Ukulele Tonya

Jake Shimabukuro (with the accent on the “bu” part, if you’re curious), performed at Chico’s Laxson auditorium last night to a very appreciative crowd and I was on hand for the fun. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear most of the ukulele “greats” in live performances, but I’d never attended a concert by Jake (I also don’t have Herb Ohta on my “heard live” yet list—but maybe someday!). Before I set out for the drive down the hill to Chico I checked with friends on the Flea Market Music Board about what I should expect and, without exception, everyone who’d met him before commented not only about the great show he’d be sure to put on, but also about Jake’s humility and warmth with his fans. Frankly, I took that with a grain of salt—I mean, this guy is talented beyond imagine, he tours worldwide and he’s just, well, “famous.” How warm could he really be toward a total stranger (but, admittedly, a fellow ukulele enthusiast)?

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As an attendee at 15 ukulele festivals and workshops in the past few years (from Rhode Island to the Big Island), I can guarantee that, if you play ukulele—no matter what level player you are—the Southern California Ukulele Festival should be a “don’t miss it” event on your lifetime list.What follows is a lengthy account (to make *you* want to attend an ukulele festival, too!); if you’d rather just skip to the album of photos, click HERE! Note: There are more photos in the album than I’ve included on this page so browse around—I can’t figure out how to get captions in the album so you’ll have to look at the name of the .jpg when you’ve opened it and read “who” is in the photo up in the URL bar.   (Read on …)

Imagine a room full of musicians playing all sorts of old-timey, bluegrass and folk melodies. Yet amidst the expected mass of mandolins, gaggle of guitars, bunch of banjos and fistful of fiddles there are—not one, but—two ukuleles! Yep, I was invited to an informal folk jam session frequented by local players at Augie’s Coffee down in Chico. Michael (whom I’d bought my fiddle from) told me about the monthly gathering on Friday afternoon and I decided to give it a try. I’d read from others on various forums that some folk musicians are open to ukuleles—and some aren’t. Thankfully this group was of the welcoming type!I arrived with my little soprano LoPrinzi and within 30 minutes was sandwiched between mandolins, with a stand-up bass behind me. Mark came along—he spent the time working on his computer, taking some photos for me and enjoying the music with the other patrons at the shop. We played a range of songs which I’d never head of (that’s just not been my repertoire—at least up until now!); most were in the keys of D, A and even E (arghh! I hate the E chord in first position; I ended up doing the 4-4-4-7 version) but there were a few tunes in G and even C. No chord charts, for the most part (although Bernie, from the Butte Folk Music Society, who played mandolin beside me, was generous in sharing those songs that had them). I discovered that my ability to “hear” chord changes and anticipate the chord progressions improved almost magically as the afternoon went on. (Read on …)