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Original Post By:
James Clem
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Date: 6/29/2009 7:55:20 PM
(Updated: 6/30/2009 7:03:22 PM)
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Last weekend was the eighth annual Seattle Ukefest at Dusty Strings and it was a huge hit with a sold out concert on Saturday night, June 27 and two days of very well attended workshops.Saturday's concert opened with the virtuoso jazz based uke of Kimo Hussey. Here is a performer who deserves more recognition than he gets as he won the audience over with not only his uke chops, but his warm, engaging personality. This guy can really play.
I will leave others to review my own (James Clem) performance, but I tried to mix up a lot of different styles (western swing, ragtime blues, some vintage rock, etc) to keep it interesting. I even played a couple of delta slide guitar pieces just to give the concert still more variety, but after all this is a ukulele festival, not a guitar concert, so I didn't want to overdo it! Seattle's great Sunga Rose joined me for a couple of tunes to close out my set. Sunga is a fine singer and uke player and fronts her own vintage jazz group Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators. Check out her group, they are great.
Next up was the one and only Ralph Shaw who really is keeping the high energy British Music Hall tradition going with his wonderful sense of humor, fine vocals and solid playing. No one can work a crowd like Ralph Shaw and he was in fine form. Ralph also did a killer duet with Sunga Rose and all four of us got together for a finale of "On The Sunny Side of The Street" to close out the evening. Everyone seemed to have a great time and you must credit Dusty Strings for putting together a weekend with each performer and workshop teacher playing very different musical styles.
The thing that always strikes my about the uke festivals is the positive attitude and the fun everyone is having. Everyone is very supportive of one another (especially to the beginners). Anyone out there that was there last weekend, let's here from you! I hope you had as good of a time as I did. James
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Posted By:
Gerald Ross
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Date: 6/29/2009 10:15:33 PM |
| Sounds like a great lineup. I'm glad it was a success James.
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Posted By:
BeachBumTom
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Date: 6/29/2009 11:01:58 PM |
| Ralph Shaw played at the So Cal Uke Festival a couple years back and knocked me out.....terrific. And Kimo has become one of my bestest buddies and I've had the pleasure of hearing him all over. I've never heard you, James Clem, but you are running in some fast company so you must be dynamite yourself. No wonder the Seattle event was a big success. So, a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to y'all who took part. Ain't it swell! BBT
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