Hi Everybody!
I’m slipping out of the groovy groove I whirl in, here in SoCal. Love Los Angeles. Hardly ever leave Los Angeles. But at the end of the month my ukulele-playing hubby and I are packing the Honda Fit and heading due north, through the Mojave Desert onto Highway 395 which hugs the east side of the majestic Sierra Nevada mountain range, up up up past Bishop and Mammoth onto Reno, Nevada. We are performing and teaching workshops at the Reno Ukulele Festival which begins Thursday, March 29th and ends Sunday, April 1st.
Have you noticed the ukulele has gone global, in a very big way? I was in Sam Ash Music Store last week looking for a new thing-a-ma-jig for my iPhone when the nice clerk-guy asks me what kind of music I play. “Ukulele, mister!” I breathlessly respond. His eyes light up as he proclaims that ukes are their biggest sellers these days. Now come on folks, these big chain stores are the land of guitars, amps, keyboards, electronic mystery boxes. And alas, the humble and noble ukulele is leading the parade? Grab ’em while their hot!
As the popularity of the ukulele grows, so does the “tent.” While the “aloha spirit” of the uke translates into every culture, a panoply of styles and techniques are emerging and gaining popularity. The organizers of the Reno Ukulele Festival are wisely including this little bit of everything in a very big tent. There are jazzers and shredders (artists who play really really fast), eclectic whatever’s like me, masters of Hawaiian, country, blues music and a whole lot more.
We’re coming together from parts near and far to share and celebrate the ukulele, this instrument that engenders a sense of “us” rather than “me,” of sharing rather than rivalry. Must be the scent of aloha! You name another instrument that can be played and enjoyed by everyday folks and blasted out of the water by a virtuoso.
If you are in the area, please join the party. It will be a feel-good weekend you will not forget. And speaking of feel-good, we are inviting our Mid-West and soon-to-be Mid-West friends to the Mighty Mo Ukulele Festival, an hour west of St. Louis, Missouri, Friday, July 20 through Sunday July 22, where I will be the Saturday Evening Concert Uke-Girl. Craig will join in the fun with duets and we’ll both be teaching daily workshops. It’s a ukulele kind of year!
Make joy everybody.
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