Best. Uke. Day. Ever.

At least for me. The Ukulele Fest in Kapiolani Park in Honolulu was a complete blast. Thunderstorms were forecast for the whole day, but bright and sunny the whole time. Met loads of UUers - Kimosabe, Uncle Rod, Pueo, geetee (sp), mds, Cali Rose, Hawaii 50, mmstan and even Chuck Moore and his wife. (and probably others I forgot to mention) All great, great people.

Got to sit and play with Kimo Hussey, Corey,Uncle Rod and folks from around the world in a tent Andrew graciously provided.

And, in a group of probably 150 strummers, backed up Willie K.

Jake playing at the end was just gravy.

Not enough mahalos in the world for this day!

I stayed at home and had a tv dinner.

Sounds like a terrific day. :shaka:

I went to work. I went home. I have come back to work. I may be here until 4:00 am (it is now 10:48 pm where I am). I am quite envious of your magnificent day. It sounds terrific!!

That's awesome!!

Wow! I'm so jealous! Sounds heavenly!

All -

Please excuse my post if it sounds like gloating - that was not the intent. Just wanted to thanks all those I met and encourage you all to come out next year if you can. And to praise this community - meeting up with UUers was the highlight.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time, I am glad everybody was able to enjoy it.

Oh, my, no, it didn't sound like gloating. It sounded like someone who had a super-fantastic-wonderful day and couldn't wait to share his good fortune. It brightened up my verrrryyyyy long evening/night, and reminded me of the terrific time I had at the Mighty MO UkeFest last weekend.

I didn't perceive it to be gloating in any way!! You really sound excited and please share any pics or videos if you have any.

Well, here is the view from the stage before starting in to play with Willie K



And here are Uncle Rod, Pueo and some big guy after receiving our medallions for performing.

Wow that sounds like a blast Rick! Thanks for sharing!

I happened to be there also with the Greenmeister, who is quite nice and even more interesting. I had the wonderful experience of sitting for over an hour listening to Corey get a lesson from Kimo Hussey. Corey wanted to know how to play jazz and Kimo was showing him how to think in terms of musical sentences, little chord progressions; how to learn to really hear them and to practice them in various keys. Corey was then playing what he had been shown and asking questions whether this worked or that worked and he was throwing in ideas. It was just the three of us. I didn't say a word. I just sat and watched while Babe Ruth gave Micky Mantle batting tips. You don't interrupt to say I like baseball a lot also. Really wonderful.

I got a chance to play a beautiful Kinnard ukulele that was recently purchased by a Dennis Kim from Hawaii and many years on the mainland. He regaled me with interesting stories about growing up in a rough and tumble section of Waiikiki called The Jungle. I now live there. It still has prostitues and drug dealers but is rather tame in comparison to the old days.


Hawaiians breaking into Hawaiian songs with great singing. Hawaiians returning from the mainland in ukulele groups. Great players from Japan and China. Friendly and interesting and interested people. What a great day and dinner with Craig Brandau and Cali Rose at Da Spot. Only in Hawaii. Dreams still come true. And Jake at the end, playing and talking about he participated in the festival when he was a kid.

Super awesome! Congrats on such a great time!

And here is a little clip of jammin' with Kimo. You may recognize some of the folks there.

v

And my internet connection is pretty slow here, but I could upload a somewhat shakey video of Jake doing While My Guitar later if folks want.

Thanks for the video. Saw the Chuck cameo.

Having never been to Hawaii (and I'm 64), this could be an incentive for me next year.

Thanks for the report greenie44. It was just like being there, and considering I'm miles from anywhere in the Australian outback, it was a very pleasant trip.
Hey, anyone have any info on the fan fret uke that Mr Hussey is playing?

Corey said it was really comfortable to play down low where it starts slanting.

That would be my dream day!! Sounds amazing.

greenie44 said:

At least for me. The Ukulele Fest in Kapiolani Park in Honolulu was a complete blast. Thunderstorms were forecast for the whole day, but bright and sunny the whole time. Met loads of UUers - Kimosabe, Uncle Rod, Pueo, geetee (sp), mds, Cali Rose, Hawaii 50, mmstan and even Chuck Moore and his wife. (and probably others I forgot to mention) All great, great people.

Got to sit and play with Kimo Hussey, Corey,Uncle Rod and folks from around the world in a tent Andrew graciously provided.

And, in a group of probably 150 strummers, backed up Willie K.

Jake playing at the end was just gravy.

Not enough mahalos in the world for this day!

Click to expand...

Yes Rick it was something today...the weather was perfect...not even a drop of rain...wow!
Willie K. was amazing!

the tent that Andrew had for everyone was fantastic....Andrew's wife Jen idea....
don't forget Craig Brandau and Roger and Patrice from Tahiti and David and Sisi Chen, Kalei,Bonnie Sargent,Greg(geetee)Zach and his girlfriend Christine from HMS...Dennis Kim and Utako our friend from Canada....and so many others who said Hi...

but Chuck Moore and MM Stan..that is the crazy best possible....of course Chuck surprised everyone showed up without any notice.....
thanks Andrew...was a good day for everyone there....