{"id":181,"date":"2010-04-11T19:12:41","date_gmt":"2010-04-12T02:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/?p=181"},"modified":"2013-03-06T16:55:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T23:55:31","slug":"tahoe-area-uke-fest-march-19-20-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/tahoe-area-uke-fest-march-19-20-2010","title":{"rendered":"Tahoe Area Uke Fest; March 19-20, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Note: I wrote this the Monday after returning from the Tahoe Area Ukulele Fest, but it\u2019s taken me until now to get the photos sorted and this posted.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"event_poster\"<\/p>\n

The past few days drained my sleep budget, but I\u2019m not lamenting my recent loss of shut-eye at all.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because I\u2019ve had a good reason for not putting in more pillow time: I\u2019ve been at the Second Annual Tahoe Area Ukulele Festival. For a confirmed uke fest-aholic like me, a festival means squeezing in as much ukulele talk, playing, learning and listening as possible—and this festival experience was no different!<\/p>\n

While I only spent one night at the hotel (ninth floor, East Tower—overlooking I-80. Note to self: request the other side of the building next year), I think I was only in the room for 10 minutes to drop off my bag on Friday afternoon, and then hit the pillows from 2:15 to 8:45 am in the wee hours of Saturday. Golly, I snagged a great room rate, but on a per-minute-spent basis, I\u2019ve certainly had better deals.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not complaining! Where else could you listen to ukulele greats like James Hill, Aldrine Guerrero, Brittni Paiva, Michael Powers, Dominator and Matt Dahlberg all in one 24-hour period? And that doesn\u2019t include workshops, the chance to play ukuleles of every type and price range and oodles of uke-centric conversations with four-stringer friends new and old.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m lucky enough to be able to attend a good number of ukulele festivals (chalk it up to a very understanding husband and being self-employed—at least when I\u2019m working those 14-hour days I can look forward to something fun like a festival) but I know lots of folks who read this aren\u2019t as fortunate as I. Consider this, then your very own whirlwind tour of the Tahoe Area Ukulele Festival. Buckle up and let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

\"Reno,_here_i_come!\"<\/p>\n

Heading to Reno<\/h3>\n

Reno (or Sparks, where John Ascuaga\u2019s Nugget is really located) is about a three-and-a-half hour drive from our home in the mountains of rural Northern California. I had two choices to get to Reno—traversing a sinuous two-lane road (Highway 70) that snakes along the Feather River Canyon and Sierra high country, arriving in Nevada via Hallelujah Junction (what a name!) or speeding over to Interstate 80 and hauling up through the Sierras playing road hopscotch with a bevy of 18-wheelers.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you guess that I chose the road less traveled?<\/p>\n

Highway 70 and I are old friends—while the road is slow and the curves are tight (and the drop-offs beside the road in some places will drop your jaw as well), it\u2019s a drive which Mark and I have enjoyed dozens of times through the years. And this time, although Mark wasn\u2019t by my side (can you believe he opted to stay home???), each twist along the Feather River reminded me of previous trips through the canyon. But I\u2019d never routed myself on Highway 70 on my way to an ukulele festival\u2026<\/p>\n

I put my iPod on \u201cshuffle\u201d (my playlist: \u201cAll ukulele and Hawaiian music all the time\u201d), blew a goodbye kiss in Mark\u2019s direction and pointed my little 1985 Mazda 626 east. Ukulele festival here I come!<\/p>\n

Reno may be the \u201cBiggest Little City in the World,\u201d but its freeways were easy to navigate and I pulled into the resort\u2019s parking lot just before 3 pm; shadows from the two monstrous hotel \u201ctowers\u201d blanketed my parking space (right next to the front door, no parking garage for me, thank you) in a cool semi-darkness. I knew I was in the right place because the vehicle next to mine sported a guitar and ukulele store\u2019s sign. But, geesh, the folks streaming into the double doors at the side of the building (who wants to pay for valet parking up front when they can spend the same amount of money on a few nice sets of Aquilla strings?) hardly looked like ukulele players.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/p>\n

At The Nugget<\/h3>\n

Still, I shouldered my Gator case with my LoPrinzi soprano inside, towed my rolling suitcase along behind me like an obedient duckling, and entered. Mirrors. Lights. Wildly-patterned carpeting. The acrid burn of cigarette smoke. More lights. Wow—it was clean and certainly didn\u2019t feel \u201cunsafe\u201d in any way, but, I hadn\u2019t been in a casino in half-a-decade so the culture shock had me looking around for a defibrillator.<\/p>\n

[At that evening\u2019s concert, during his between-song patter, James Hill noted his similar impressions upon entering the lobby, too. \u201cI had this feeling of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcvoo doo jhay,\u201d he related, playing off the \u201cd\u00c3\u00a9j\u00c3\u00a0 vu\u201d idiom. \u201cIt was a feeling that I\u2019d never been in this place before.\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

I blinked my eyes a few more times (no rubbing, that\u2019ll just make \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem worse, my practical side warned me) and headed for the check-in area. A quick tickle of my American Express card\u2019s magnetic strip and I found myself with a fistful of paperwork—receipts, a resort map, a sheet promising $5 in match play money—and the room key card which allotted me room 927 for the next 24 hours.<\/p>\n

It was a nice room—very clean, decorated recently (just not necessarily in my style of room d\u00c3\u00a9cor), roomy bath, really plush-y towels. And it overlooked Interstate 80. How nice.<\/p>\n

I moved away from the inspiring view, switched on a couple of room lights \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccause I knew it\u2019d be late when I returned, and headed back downstairs.<\/p>\n

The Nugget\u2019s staff had staked out several large rooms for the festival—the area nicely enclosed workshops in separate rooms, a sound-equipped stage, plenty of seating and a vendors\u2019 area. While the first workshop wasn\u2019t slated to begin for another hour or so, ukulele-toting attendees were already busy buying raffle tickets (check out those prizes!), scouting out deals amongst the vendors and enjoying ukulele-style \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctalk story.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Jim'Dville\"<\/p>\n

Friends—new and old<\/h3>\n

In 20 ukulele festivals, I\u2019ve met a lot of really great \u201cukulele people\u201d from the east coast to Hawaii. Attending an ukulele festival, then, is a bit of a reunion as well as a chance to meet \u201cnew\u201d ukulele friends. I frequent several ukulele forums so it\u2019s always fun, too, to put a real face to the names of people who post there.<\/p>\n

This time was no different. I have Jim D\u2019Ville\u2019s \u201cPlay Ukulele By Ear\u201d<\/a> but talking with him in person (and taking his workshop on Saturday) is a much richer experience than watching the DVD in my living room.<\/p>\n

\"Andy_Andrews\"<\/p>\n

Mark Gutierrez, who I know from many festivals, had escaped from the Midwest\u2019s snowy clime and showed up in Reno; we caught up on his recent accomplishment of achieving his music degree (good goin\u2019, Spanky!). Tiki King (with his lovely wife and sophisticated-but-sweet daughter) was at my table during Friday night\u2019s concert. Andy Andrews, at left, (lightning rod of the renowned Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz) and I shared stories about Island of Hawaii, where he\u2019s moving this spring I counted eight others from our Ukuleles of Paradise group (Alan won one of the \u201cbig\u201d doorprizes at festival\u2019s end— a feat that he claimed last year, too).<\/p>\n

I even met folks who read my blog: \u201cAre you Ukulele Tonya?\u201d a woman asked me as we stood side-by-side toweling our hands dry in the restroom; hmmm\u2026fame (or maybe it\u2019s notoriety if she\u2019s heard me play) is a funny thing in a public restroom.<\/p>\n

\"Gordon_and_Char<\/p>\n

I spent time drooling and dreaming over dozens of delightful ukuleles throughout Saturday. While perusing ukulele candy on the Internet is enjoyable, plucking the strings of these wonderful instruments and talking with talented luthiers in person is exponentially better. In Reno, I really enjoyed getting to know Char Mayer of Mya Moe Ukulele<\/a>s and hearing their building philosophy.<\/p>\n

While their skills are definitely other-wordly, top stars of the ukulele world don\u2019t elevate themselves to \u201cbetter than you\u201d status (\u00e2\u20ac\u02dccan\u2019t say that about top guitar players, can you?) and a festival will find them mingling with folks, posing for pictures, signing cases (and ukuleles) and trying out custom—and factory-made\u2014instruments at vendor booths. I looked up from test-driving a Nalu<\/a> tenor and discovered that Aldrine was right beside me, doing his own test drive of these well-designed \u201cfactory-made\u201d instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cName dropping\u201d isn\u2019t much of a sport with ukulele folks because we have so many chances to interact with favorite performers on a face-to-face basis at festivals so it\u2019s no big deal to meet a \u201cstar.\u201d Where else could you share a meal with Dominator and Matt Dahlberg—or a late-night elevator ride with James Hill and friends? Still, it\u2019s always fun to find out how these top players are enjoying the festival and discover the new sounds and techniques that they\u2019re experimenting with these days.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s concert<\/h3>\n

Friday night\u2019s concert was more-than-ably opened by Michael Powers of The Urban Ukulele Project. Michael\u2019s work is hard to describe but oh-so-easy to listen to and fall in love with. His ukulele \u201chosts\u201d a wealth of sounds from other instruments (even harmonica and trumpet) through the deft use of electronics and pedals. But this is no soul-less automated trickery—Michael lovingly plays each sound as if it was the actual instrument you\u2019re hearing. For example, on a \u201chorn\u201d riff he held each note the length of time a trumpet player would realistically hold the tone. Michael offered a breathtaking ride from bossa nova to jazz to rock and stuff I have no name for—and it was entertaining as heck. Michael\u2019s just-released first ukulele CD flew off the sales table after Friday night\u2019s concert and it\u2019s not hard to understand why.<\/p>\n

\"James_Hill\"<\/p>\n

James Hill\u2019s playing magic followed—and it was indeed the stuff of fantasy and delight. I\u2019ve been a fan of James\u2019 playing over the years and, as I\u2019ve watched his stage presence and skills increase, I was also aware on Friday night that I\u2019ve been able to trace the transformation of a very talented young guy into a grown man who\u2019s not afraid to share his passion for sound, wherever that passion takes him.<\/p>\n

Lately that joy has James exploring the byways of modern folk (check out \u201cTrue Love Don\u2019t Weep,\u201d<\/a> in which he and partner Anne Davison blend their musicality with a nod to traditional tunes) as well as the more intimate, meandering pathways of sounds produced in unexpected ways\u2014occasionally resulting in heart-soaring swoops. Friday night\u2019s concert was one of those tuneful journeys combining skill and seemingly-serendipitous discovery (but, knowing James, I\u2019ll bet much of that \u201cexploring\u201d was well-thought out ahead of time).<\/p>\n

His performance included songs from old CDs and his newest (I particularly enjoyed the concert version of \u201cOne More Lie to Love\u201d), several \u201chow\u2019d he do that?\u201d passages demonstrating right hand ukulele intelligence that\u2019s beyond the range of understanding (let alone mortal accomplishment) and then a short stretch of music illustrating one of James\u2019 continuing fascinations: creating more<\/strong> of something than it seems initially possible.<\/p>\n

In this case, the \u201cmore\u201d was producing: a) not just melody; b) not just harmony and melody, but, as James noted, \u201cMelody, harmony and percussion all at the same time. God willing.\u201d That exercise, he further noted, is what happens when you have \u201ctoo much time on your hands.\u201d I guess that\u2019s what makes a musician a professional—when I have extra time on my hands I tend toward plowing through old Good Housekeeping magazines from the 1940s or browsing YouTube videos\u2026gee, I\u2019d best re-think that spare time!<\/p>\n

I heard that Friday night ended with various ukulele jams throughout the hotel. My eyes were itchy and my throat dry from the recycled air peppered with residual cigarette smoke so I didn\u2019t indulge in any post-concert jamming—just a lot of talking, laughing and late-night noshing with ukulele friends (word to the wise: choose the \u201cfruit plate\u201d over the nachos when you order from room service at The Nugget).<\/p>\n

\"Ukulele_sign\"<\/p>\n

Mike DaSilva<\/a> and Mary shared a new \u201cukulele sign\u201d that they learned and said we could all use to identify ourselves as members of the \u201cukulele gang.\u201d It involves tucking the thumb behind four fingers on the right hand and shaking the hand downward in a strumming motion. Do you think if enough of us do it it\u2019ll catch on? Next ukulele fest I see you at, waggle those strumming fingers in my direction and I\u2019ll sign you back—\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpromise!<\/p>\n

\"saturday_workshops\"<\/p>\n

Workshops<\/h3>\n

While I\u2019ve been to ukulele festivals with more workshops (think Southern California\u2019s Cerritos fest), the organizers at the Tahoe area event provided plenty to choose from for beginner and intermediate players.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed Matt Dahlberg\u2019s \u201cRight Hand Techniques\u201d class, Jim D\u2019Ville\u2019s \u201cUke by Ear\u201d workshop and BJ Soriano\u2019s<\/a> \u201cHawaiian Uke 101.\u201d All three were strong instructors, sharing not only techniques but also their love for our favorite four-stringed instrument.<\/p>\n

BJ\u2019s class was an especially fine way to begin Saturday morning. I couldn\u2019t help but have a perfectly upbeat day after joining dozens of folks in a morning of playing songs including \u201cChangalang Blues\u201d and \u201cMenehune Beach Bum Boogie\u201d (with some great \u201cHawaiian-style\u201d stums). BJ (who was the only one I saw over the weekend wearing \u201cslippahs\u201d) lives in Hilo where she has an ukulele-scrapbooking studio. She teaches privately as well and next time I\u2019m on the Big Island, I\u2019d love to spend time with her.<\/p>\n

\"Matt_Dahlberg\"<\/p>\n

Beyond workshops were more visits with vendors, an afternoon of open mic performances and a \u201cmaster class\u201d taught by James and attended by everyone at the festival, literally. And a raffle—with prizes including everything from Aquilla strings to L&L gift cards and custom ukuleles made by well-known luthiers.<\/p>\n

Saturday night\u2019s concert was to have featured Jake Shimabukuro but a family emergency cancelled the show. Organizers didn\u2019t let that get them down, though. With a full house of ukulele performers on hand for Saturday they revamped plans and scheduled the FREE \u201cAll-Star Uke Jam\u201d concert for the same time and location (and, to make it fair, refunds were available for previously-purchased Jake tickets, if desired). That meant one stage on Saturday featured a line up including (not in any particular order) James Hill, Michael Powers, Brittni Paiva, Aldrine Guerrero, Dominator, Ukulele Bartt and Matt Dahlberg. What an evening!<\/p>\n

\"ukulele_dreamin'\"<\/p>\n

As a fan of anything ukulele, I can appreciate the fest\u2019s emphasis on the \u201cdiversity\u201d of the ukulele but I really missed hearing more Hawaiian-style playing in Reno. I\u2019ve traditionally attended the Northern California Ukulele Festival in Hayward each spring and gotten a nice, hefty dose of Hawaiiana there but with no Hayward fest this year, I\u2019d hoped to get a bit of that from Reno\u2014and I was disappointed. I\u2019d have liked to have seen Bryan Tolentino\/Asa Young, the Kamaka folks, a local hula halau or something like that. With the future of Hayward in question, I\u2019d suggest the Reno event look over the list of past performers there and reach out a friendly ukulele hand to include them in the 2011 lineup.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s so<\/em> ukuele!<\/h3>\n

During the recent West Coast run of newly-released \u201cMighty Uke,\u201d<\/a> the film event\u2019s organizers had noted, after watching one enthusiastic ukulele gathering after another, a commonality between ukulele players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d see things happen at the various screenings of the film,\u201d said James during Friday night\u2019s concert, \u201cAnd the phrase we kept repeating was, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThat\u2019s so<\/em> ukulele.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Driving home from the Tahoe Area Uke Fest (christened the Reno Tahoe Uke Fest for 2011), I\u2019d have to echo that comment. The whole weekend in one phrase? Well, it was just \u201cso ukulele.\u201d<\/p>\n

See ya next year in Reno!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Note: I wrote this the Monday after returning from the Tahoe Area Ukulele Fest, but it\u2019s taken me until now to get the photos sorted and this posted. The past few days drained my sleep budget, but I\u2019m not lamenting my recent loss of shut-eye at all. That\u2019s because I\u2019ve had a good reason for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,4,1,2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning","category-performers","category-personal","category-ukulele-festivals","category-ukuleles-of-paradise"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Wqkt-2V","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ukuleletonya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}