Good Festivals in Southern California?

Hey guys, this is Charley and I just joined the forum last week.

I was thinking about going to the San Diego Festival in June, but I'm reading not-so-positive reviews about it. Are there any good ukulele festivals in California, preferably Southern California, you might recommend?

Thanks!

If you're near Huntington Beach, Island Bazaar puts on regular meetups and such at their store. I live in Los Angeles and three months ago made the almost 2 hour trek there just to check out the store, it's MAJOR. They had an all day event a couple of weeks later that I couldn't attend. Here's a link to their Meetups page.

http://www.meetup.com/ukuleleparadise/

Hi Charley, what part of SoCal are you in? It really all depends on how far you are willing to travel. There seems to be a lot more going on, ukulele-wise, in Northern California though. As noted above, Island Bazaar has something going on all the time, but more often than not the performers I'm interested in don't make it down to these parts much. I've also seen a few good shows at Boulevard Music and McCabe's, but nothing in terms of a full-scale festival since the last Cerritos festival some years back.

This is a new one, so I can't speak to how good it will be, but the first Ukulele Expo is coming up in June.

Some of the less-than-positive things you may have heard about the San Diego festival might have been from a few years back, when it was held at a venue right under a flight path. That's the only one I've been to, and while circumstances were less than ideal and I came home reeking of jet fuel, it was still a good time (and hey, James Hill!). I think the venue has since changed but I'm not certain.

I don't know anything about the California Uke Academy except that it's in Southern California from May 29 - June 1, and it's run by the same people who run the Reno Ukulele Festival.

Here's a link: http://playuke.net/ca-uke-academy

mds725 said:

I don't know anything about the California Uke Academy except that it's in Southern California from May 29 - June 1, and it's run by the same people who run the Reno Ukulele Festival.

Here's a link: http://playuke.net/ca-uke-academy

Click to expand...

I don't know anything about that one either other than the two instructors are first-rate - Fred Sokolow is one of my teachers, and the other is Lil Rev, who I've never experienced myself but have only heard great things.

I'm very likely to attend this one. Simply cannot make Reno happen this year.

I've been to the Southern California Uke Academy three times and it was great each time. Lots of fun. Slightly different each time. I'm not going this time because I've got a lot going on, but I'm sure it will be good.

Thanks guys, this is helpful.

I had heard about the SoCal Uke Academy a few days ago, but unfortunately it won't ft into my schedule this year. Hopefully next time.

I live in Torrance, which is approximately halfway between two of the places mentioned - McCabe's in Santa Monica, and Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach. Lately I've been going to some of Heidi Swedberg's Saturday workshops at McCabe's, including one recently with Fred Sokolow. As for Island Bazaar, it so happens I bought my tenor fluke there last weekend. I knew they had groups there, but hadn't looked at their schedule closely. I'll check into that.

The Ukulele Expo in June looks good, and it's about a 20-30 minute drive downtown at the new U-Space. I'll plan to check that out. I almost drove up there to see the new store today, but today was opening day at Dodger Stadium near there, and the traffic would have been a nightmare.

Anyway, lots of good info here.

Thanks again!

Charley said:

Thanks guys, this is helpful.

I had heard about the SoCal Uke Academy a few days ago, but unfortunately it won't ft into my schedule this year. Hopefully next time.

I live in Torrance, which is approximately halfway between two of the places mentioned - McCabe's in Santa Monica, and Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach. Lately I've been going to some of Heidi Swedberg's Saturday workshops at McCabe's, including one recently with Fred Sokolow. As for Island Bazaar, it so happens I bought my tenor fluke there last weekend. I knew they had groups there, but hadn't looked at their schedule closely. I'll check into that.

The Ukulele Expo in June looks good, and it's about a 20-30 minute drive downtown at the new U-Space. I'll plan to check that out. I almost drove up there to see the new store today, but today was opening day at Dodger Stadium near there, and the traffic would have been a nightmare.

Anyway, lots of good info here.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

You really are pretty centrally located to lots of uke things here in the greater L.A. area. There's some Hawaiian stuff going on down that way too - I don't have specifics since it's been a long time for me though.

Are Heidi's Saturday sessions geared toward beginners, or mixed levels? I've been curious about those for a while but since I've been playing a long time, I tend to find most workshops a bit too basic. Also at McCabe's there's one with Ralph Shaw coming up that sounds like it's worth checking out.

Heidi's workshops cater to a variety of ukulele players. She shares the teaching most weeks with Daniel Ward, who is a pretty strong player, and those two are the main leaders. They also have guest instructors from time to time.

I usually check the schedule on the McCabe's site or on Heidl's blog midweek, and if the topic looks helpful, I try to go. But I skip the basic stuff.