The Uke Box On Summer Tour

Wowzie! This summer Marko & I are touring around festivals with "The Uke Box". We perform, give workshops and often have a little music market where we sell ukuleles, toy accoordeons, washboard ties and various handmade musical gadgets & goodies.

We've had so much fun and have had a great reception from the festival go-ers. So much so that we're planning on buying a big truck so we can make one long summer festival tour through europe next year. The last festival we did was the Pijnackerplein Country & Bluegrass Festival. This was such a fun event. They had great bands such as The Bluegrass Boogiemen, The Hillbilly Stringpickers and my favorite, Rikke & Emma! They also had ponies, horseshoe throwing, extreme hammering & a fake cow that you could milk! What i also loved about the fest was that there were all kinds of folks there...the rockabilly crowd, the lost hillbilly crowd & uh, line dancers etc... I love it when those really super cool rockabilly guys with pompadours and tattoo's fall for the ukulele. Lots of little ukulele boxes tucked under those tattooed arms! I must admit that our (my) performance there was probably the worst of the summer. I woke up a little late, was rushin' around trying to get the market set up and didn't have time to warm up and boy can you hear it. You can't win them all but i swear, next time i'll pull myself out of bed on time. We have many festivals coming up but the one i'm most excited about is the Dublin International Ukulele Festival. We'll be performing, giving a workshop and will definately have "The Jumping Flea Market" set up. Come by and see us if you're in Dublin Town!

Video of the Ukulele Festival Vincenza 2009

Il Festival delle Ukulele Italia era FANTASTICO!

Just got back from the Ukulele Festival in Italy. It was so lovely! Great catching up with lots of our ole' ukulele friends and making new ones. We had big fun with Ukulelezaza & Yannik from Les Mecs du Noord. It was also really wonderful to meet Aaron Keim of Bean Sprout Banjo's and Yan Yalego. Oh, and let's talk about Miss Maria Bicchierri! She's all kinds of beautiful and boy what a voice. Her boyfriend, Remigio from "The Hot Gipsy Trio" is such a joy to watch perform. Has the biggest, most mischievous grin ever! Unfortunately at this time i have no photographs or video of these folks but i did receive these photographs today from a swell guy named Diego. This is Marko & i (The Uke Box) opening up the fest on Saturday night. Grazie Diego!
This is just a small selection of all the amazing people we experienced in Vincenza. You know what i've noticed about the uke performers, players and enthousiasts? They're such a divers and multi-talented group. Film makers, writers, artists... Seems like they are bursting with creativity and embarking on the most innovative projects. Very inspiring.

The city of Vincenza is gorgeous by the way. Many of the town buildings dating from the mid 1500's. But boy, was it hot. It was Mississippi hot. I'm just not used to the hot anymore after so many years in Holland. Thankfully, the Italians make the most delicious Gelato or Ice Cream in the world. Delicious way to cool down. There is one specialty they called a Trufffel Gelato, if i remember correctly. Chocolate ice cream and expresso. Good Golly that was yummy.

The orgnization of this festival was tops! Bravo to all the people from Aquila Corde for a wonderful event. A special "Grazie Mille" to Francesca, Mimmo, Carlo, Beppe and Daniele for the good care. I hope you're all having a good rest with your feet up and a big damn Gelato in your hand. Ciao Amigolele's!