Good time at the 18th Annual Ukulele Festival of Northern California

Gillian

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Despite the breeze which kept the temps on the chilly side, I had another real good time at the festival. I don't think there were as many people there as last year, probably due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict with the Reno uke festival.

It was a pleasure to meet fellow UUers mds725, gyosh, erivel, Kanaka916, and misterpk.

UUers.jpguu2.jpg

Inside the warmer auditorium, the performers were very good. Chris Kamaka sang and played an upright bass. Hiram Bell took song requests. At the end of the day, some lucky guy won two round-trip tickets from Hawaiian Airlines and four others won a Sonny D, a KoAloha and two Kala ukes.

The people who put on the festival are all volunteers and they do a great job.

Mahalo to all involved.
 
Aloha Gillian,
Missed it again, maybe next year, if I'm not on Maui again. Glad you guys had fun....................BO.................
 
I had a great time at the NorCal Uke Fest as well. My day consisted of (1) arriving at 10:00 a.m. and checking out all the vendor booths, including one that had the cutest little banjo uke; (2) assisting in staffing the Kapalakiko booth from 11:00 to noon (Kapalakiko had what seemed like an endless supply of Hawaiian music CDs); (3) heading into the auditorium at 12:30 to prepare for our 1:15 gig; (4) playing our 1:15 gig, which consisted of Puamana, He Aloha Mele and Waikaloa with hula dancers, including two adorable keiki dancers for He Aloha Mele; (5) heading over to a designated spot at 1:45 to meet up and shmooze with other UUers and for a UU photo shoot (thanks for waiting for me, everyone!); (6) buying a Kamaka cap from Casey Kamaka; (7) participating in a Kapalakiko workshop near the vendor walkway from 2:30 to 4:00; (8) watching Chris Kamaka's group, Side Order Band (the standup bass Chris was playing belongs to my ukulele instructor); (9) not winning the Kamaka tenor that was given to one lucky performer after two other performers whose names were called didn't win the Kamaka because they weren't there at the time of the drawing; (10) watching the Kaleponi Strings perform; (11) not winning any of the raffle prizes or the door prize; and (12) helping break down the Kapalakiko booth. While I never get to see as many of the performances as I'd like and it was cool and windy, especially compared to last year, I had a great time. It was great meeting and/or seeing some UUers there.

Everyone working there was volunteering their time. mahalos to them for putting on a wonderful event and entertaining so many people.
 
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Thanks for organizing the picture Gillian. It was fun putting faces to UU usernames. Hope to see you all again soon at another festival or Kanikapila.

-Gary
 
I had a great time too! It was nice to meet some fellow UUers. I got to catch some great performances and chat with Chris Kamaka...bought a Kamaka shirt too (would have loved to taken that long neck concert home instead!). Also got to check out some of Tony Graziano ukes, which were outstanding. I was glad to see my local shop El Cerrito Music Works' booth so busy. Could barely talk to Carlo and Duane.

This was my first festival and hope to attend more in the future. Perhaps the Wine Country Festival in September...
 
Was a great weekend (except for the wind) and had a good time meeting and talkin to all. As gyosh said, hope to see you guys again. Wine Country Uke Fest in Sept?
 
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like it was a good time.
 
Despite the breeze which kept the temps on the chilly side, I had another real good time at the festival. I don't think there were as many people there as last year, probably due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict with the Reno uke festival.

It was a pleasure to meet fellow UUers mds725, gyosh, erivel, Kanaka916, and misterpk.

View attachment 35813View attachment 35814


Okay, there are 6 people besides you in the photo - I have met Gary, so I can pick him out. But which name (mds725, erivel, Kanaka916, and misterpk) fits which person, and who is the unnamed person?

Inquiring Ukes want to know!


-Kurt​
 
Okay, there are 6 people besides you in the photo - I have met Gary, so I can pick him out. But which name (mds725, erivel, Kanaka916, and misterpk) fits which person, and who is the unnamed person?

Inquiring Ukes want to know!

-Kurt​

Should I identify the UUers for Kurt or do you want to remain incognito?;)

The guy in the blue shirt is my friend Brian who has attended every SJUC meeting since its inception. Being a fine artist and woodworker, he designed his own custom electric ukulele which is a work of art. He promised me he would join UU.

I'm going to suggest that our club perform at the festival next year. I think we have the talent to do it. We just need the nerve!
 
I was just going to name everyone and then Gillian's post popped up. I guess I'll leave it to everyone to identify themselves in case they do want to remain anonymous.

But I'm the freakishly-big-for-being-Japanese guy in the back row :eek:

-Gary

PS: Hey Kurt, how are things? Did I read something about you taking a medical leave?
 
I'm the guy in the sunglasses holding my uke...oh and I'm not wearing the UU shirt. You can see what I look like on my YouTube channel.
 
I'm in between Gillian and erivel . . . not holding anything, wearing slippahs.
 
I'm the guy wearing my UU shirt, covered by my fleece. I can't believe I missed the group. Not sure how that happened. It was cold, though.


I don't know if anyone saw the wind whip and take out Graziano's sign, breaking some plates at the vendor next door. I has sent my non-Uke playing wife over to see his pictures and ukes. The sign knocked a soprano out of its stand and my wife caught it in mid air. Somehow it didn't have a scratch on it. I told her she missed the opportunity to ask or a discount since he saved a $1,300 Uke from becoming splinters.
 
I'm the guy on the left (to Gary's right) in the first of the two photos Gillian posted. It was a great festival and I'm glad it stopped raining in time for it, but Saturday's weather (the grass area was still wet) and Sunday's wind forced the group I was with to hold it's workshop near one of the buildings instead of in the grassy area, which made us less visible. I'm glad I brought clothespins to keep my music from blowing away.

It's great putting faces to names and it was nice to meet UUers I hadn't met before and visit with soe I'd met before. I'm planning to attend the Wine Country Ukulele Festival in St. Helena this year (September 7-9, I believe), and I hope to see you all again there.
 
By the way. I wanted to put a big shout out to Tony Graziano and his ukes! I was really impressed by the build quality and their sound. Simply awesome!

He had a spruce top jumbo tenor there that he finished the day before which sounded incredible.
 
The guy in the blue shirt is my friend Brian who has attended every SJUC meeting since its inception. Being a fine artist and woodworker, he designed his own custom electric ukulele which is a work of art. He promised me he would join UU.

I think I remember Brian from the SJUC meetings. He had an MSI pickup in his electric sold body uke, right? Usually sat tot the far right of the room, as seen when looking at the group leader?

To the rest - great meeting you, if only virtually.

I'm hoping to make it to a Uke Fest one of these years! I don't even think I'll be able to get the the New York Uke Fest this year (again!) although rumor has it that the leaser of the Electric City Ukulele Club is trying to organize a One Day Upstate NY Uke Fest in Schenectady somewhere around September...


-kurt​
 
Unbeknownst to me, my wife made reservations immediately after last year's event, and she doesn't even play :)
 
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