Good morning. I'm sure some of you are curious about my experience at the ULTP festival yesterday. Am I glad I went? Yes. Would I go again? Not on your life.
First, let's get to the positive. Was the music incredible? You bet. The music was so skillfully performed that on more than one occasion, I yelled, "Holy crap!" and nearly dropped my uke in applause. Strumming hands flying so fast they were blurred. Fretting hands all over the neck in a wild frenzy that was ear candy. And yes, even seasoned artists can make a mistake here and there, which was heart warming for a noob like me and taught me a valuable lesson in the vulnerability of professionals, and the compassion of a uke-based audience just out to enjoy the love of music.
I attended some of the workshop sessions, which unfortunately meant missing some of the performances that were going on simultaneously. Attending some of the performances, in turn, meant missing some of the workshops that I had wanted to attend. Of the workshops I did attend, I found one very interesting. Joe Souza from Kanilea gave a fascinating talk about building ukes, harvesting only felled and dead trees, sustainability, finishes, etc., and he brought samples of pieces of ukes in the building process to pass around so we could all see exactly what he was talking about. Really impressive.
Other workshops were just plain fun, with a play along, but not so much to offer in the education department. In other words, I'm still struggling with that pesky Bb, and I groaned audibly when it was announced a Bb would be needed for a play along, much to the amusement and chuckling of more seasoned players around me. But we all laughed about it, so it's all good.
I met people from all over the planet. Someone even flew in from the UK for the event. Like me, she's only been playing a few months, but she's been bitten by the UAS syndrome severely. She already has 27 ukes and she even won another in the raffle later in the evening. Another couple I met flew in from Washington, and they were customers of ULTP, and very pro TC. I met people from other states as well, and some from northern California, too. The people I met were all really nice. Just the type of kind souls you'd expect at a uke festival.
And I got to meet some of the artists as well. I met UU's own Aldrine Guerrero, who put on a stellar performance as well as a fun workshop. He, and others, remarked on what a beautiful uke I brought, so I was beaming with pride.
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(Speaking of my beautiful uke, one of the attendees I met also had an Enya Nova tenor in black. When I pulled my uke out of its case to show it to him and his wife, they gasped wide-eyed. Man, was I ever thrilled with that reaction!) Yes, I think it's pretty gorgeous, myself. And while you can't see it in the above picture, it has another hummingbird on the headstock.
I mentioned to Aldrine that I often host the UU International Open Mic from Seasons of the Ukulele, and he was genuinely surprised and happy to meet me. That was a treat.
More in the next post....
