Who goes to Hayward (California) to play the ukulele? Thousands of us did on April 29—and if you weren’t there, you missed an event that’s as rich in Hawaiian culture as it is in four-string delights. Held at the Hayward Adult Learning Center, this year’s event was the 14th annual, making it the longest-running (and oldest!) ukulele festival on the mainland. This festival has a true ohana feel. While some of the out-of-the-auditorium jamming was definitely non-island oriented (Beatles, anyone? Petula Clark? John Denver?), the performers inside are members of the many Bay Area-based ukulele schools and clubs and their performance repertoire was almost entirely Hawaiian (including contemporary and hapa haole as well as some lovely old melodies that just made me sigh and want to collapse beneath a coconut palm).
My friend, Cynthia, volunteered to go along this year (she accompanied me in 2005, too—I guess she doesn’t learn, does she?) and we started off the day with a bit of (REI and Royal Robbins Outlet) shopping in Berkeley on the way to Campbell, where John G. holds his annual pre-Hayward-festival barbecue/kanikapila on the Saturday evening prior to the festival. Katie and John are such great hosts—the food is ono-licious and the company is beyond compare. There’s a lot of ukulele talk story that goes on and I’ve always been fortunate to see some astounding collectible and modern instruments brought by other attendees.
This year was no different—at one point we noticed that Roger, Jeff and John had all disappeared from the barbecue area; we found them out in the front yard, figuratively drooling over the wealth of ukuleles Roger was toting in the back of his car. It looked a little like some drug deal was going down, with the trunk open, all the guys hanging around it and the furtive glances back to the house to see if any of the rest of us had noticed. I have evidence: I captured it on camera.
After we enjoyed the talking and great food in their lovely backyard, John invited all of us inside to his music room addition and we pulled up chairs and music stands for hours of great playing; in addition to the previously mentioned uke folks was John Baxter, of UkeFarm fame. Curtis and John play together frequently (they’ve even been *paid* for doing so–people only pay me to quit playing!) and their lovely voices and island-style playing carried us all along as we sang song after song from the He Mele Aloha book. John and Curtis taught me some new (to me!) chords to embellish some songs and their lovely strumming had me even strumming in rhythm. I wish this happened more than once a year…
Sunday morning we squeezed into the already almost-full parking lot at the Hayward Adult School, where the festival is held and, getting out of the car heard the sound of a harmonica in a parking lot jam session with a couple of ukuleles. Almost every car sported a Hawaiian sticker of some sort and most people carried an ukulele case at their side as they entered the schoolgrounds. We were definitely in the right place. As soon as I entered, I bought myself a tuberose lei—the creamy flowers don’t “age” well, but the fragrance hammers at my heart as I remember the times my husband, Mark, has given me a tuberose lei while we were in Hawaii; it was $10 very well spent!
Admission to the day-long performances and event is only $5. For that price, you can watch performances all day inside, peruse the vendor booths outside or just sit and talk (and jam) with friends. It’s a bargain! I thought this year’s food offerings a big skimpy compared to previous years. There were plenty of soft drinks and shaved ice, but only two stands selling lunch items so the lines were pretty long. I went to the shorter line and had saimin and Spam. Saimin’s really a nice, homey-type of item in broth but this version was a bit dry and gummy due to the preparation limitations. The Spam was nice and pink, though. And salty!
In addition to Cynthia and I, two other members of Ukuleles of Paradise made the drive to Hayward—John and Jim. I only saw John long enough for a short “howdy,” but Jim and his wife, Cathy, visited a few of the vendor booths with Cynthia and I. Arcata-resident Gary Rogers, of Jumping Flea,, spent lots of time with Jim, explaining different Bushman models and tuning each up so Jim could sample different sounds and types of ukulele. Jim left the booth with a Jenny tenor in matte finish—Gary gave him the pick of the litter and Jim’s ukulele sounds as great as it looks.
Rick and Mark, of Hawaiian Eye Designs (they make those great t-shirts and “uke player” stickers”) sang me an impromptu song as Rick played my little LoPrinzi (he hadn’t seen one before and asked to play it). How many times do people who sell you things entertain you so nicely, too??? Down the aisle, John G. had a selection of KP Ukuleles for folks to try. Only one was available for sale by mid-afternoon—these are lovely instruments and Ken’s attention to a great sound really shows in his ukuleles. I saw Asa, who plays guitar frequently with Bryan Tolentino, staffing the Kamaka booth near the auditorium. While I was there, Chris Kamaka signed his new CD for me, “Hema Pa’a.”
As the afternoon went on, I was lucky enough to be able to meet and talk in person (and have fun strumming) with so many people who I “know” online through the FleaMarket Music board, the TaroPatch, UkeTalk, EZFolk, and 4th Peg.
Meeting Dominator, of course, causes everyone to genuflect when they realize they’re talking to the “real” Dominator (and who wouldn’t with all those great tabs to his credit—and now he’s building ukulele, too), but he’s the sweetest guy and I’m proud that he calls me a friend (he even listened to my still-learning version of “Drop, Baby Drop” which I was frankly nervous to play in front of the great Dominator). Then there was Gary from Petaluma, Shindig, Pete, Brudda Bu (I watched as he purchased a new “old” Kumalae from John), Tom B, Teacher, Old Smelly Bob, Jeff West, Tiki King and others. A small group of us played some tunes in the shade of the courtyard and then, too soon, it was time to head back into the auditorium and join hands to sing, “Hawaii Aloha,” the traditional ending to so many Hawaiian events.
I’ll definitely be heading back to Hayward 2008—why don’t you consider it, too? For more photos, click HERE!