottage Pub (3750 Kingston Rd, corner of Scarborough Golf Club Road and Kingston). Through their playing the dream of Evel still lives.
