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UNCLE EARL
Streak o' Lean, Streak o' Fat
Directed by Tom Krueger
THE STORY
A Kung Fu clogging battle breaks out in the Chinese restaurant where touring stringband Uncle Earl has decided to stop for dinner. Uncle Earl pal John Paul Jones happens to be hanging out at this restaurant "noodling" on the piano. Sensing impending dance madness, the Uncle Earl "g'Earls" leap for their instruments and play a rousing tune (with original Chinese lyrics) to spur the action (with JPJ backing them up). When the fighting gets dirty, Uncle Earl intervenes. They show off their fancy triple-axle wagonwheels (yes, the whole band can clog), and they unite the two warring tribes in a dance of joy and cooperation.
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MUSIC CREDITS
Streak o' Lean, Streak o' Fat
Uncle Earl – Waterloo, Tennessee (Rounder Records)
Music traditional, Words by Abigail Washburn & Jon Campbell, arr. Uncle Earl/© 2005 Smokin' Granny Music, ASCAP
Produced by John Paul Jones & Engineered by Dave Sinko
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VIDEO CREDITS
Producer:
Brad Paul
Director:
Tom Krueger
Choreographed by:
Maureen Berry, Heidi Kulas & Jason Nious
with additional steps by all the dancers
Edited by:
Cutter Hodierne
Sound Design/Mixing by:
Tom Paul
Concept by:
Tom Krueger & Kristin Andreassen
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CAST
Uncle Earl:
Abigail Washburn - banjo & vocals
KC Groves - bass & mandolin
Kristin Andreassen - guitar
Rayna Gellert - fiddle
featuring
John Paul Jones on piano
Roller-Skater-Waiter:
Nate Cooper
The Braised Meats:
Heidi Kulas - captain
Harrison Barnes
Danielle Buice
Gary Giles
Tyler Mercereau
Cheryl Renfro
The Wasted Fats:
Maureen Berry - captain
Laura Cortese
Nic Gareiss
Emma Leahy-Good
Jason Nious
Matthew Olwell
Also Featuring:
Matthew Gordon as the maître d'
Casey Driessen as the chef
Emilee Warner & Holly Lowman-Baranski as restaurant customers
Please see individual dancer bios below.
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Art Director: Ruby Guidara, White Elephant Emporium (Watertown, TN)
Wardrobe Stylist: Heather Robinson
Hair & Makeup: Ashley Thompson
Audio Playback & Live Recording: Patrick Granado
Camera Operator/Camera Tech: Tom Zalenski
Gaffer: James King
Key Grip: Tonia Floyd
Production Assistant/Swing Man: Ryan Zacharias
Production Assistant (Nashville & New York): Holly Baranski
Production Assistant (New York): Jennifer Glickman
Sound Editor: Eric Milano
Voice & Dance Dubbing: Laura Cortese, Lisa Shepard, Tom Paul & Kristin Andreassen
Archivist: Ballard C. Boyd
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MORE ABOUT THE DANCERS
Principal Dancers/Choreographers:
Heidi Kulas (pigtailed captain of The Braised Meats) is an actress and percussive dancer living in Asheville, NC. She grew up in Michigan clogging on a team with her mom and grandma, then started touring with Maryland's Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble as a teenager. In college she danced with the fourteen-time national champion Bailey Mountain Cloggers (of North Carolina's Mars Hill College). Heidi is currently director and choreographer for the Lodge Cloggers. www.mountainflavor.com .
Maureen Berry (wearing traditional Irish dress and leading The Wasted Fats) is a New Jersey native who became a champion Irish dancer at a young age and went on to receive her BFA degree in Dance Performance from Towson University. After touring with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble for nine years, she now directs her own Teelin Irish Dance Company. www.teelin.com .
Jason Nious (bare-chested backflips) is a New Mexico native who toured for five years with the Washington, DC dance ensemble Step Afrika. He's now settled (for the moment) in Las Vegas where he is acting, coaching step teams and performing in Stomp Out Loud at Planet Hollywood Casino. www.myspace.com/jayro .
Nate Cooper (roller skating waiter) grew up performing with his family's Rhythm in Shoes dance company in Dayton, Ohio. He lives in New York City where he works as a physical comedian.
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Dancers:
Harrison Barnes (back row... Braised Meats) is an 18-year-old student at Coastal Carolina University. He has been clogging for eighteen years and now performs nightly at the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. www.myspace.com/thebestandcoolestperson .
Danielle Buice (front row at the right hand of Braised Meats captain Heidi Kulas) is from the small town of Pickens, South Carolina, and has been dancing/performing since the age of three. She is currently the Managing Director of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers. www.myspace.com/dnyell84
Laura Cortese (in the black dress) is a musician who has developed a fiddle-based, song-driven, groove-grounded genre dubbed "Drum-and-Chop Indie-Pop." She tours the US, Canada and abroad with her own band and moonlights on the bass with Uncle Earl. In this video, she is also the dubbed voice of Heidi (the captain of the Braised Meats). www.lauracortese.com .
Nic Gareiss (disco pants) dancing is characterized by his innate musicality and his love of improvisation. He performs with bands as a "dancing rhythm-section" and has worked with artists such as Solas, Dervish, Grada, Le Vent du Nord, and the David Munnelly Band. www.myspace.com/nicgareiss
Emma Leahy-Good (demonic pink barbie suit) spends her time performing with the Dayton, Ohio percussive dance and music company Rhythm In Shoes. She dreams of one day being a Rockette. www.rhythminshoes.org .
Matthew Olwell (twirling the silver fireballs) is a clogger, step dancer, musician, teacher & vampirate. He started dancing with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in the London run of Riverdance in 1997. He toured with Footworks full-time for nine years before starting his own Good Foot Dance Company. Matthew likes long walks on the festival trail and still thinks minidisc recorders are a pretty neat idea. www.myspace.com/goodfootdance .
Cheryl Renfro (front row at the left hand of Braised Meats captain Heidi Kulas) is a Grand Champion Soloist performing nationally and internationally to share her love for dance. She is also the Co-Director/Choreographer and a dancer with the Lodge Cloggers at Scenic Wolf Resort in North Carolina. www.mountainflavor.com .
.. more info on Braised Meats dancers Tyler & Gary coming soon...
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THANK YOU
Every single person who worked on this video either volunteered their time or worked for a fraction of their normal rate out of love for the band and excitement about the concept. We will be eternally grateful to every member of the cast and crew.
This video was made with financial support from:
Rounder Records
Tom Krueger
Sharman Smith
Bill Smoot
Paul & Jennifer Llewellyn
Bill & Mary Aldacushion
Ilana Katz Katz
Special thanks also to:
Emilee Warner
Shelby Boyd
Ellen Gilbert & Dance Emporium (Nashville, TN)
Megan Downes
Jim Walsh
Lach & The Sidewalk Cafe (New York, NY)
Brad San Martin
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MORE ABOUT THE STORY (THE LONG VERSION)
Uncle Earl stops for dinner at a roadside Chinese restaurant. They order up some "hong shao ro" (braised fatty pork, the famed favorite dish of Mao Tse Tung). The food is delivered by a bungling waiter on roller skates (Nate Cooper). Before they can sink their chopsticks into the meal, the place is invaded by a notorious gang of cloggers called The Braised Meats. The Meats have traveled from the mountains of eastern North Carolina for a surprise attack on a newly formed alliance of dancers operating under the name of The Wasted Fats.
When The Braised Meats captain (Heidi Kulas) brags on her team's "quadruple double doubles" (a rarely attempted advanced clogging maneuver), Wasted Fats captain Maureen Berry conures the special costume transformation that signifies her team is ready for battle.
The Uncle Earl g'Earls leap for their instruments and rip into a Georgia fiddle tune. Coincidentally, the g'Earls' friend and producer of their last album John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin) happens to be at the piano "noodling" on chopsticks. He joins the the rhythm section and banjoist Abigail Washburn sings in Chinese about food, drink and of course, about dancing.
The feet are flying fast until one of The Fats (Jason Nious) land a ferocious flip, and the Meats are all out of fancy steps. Infuriated, the Meats' captain throws out the rulebook and uses her special dance-o-kinetic superpowers to levitate the innocent skater-waiter onto a table. He struggles to maintain balance, simultaneously scaring and impressing the crowd with his roller-clog technique.
Uncle Earl must acts to defend the innocent civilian. Guitarist Kristin Andreassen, who is herself a veteran of a Kung Fu clogging gang by the name of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, takes the floor to counsel Meats and Fats team leaders. They find a dance step in common.
And suddenly, Kristin is joined by Rayna, KC & Abigail; all of Uncle Earl takes the floor in matching magic silver tap shoes, revealing their clogging moves which they have been practicing in a secret cave somewhere in the vicinity of Waterloo, Tennessee!
The g'Earls wow both teams with their triple-axle-wagonwheel technique and successfully unite Meats, Fats and even the restaurant chef in a dance of joy and mutual appreciation.
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