Hi Everybody,
Ukulele road warriors, the ones who zig-zag the country performing, teaching, meeting and greeting at festivals and uke groups… They will laugh me off the planet when they find out I have never been to the Midwest.
Our Midwest.
Okay, hubby and I have grabbed the golden lei and made it to Hawaii. And I was born in Washington D.C., so I’ve been ice-skating on the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I wandered around New York City for eight hours, visited Maryland, Virginia and Jersey. When I was very little, the family sojourned to what was called Cape Canaveral in Florida to watch a rocket launch because my father worked for NASA.
And with my face pressed against the airplane window, I’ve watched the great big “middle” slide by, but this July we are going to land! Indeed Craig and I are “ukeing” in places near and far, including Indiana and Missouri.
Here’s our 2012 ukulele schedule.
Thank you Pat Enos for inviting us back as guest artists Thursday, June 28, with the Ukulele Society of America in Carlsbad, California. This is a group with over 500 ukulele strummers on the elist. They play and sing along, reading the song charts on a giant screen. Hooray for laptop computers and PowerPoint. There’s food, hula dancing and warm wonderful vibes all around. Everyone is welcome.
Now for you marvelous Midwest folks:
Wednesday, July 18 we are meeting the Indy Ukers in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is a group that just celebrated their two-year anniversary and they are hot.
Friday, July 20 through Sunday, July 22, we are teaching and performing at The Mighty Mo Ukulele Festival in New Haven, Missouri (about an hour and a half west of St. Louis). I’ll be teaching two uke workshops (strumming & grooving) and the “headliner” gal at the Saturday evening concert. It will be so fun and for those who haven’t seen my shows, I mix it up with original songs, comedy tunes, covers, sing-a-longs and oh the stories I have…
The festival takes place at the bucolic Cedar Creek Conference Center in New Haven, MO. Craig will teach a ukulele finger-picking workshop and join me on stage for some duets and solos. We are looking forward to making new friends and making fabulous music together!
The weekend of October 26, Sarah Maisel, the wonderful uke jazzer and singer, invited us to perform and teach at the very first California Ukulele Academy, high in the San Bernadino Mountains, near Big Bear (in Southern California). It’s a retreat with all the cool bells and whistles. Ukulele players and lovers gather for performances, workshops, hiking, eating, schmoozing. Stay tuned. As the plans unfold, I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, here I am in Culver City, living wide. Author Dean Koontz once told the LA Times “…if you’re observant, any square mile on the face of the Earth will tell you all you need to know about life and people.” I am thrilled to visit some new “square miles.”
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