Greetings,
I played ukulele in two groups at the Anchorage Folk Festival last week. We meet in the Green Room backstage, where we can warm up and practice before the performance. It's also where we leave our coats and personal things. There are lots of people coming and going backstage. It was so nice to wear a Side Effect around my waist with my keys, Tom Bihn wallet, and phone.
Frolicking Ukuleles:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9ucQzGo20
We were constantly laughing during practice. We re-wrote a song from The Lion King just for the Folk Festival. The House at Pooh Corner was challenging to play. Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen was re-written for ukulele players by R. H. Eichler and we added our own modifications. Frim Fram Sauce was so much fun to play, with a great chord progression. This was a musical comedy act, very playful and irreverent. From left to right: Ron, Elisa (me), Leslie, and Mark.
The Alaska Jumping Flea Society:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ1-CGhpHJA
As you can see, this group is about having fun. And we do, at 7:00 pm every Friday night at Guido's Pizza in Anchorage. If you are in town, you are invited to join us. We have several loaner ukuleles.
We played several popular songs and one written by Nick "the Dream Weaver", who is one of the founders of our ukulele group. Nick's song Bull Frog (copyright 2010) is a group favorite! He's the guy in the white Hawaiian shirt on the right.
You can barely see the strap around my waist. I'm the one in the teal blue shirt and black pants just to the right of center. I slid the Side Effect to the back and it was completely out of the way.
My regular gig bag is a Maker's Bag in Nordic/Ultraviolet. It was loaded with everything for the other events I had last week, so a small Shop Bag in Ultraviolet was my Folk Festival gig bag this year. It was perfect! A small water bottle went in one side pocket and my hat and gloves tucked into the other pocket. My wool sweater fit, with my jacket on top while we were on stage.
Both videos were recorded by Dewayne Brantley. Enjoy! elisa