NY Uke Fest 2012 this weekend

Greetings.

This weekend will mark, for my 7th year*, one of my craziest weekends of the year:  Uke Fest weekend.  This is when hundreds of freakin' wackos... er, I mean ukulele players and enthusiasts, converge from all around the world into New York City for a weekend of concerts, workshops, vendors, and general grass skirting.  Oh how I love/fear this weekend.   This is probably the biggest ukulele event of the year in town, and if you are at all interested in the ukulele and Hawaiian culture, I'm sure you'll find something you'll get a kick out of at the fest.  I also recommend it if you're in the market for a nice ukulele, as they typically have a bigger selection of good ukuleles than you will find at any one place in NYC.  There will be some interesting performances, with a few favorites of mine being Greg Hawkes (no relation) from The Cars, Mihana Souza  from Hawaii, Pat Enos, and fellow New Yorker Becca Stevens.  There'll  even a ukulele ensemble from British Colombia.  Crazy, man!

This year the fest will be at the beautiful New York Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side.  I'll be playing a quick set with my trio this Friday night.  Joined by Jim Whitney and Andrew Burns, I'll be doing a uke-centric set, with some new-ish originals.   Saturday I'll teach a 2pm workshop called "Jazz Chord Tips and Tricks for the Ukulele," where intermediate/advanced players can learn some of my cheesy tricks.  Saturday night I'll play ukulele with the band of festival director Ken "Bari" Murray.  


C'mon by and say hi, er, Aloha!


All the pertinent information is on the "Gig Schedule" page on this here blog.  The link's to the right. :)