Charles DunlapColumbia Daily Tribune
If a person visits Dickey's Barbecue Pit, 1412 Forum Blvd., on the first or third Monday of the month, they may hear "Love Potion No. 9" by The Searchers, "500 Miles" by Hedy West, or even the irreverent "Dead Skunk" by Loudon Wainwright III coming from the restaurant's meeting and event space.
That room doesn't have a separate music sound system from the restaurant. It instead is a gathering of Columbia Ukulele Fight Club, an all-ages, all-skill-levels group of ukulele players and enthusiasts.
Unlike in the 1999 David Fincher movie "Fight Club," the first rule of Ukulele Fight Club is you talk about Ukulele Fight Club, says Debbie Karkowski, a founding member. It also is the second rule.
"We have a few real musicians in here and then we have people like me who never got past basic chords and strumming," she said. "It is something that is so easy for people to pick up. You learn even three of the first basic chords, you can play thousands of songs and there are only four strings to contend with."
Members typically get together for jam sessions, but on June 3 they were playing through songs to prepare a set list for the daylong Make Music Columbia on June 21. The group will play their set 1 p.m. at the Columbia Mall. Make Music Columbia is part of the worldwide Make Music Day that dates back more than 40 years. It is sponsored by the City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs and is presented in the U.S. by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation.
Musicians will be at locations throughout Columbia, including Cosmo-Bethel Park, Daniel Boone Regional Library, Café Berlin, Orr Street Studios, University of Missouri Museum of Art and Archeology and the mall, along with performers at the Les Bourgeois A-Frame Wine Garden in Rocheport and down at Cooper's Landing, on Smith Hatchery Road at the Missouri River.
Founding Columbia's Ukulele Fight Club and choosing the name
Columbia's Ukulele Fight Club formed Nov. 4, 2013. A couple weeks later, the public Facebook group was established.
Prior to the club's founding, Karkowski and two others were part of a group through Columbia Parks and Recreation where people could bring any number of stringed instruments. There also was a choral group, she said. These groups were organized by Cookie Hagan and would hold performances at local nursing and retirement homes.
"I met these other two women in that group and we decided to have this little other group and we still would play with Cookie's group," Karkowski said, adding they were looking to branch out and play some different songs. One of those women was Ashley Ernst, who was a former Tribune food editor. "She really was our main founder."
It was Ernst who came across the name Ukulele Fight Club and it likely has its origins from the St. Louis music trio Flea Bitten Dawgs, Karkowski said.
"One of those guys coined it originally," she said. "The name then went across the state to Kansas City, so there is Ukulele Fight Club of (Greater) St. Louis, Ukulele Fight Club of Kansas City, and then we adopted the name here and Jefferson City did too. It's kind of a Missouri name, but I think started with one of the guys in Flea Bitten Dawgs."
The club has a shared Dropbox where songs and such are available for members to access. When meeting at Dickey's Barbecue Pit, lyrics and chord progressions scroll on a TV in the corner of the restaurant's event and meeting space so members can play together, and most importantly, in the same key.
Why join Ukulele Fight Club?
The club typically gains members by word-of-mouth, Karkowski said. Then there are times when it is an online search for ukulele groups. That was the case for Loretta Schneider, who when she knew would be returning to mid-Missouri from Texas, was looking for a group to join, she said.
John Pierce, who is retired, was looking for a hobby. He already played a little bit of the guitar and previously lived in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon, which has many native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. The ukulele originated in Hawaii in the late 19th century and is likely based off of a similar Portuguese instrument.
"I bought a ukulele, joined a club and haven't stopped since," he said about his time in Oregon. "As soon as I got to Missouri, I started looking for a club and this was the one available. ... It is the one instrument that lends itself to a community, a group. You just get together with a group and have fun. That is what community is all about."
Another member comes from Sturgeon. He already plays the guitar some and came across a $5 ukulele at a garage sale in Sturgeon. He was at a quilting store in New Bloomfield with his wife when someone mentioned the Columbia club when he was practicing on his new ukulele outside.
Tess Tuschhoff, who was a librarian, is one of the club's younger members. She would play songs on the ukulele during story times at day cares when she was a librarian, but then stayed at home to care for her infant. She started looking for something to do as her child aged and thus Tuschhoff had more free time to fill.
"I found all these people," she said. She also will have a performance earlier in the day for Make Music Columbia at Cosmo-Bethel Park.
Another of the club's younger members is Elaine Beach, who is a nurse. She uses ukulele music and the club community to get away from some of the sadness that can be associated with her job. This is because the ukulele is such a happy instrument, she said.
"I was a band kid all growing up, so I like making music with people. This is a nice creative outlet," she added.
Steve Gentzler, another club member, picked up the ukulele 10 years ago when he joined the club. His wife had bought him lessons after he retired, he said. Member Diana Walz already had experience with the guitar when she started to learn the ukulele and a friend told her about the club.
"It's a wonderful community," she said.
Terry Showers picked up the ukulele as something new to play before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I have played cornet, clarinet, trumpet, banjo and guitar, and I never was any good at any of them. I picked (the ukulele) and just started playing it immediately. It's one of the easiest instrument to get a good sound out of," he said.
Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on X, formerly Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.
