Hayward Ukulele Festival of Northern California

oh bummer man. there were a lot of kids running around so i think you must have spoken to somebody that was misinformed or confused. that really sucks for them to ruin it for you.

it was pretty fun although they didn't have loco moco. we got to see Dominator do his thing on stage. he was awesome to say the least.

also got to meet some fellow undergrounders: Ame, NoLine, JJsDad, JJsDad's son (wrap your head around that one), Dominator and Bruddah Mark. nice to meet you all!

i kept an eye out for Fred, but alas, couldn't spot the dreads...

IamRobbyah said:

how'r we gonna kno who's who?

Click to expand...

theyll probably be holdin a uke, and if not just wear your UU tshirt

degracia said:

I really don't know?



Children under 5 are welcomed but not people who are 16? How about the performers, all ages, etc. The lady had no right to keep asking if I was 16, if I stated I was a performer.

Click to expand...

Wow, sorry that your experience at the fest was so messed up. I honestly have no idea what the "rules" or city or county ordnances are regarding an event like this. I think the reference to the under 5 age assumes they are accompanied by and adult. Any young child would not have been able to get in without a parent or someone. Again, I'm just guessing.

Let me ask, was anyone there that was under 18 that bought their ticket and went inside to see the performances that weren't with a parent or someone older?

russ_buss said:

also got to meet some fellow undergrounders: Ame, NoLine, JJsDad, JJsDad's son (wrap your head around that one), Dominator and Bruddah Mark. nice to meet you all!

i kept an eye out for Fred, but alas, couldn't spot the dreads...

Click to expand...

Russ, looks like there was a few more UU members there than I thought. Sorry I didn't get to meet all of you. It was a pleasure to at least get to say hello to the few of you.

Ha, my wife and I got something to eat after my performance and then for the most part hung out and jammed with Bruddah Mark and caught a couple of other performances in the late afternoon. It was a beautiful day for an uke fest for sure.

i agree

Dominator said:

Russ, looks like there was a few more UU members there than I thought. Sorry I didn't get to meet all of you. It was a pleasure to at least get to say hello to the few of you.

Ha, my wife and I got something to eat after my performance and then for the most part hung out and jammed with Bruddah Mark and caught a couple of other performances in the late afternoon. It was a beautiful day for an uke fest for sure.

Click to expand...

yes. it was an outstanding festival.
its kevin. couldn't find you dom but im sure we will meet up sometime down the road.
get my email?

Dominator said:

Russ, looks like there was a few more UU members there than I thought. Sorry I didn't get to meet all of you. It was a pleasure to at least get to say hello to the few of you.

Ha, my wife and I got something to eat after my performance and then for the most part hung out and jammed with Bruddah Mark and caught a couple of other performances in the late afternoon. It was a beautiful day for an uke fest for sure.

Click to expand...

YES, it was indeed a beautiful day! One of the sunniest it has been in Hayward. Maybe because fellow UU members like Dom, Russ, etc stepped into town. Too bad it had to be ruined by my situation.

I would've loved to see you perform Dom. One of the reasons I wanted to go is to see you perform a couple G Harrison songs.

I dont know what that thing they made us sign, and it wasnt limited to 18 and over people. ;; They're on crack seriously. There were a lot of youngins there haha that's lame. They didnt ask me for my age, but I guess it's ok since i AM 18 haha but personally I dont think I look it.. Anywho, that sucks man because I was looking for you.

So today was pretty awesome. I got a ride from Eddie (NoLine) to the place because I'm directionally challenged and didnt want to try and get there on my own. So, thanks Eddie!

I missed out on Dom's performance.. got there kinda late, a little after 12pm. Anyone get it on film? oh wait they're selling DVDs.. T.T;;

But I did see a lot of awesome performances. I was so jealous of everyone mad uke skills haha I almost didnt want to take mine out and play. I met Russ and Alden, but I also saw Dominator (or at least I assumed it was him, but I hesitated to say hi haha) I also saw Mr. Mike DaSilva and also hesitated to say hi haha gah I'm lame. xP Anywho, it was EXTREMELY HOT. I almost died haha but Eddie and I sat in the shade for a bit and jammed a little. good times. There was a ton of old people. sorry I just had to say it, but dang. seriously.

Well today was all and all pretty good. The raffle got me all excited I was 1 number away from winning a trip to HI (with Russ's or Alden's ticket haha) but yea it was great meeting you guys (and seeing from far away haha) Today was a good day.

ey, too bad bout ur situation. did u at least go into the vendor area? i honestly believe that this lady was misinformed, cuz i saw lots of young'ins runnin around.

i got there after 2 an i didnt meet up with anyone from hea. kept my eye out tho. i guess i did see bruddah mark, i knew i recognized that guy from somewhea.

guting: you coulda jus kicked it outside where the vendors were. i never did go inside, jus cuz we got there late an meh po' boy too!

overall, it was a cool time =) hopefully next time i'll get to meet yall

Ame said:

...Anywho, it was EXTREMELY HOT. I almost died haha but Eddie and I sat in the shade for a bit and jammed a little. good times.

Click to expand...

okay, so it wasn't just me. i felt like i was melting. i'm used to the cold foggy SF weather (insert joke about too many rice cookers here).

wish we had a chance to jam with you guys. next time! we did get a chance to jam with JJsDad and son for a little while. also good times.

so anyway, see you guys at the next bay area meet.

Hey, Russ, nice meeting you and thanks for watching my son while I went to grab my uke. (Although he's old enough to take care of himself!). It was fun playing the blues with you. I only wish that I knew how to jam with others so that we could have played more. Maybe we could decide on a few tunes to learn before the next Bay Area meet up.

Also, the thermostat in my car said 84 degrees, so it was pretty warm. When I got home (in SF) it was 20 degrees cooler.

They wouldn't let you in? I don't know, we were jamming with a few kids who had to be in high school and there were plenty of kids around.

a couple of photos from the festival yesterday.


dominator takes the stage. he was awesome. unfortunately this guy's noggin absorbed the bulk of the camera flash....


jjsdad, alden and i got to jam for a second before the blazing sun sent me whimpering home to the cold comfort of SF.


this was a shot of the beginnings of dasilva's crew. he had a big ol' entourage later that day and they were all jamming in a circle. pretty cool sight.

I was there yesterday. Beautiful day! And there was an endless supply of ukulele music everywhere you walked. It was my first uke fest and I will try to make as many as possible from now on. I had a large little entourage myself with my wife and kids, my dad, and my sister and her family. There was about twelve of us. Me and two of my nephews got new ukes and my kids got lots of little trinkets. I got the Lanikai Solid Mahogany Concert from Allegro, my nephew got a Kala Concert and my other nephew got a Kala Long Neck Soprano from EC Music Works. We also ate beef stew, chili, kalua pig, shaved ice and lots of soda and water. I was carrying around my Rogue Starter Soprano but kept in the gig bag cause I was shy. I stood and watched Dominator, BruddahMak and someother guy (with a yellow Fluke) play and sing Drop Baby Drop for a few minutes at one of the booths but I was too shy to introduce myself. They were good! We all had a good time and went home tired. Can't wait till next year!

Actually, that's not DeSilva's crew, that's the UFO (Ukulele Friends Ohana) from Marin. I'm behind the tree. We played until closing time, it was a great day.

haha! glad to kno that im not the only shy one... i would love love love a bay meet sometime, cuz i really need to improve my skills. the only way, i feel, is to gain influence from those mo betta than me.

mwalimu, lemme kno when u guys are havin anotha jam session. i dun mind bein the baby of the crowd.

It was definitely a mistake about the "under 18 not allowed" thing. The tables under the awning were just for filling out the ADA (or something like that) statement so they can get reimbursement from the state under the "adult education" category. People were encouraged to fill out the forms but it wasn't a requirement for entry. The entry itself to the auditorium, though, was only at one door (the one at the far left); if you tried to go in the other one, they'd stop you (unless you were a performer or a volunteer). Once inside the *correct* door you paid your $5, got your hand stamped and went into the auditorium itself. I didn't see anyone stopped for any reason from buying one of the tickets inside--you just had to run the gauntlet of the not-so-informed volunteers at the tables first... I'm sorry you wasted that time/money and missed out on a great event.

Dominator, Joanne (his wife) and I had breakfast together at the hotel before the festival and, while he said he was a bit nervous, not a bit of that showed when he performed later that morning. He was good--but what do you expect???

I have lots of photos and account of the festival (long, but detailed, if you're really interested) on my blog. Go here: http://ukuleletonya.com/blog/

Tonya - I see you got a picture of the UFO crew. Right smack in the middle of the picture is my yellow chair, empty. I feel like a ghost!