Mighty Uke Day III

I'm gonna start by saying that I know I'm cheating here.  This blog is supposed to feature Sal's travels in the state of Ohio, and the photos in this post were taken in Michigan.  My rationale = it's okay to make an exception to the Ohio rule if the travel is ukulele-related.  So, on with Sal's trip to Mighty Uke Day!

I wasn't able to get to Old Town Lansing until almost noon, which meant that Sal and I missed a lot of the cool stuff that was going on.  Sal stayed in her case during the Make Your Own Ukulele workshop, where everybody made a Wolfelele Ukulele, because there just wasn't enough time for me to bring her out.  There wasn't even enough time for me to finish making my uke!  The workshop ran longer than I anticipated, so I had to rush off.   I brought home a half-made Wolfelele, but all is well. The instructor explained how to complete the uke, so I'm confident that Sal will have a new sibling soon.

The next event was the one I had been anticipating the most -- the "Hooked On Uke?  We Can Help!" workshop -- taught by James Hill!  The guy is amazing, and I was a little bit incredulous that I was actually going to be in a workshop being taught by him.  When I walked into the room and saw him sitting there, it was such a thrill -- and then I saw that Anne Janelle was also there!  After watching both of them play online and listening to their cds...  it was just so cool.  And it got better from there.  He was such a great teacher.  He gave us challenges that were hard, but not too hard -- and he kept it light and fun.  I will be practicing the new things he taught us, and getting off my uke plateau! Yeah!

James Hill doing the fingering and Anne Janelle doing the strumming!  Sal never had it so good!

Later in the day Sal and I visited Elderly Music to see their fantastic selection of ukuleles.  See if you can find Sal in the pictures below! 

A giant wall of ukuleles!  There was another smaller wall of them to the right that I couldn't get in the shot.  Not only were there lots of ukes -- there were so many shoppers it was impossible to get a picture with no uke aficionados in it!  After I put Sal down and walked away to take photos, people began picking her up and looking at her!  She is quite a conversation starter!

Around the corner was another wall of ukuleles.  These are the instruments with the big price tags.  Sal is definitely the poor cousin here!

The day ended with a great concert.  The headliners -- James Hill and Anne Janelle, of course -- were as incredible as one would expect, and the opening acts also wowed the audience.  Mighty Uke Day was a mighty good time!  I hope that Sal and I can do it again next year.  This year we just dipped our toes in the water, so to speak, but next year we'll dive in and enjoy the whole experience!