Sal Goes To Mighty Uke Day

This post will be a challenge for me.  It's going to take great self-discipline to write briefly about Mighty Uke Day!  Six of the Cleveland Fleaharmonics attended this year, and to steal a phrase from one of our number, we had a simply splendid time!

Mighty Uke Day was actually two days long.  It started on Friday, May 8th, with a strum on the steps of the Michigan State Capital.

Sal posing on a tree in front of the Michigan capital.

Sal waiting for the Capital Strum to begin.

Sal -- a very small ukulele -- posing with a very large ukulele -- 13 feet long, to be exact!  This giant uke was seen all over town during Mighty Uke Day.

Three Fleaharmonics -- and Sal -- ready for the Capital Strum to begin!

Later in the day we attended workshops!  That evening we enjoyed a fabulous concert.  The next day meant more workshops and another evening concert.  In between we enjoyed nice meals together and had a generally wonderful time.  If you want to read about all the talented people we saw in concert, click here.

Susan Picking and Sal.  Ms. Picking taught a children's ukulele class, from which I stole ideas for our summer uke program at the library.

Stu Fuchs -- a wonderful instructor. We totally enjoyed his workshops.

This was Sal's third meeting with Victoria Vox.  What an amazing singer/songwriter she is!

The Fleaharmonics gang at our last Mighty Uke Day workshop.  What a great time we had!  Looking forward to next year already!

BLOGPALOOZA: PART THREE! Another Super-Busy Day, Part Two: Ukulele Workshop with Victoria Vox

It's time for BLOGPALOOZA: PART THREE!  Just a few more hastily-written posts, and we'll be all caught up!

Sal and I were very excited when we found out that Victoria Vox  would be coming to Marrell Music to do a ukulele workship and house concert on June 27th.  Victoria is an extremely entertaining singer/songwriter/ukulele player!  She did a house concert at Marrell Music last year -- and it was a great time!   (If you're interested, you can read about it in this post.) 

This year Victoria would be doing a workshop in addition to her concert.  We would be learning to play her song, Technicolor Way.  It sounded like a great time... and then I realized that Sal and I were already committed for the evening, so would not be able to attend the concert.  :(  But I was happy to find out that the workshop was perfectly timed so we could squeeze it in between the daytime trip to the Butler Institute (see yesterday's post) and the evening's previously-planned event (to be described in the next post).  :)

I listened to Technicolor Way on CD, in hopes that I would be semi-ready to tackle it.  The strum pattern of the song is quite complicated, but Victoria rolled it out step-by-step so that many in the group were able to catch on.  I was able to do some of it, but as a world-class klutz, there were parts I couldn't do.  My hope was that I would practice it very slowly at home, and soon be strumming like a champ.   Unfortunately, due to time issues (I don't have any), I have not practiced and have, therefore, forgotten what I learned.  Happily, one of my Flea friends has been practicing, and seems to have the pattern down pretty well, so I will be asking her to show it to me again. 

When the workshop was over, I quickly bugged everyone to pose for the photo below, and then rushed off to my next engagement.  Why is it that there are times when a person wants to go out and do something, but there is nothing to do -- and other times there is a plethora of great options!?  My friends who stayed for the concert said it was wonderful, and I'm sure that is true.  Hoping that Victoria returns to the area soon!

Victoria and Sal posing with a bunch of happy Cleveland Jumping Fleas!

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Sal Meets the Amazing Victoria Vox

Wow!  What a great night Sal and I had!  We were among the fortunate few to attend a Victoria Vox house concert at Marrell Music in Lakewood.   Opening for Victoria was singer/guitarist, Joshua Jesty  -- a friend of hers from way back.  He had a delightfully self-deprecating sense of humor and his songs sounded lovely.  They were very sad, but didn't depress Sal and I too much because they were beautifully done.  As a matter of fact, he was so good that I was not wishing the whole time he would stop and let the person we had come to see start performing (which is the unfortunate fate of many an opening act).  Hearing him was an unexpected pleasure!

I can't say enough about what a great show Victoria Vox put on!  Not only is she a wonderful musician, but she is funny and charming, too.  (I could go on and on, but nobody wants to read large amounts of gushing, so I'll stop.  Suffice it to say that if you ever have the opportunity to see Victoria Vox perform, don't miss it!)  After her totally delightful show, she took some questions and then there was a short break before a brief strum-along was to begin.  I asked Joshua and Victoria to pose with Sal and they agreed.  Now it's time for the pictures to tell the story...

Victoria and Joshua with Sal.

Victoria tunes Sal up!  I didn't think that Little Sal would be played tonight, but she is awfully cute, so what uke lover could resist her?  (She was terribly out of tune, I must admit.)

Lucky Sal is being played by Victoria -- an impromptu rendition of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."  Lots of people got out phones and cameras to take pix and videos. Is this Sal's 15 minutes of fame?

Little Sal + Victoria Vox = Beautiful Music + Fun!

Check out this video of Victoria Vox playing Sal -- shot by one of the awesome Cleveland Jumping Fleas!