I hope you all had a calm, restful weekend,  because next weekend you are going to need all your energy! Get ready for ukulele mayhem! The ball starts rolling this Thursday at 7:30pm with our viewing of the documentary, Under the Boardwalk. This will be held at a great venue-the Church For All Nations, a perfect place for the ukulele, which seems to be booming in all nations. After the film, we will have a Q and A with Nina Koocher, the filmmaker. We’ll have entertainment from Steven Strauss and others, the hula halau will dance and there will also be an open mic, a la Santa Cruz Ukulele Club, the subject of the documentary film.

Sound Check! We were at the Concert Hall at Ethical Culture Society on Saturday and we did our sound check. To the humble ears of the four of us present, we were amazed! The acoustics of this space are already vibrant, but the sound system  that we will supplement with is very natural, warm and effective. It is going to be exciting to see (and hear) our lineup of acts on this stage.

Bliss Blood is coming! Bliss had a gap in her very busy touring schedule, so we were able to satisfy a long-held desire to invite her to play at the Fest. She continues to tour with the Moonlighters but will be appearing at the Fest with Al Street, whom she regularly performs with. I found out how well-known Bliss is the last time I was in Japan. I was wearing a tee shirt with “Brooklyn”  on it and one of the Sweet Hollywaiians pointing to my tee shirt asked me if I knew Bliss Blood! (“Bris Brod, Bris Brod, you know?”) So Bliss and Al will be with us on Saturday.

Exhibition times are pretty well set now. Sponsors, vendors and others will have tables on display on Friday from 4-10pm, Saturday from Noon until 10pm and Sunday from 2pm-9pm.

Next Sunday, we are hoping the weather cooperates and allows us to have our brunch inside Central Park, just across the road from Tavern on the Green (W65th St) If there is any change due to weather, we will announce it here on the website so if in doubt, please check. We are expecting a great day and we have received all the permits, including a sound permit to allow mics and instrument amplification. Tea and coffee, some spontaneous hula, rich ukulele music-a great brunch to start our final day. Some pot-luck additions would still be welcome, so if you have the urge to bring something to share,  let’s keep that tradition alive too. Don’t ruin you appetite though, because we are going back over to Ethical Culture for the luau feast and lots more music and dance. We go until 10PM on Sunday.

See you this weekend!