Ukulele Tonya

While I was out backpacking (see entry below), our oldest son, Matt, finished up the website for Augustino LoPrinzi and got the final okay from Augie and Donna to make the site go “live.” Augie and Donna make some very nice ukuleles (and guitars, too–but it’s the ukuleles that interest me), combining old world luthier skills with modern techniques for getting the sweetest sounds from their instruments. I love my little semi-custom, spruce-top LoPrinzi soprano made for me a few years back. Check out the LoPrinzi site and do a bit of dreaming!

I just returned from a week-long, 45-mile backpacking trek with the coed BSA Venturing Crew we volunteer with and wanted to report on ukuleles in the “wilds” of the Trinity Alps (Northern California). Yes–we spotted ukuleles on the trail; two of them were from our group (Tate, one of the hiking Venturers is in “Ukuleles of Paradise”) and the other was spotted more than 20 miles from the nearest trailhead, perched on the back of a hiker who hailed from Ohio. I was certainly more excited to see another ukulele in the wilds than I was to meet up with the three Western Rattlesnakes we saw later that day!

Our evening campfires featured ukulele singalongs and music from Jumpin’ Jim’s “Camp Ukulele” book as well as Joyce Flaugher’s PDF of campfire songs. Both feature a range of traditional and fun tunes that beg to be sung while relaxing after a long day on the trail.

All right, Eric Gilliom and Uncle Willie K don’t play ukuleles prominently (or perhaps at all?), but this talented duo has banded together to form The Barefoot Natives and, since it’s great Hawaiian music, I figure it belongs here anyway. The two were in the Sacramento (California) area on Saturday as part of their latest (first?) mainland tour and Borders Books in Sacramento (which is recognized for hosting a number of Hawaiian music events) had them as guests for an afternoon mini-concert. (Read on …)