Hi. My name is Walter. J. Walter Hawkes if the name is in lights or on the check. I'm a professional musician and I've been playing ukulele for over 20 years. I'm formally trained on other instruments (trombone & piano) but taught myself ukulele in a one room apartment (what they call an SRO in NYC) where trombone wasn't...er...welcome.
My first solo ukulele show was in 1998 or 99... at the Baggot Inn. I showed up with an empty case to the gig. Yeah man. Pro, all the way!
I play around the city a whole lot. I've played many (I'd venture to say most) uke fests in NYC since the "New York New Uke" fest at Joe's Pub in 2001. I'm also the music director (and trombone/ukulele player) for Peg + Cat, an animated kiddie TV show on PBS that teaches math. Peg, the main character, plays ukulele all over that thing. Or wait... I do.
I have a small collection on insanely good ukuleles that I probably don't deserve. That said, I won't be parting with them anytime soon...and I'll probably be adding to that collection as time goes on.
looking forward to meeting some folks!
My first solo ukulele show was in 1998 or 99... at the Baggot Inn. I showed up with an empty case to the gig. Yeah man. Pro, all the way!
I play around the city a whole lot. I've played many (I'd venture to say most) uke fests in NYC since the "New York New Uke" fest at Joe's Pub in 2001. I'm also the music director (and trombone/ukulele player) for Peg + Cat, an animated kiddie TV show on PBS that teaches math. Peg, the main character, plays ukulele all over that thing. Or wait... I do.
I have a small collection on insanely good ukuleles that I probably don't deserve. That said, I won't be parting with them anytime soon...and I'll probably be adding to that collection as time goes on.
looking forward to meeting some folks!
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