Wham-Bam-Spam-A-Lam

Click on the images to ZOOM! Or, even better, visit The Uke Box's Flickr to view the complete set of photographs
On April the 16th, 'The Uke Box' hosted the 12th edition of the Ukulele Jamboree and HOLY HAWAIIAN ISLANDS did we put on one hell of a ukulele party. I'm not kidding y'all. You probably wouldn't imagine that you could have a ukulele blow out...but we did. This show was held in SPAM which is a big warehouse filled to the brim with beautiful vintage/design furniture en goodies. You can imagine what an incredible setting this was. Which reminds me, let me first say THANK YOU to Sandra & Marcel, the very brave & ever charming couple who run this amazing shop. René 'Polygoon' Verberne was our announcer and set the mood perfectly with his vintage style showmanship. As always, we kicked the Ukulele Jamboree off with a Ukulele Intervention (Ukulele workshop for aspiring ukulele players). Folks could rent a uke and play along. And, as an extra bonus, we had Ukulelezaza give a more advanced workshop concerning right hand techniques. Although this was quite difficult material, the participants were really hanging in there with him. Great sight to see about 50 folks bent over their ukes with looks of such determination. Afterward, 'Zaza WOW-ed us with a performance that made us all want to set our ukuleles on fire. Our STAR of the evening was Miss Shelley O'Brien from Canada who performed with such joy. She really does, that girl beams when she plays. We were incredibly privileged to have her here in Rotterdam to play us songs from her new CD, 'You, Me and The Birds". Thanks BABE! We also had an Open Mic, which is one of my favorite parts of the show. Yvonne, Sim, Sira, Jeff & Henk entertained the hell out of us. Unfortunately due to the length of the extra workshop earlier in the evening we got pushed for time and weren't able to get everyone on stage who wanted to play. We really hated that that happened. Our sincere apologies for this. Next time we'll be absolutely sure to get you all in. Here is Jeff performing "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter"...
A new addition to the Jamboree was the exhibit of 12 beautiful artist's edition ukuleles created by 8 artists. René Verberne made some fantastic carousels and turntables which enabled us to show the art work on the ukes from all angles. (Thanks Buurman!) The Jumping Flea Market was also set up so that folks could purchase ukes and other nifty musical gadgets such as toy accordions and washboard ties. And how in the world do you wind up a night like this? With a Big Damn Performance by The Big Damn Ukulele Band of course. Oh, and Rene played his tooter!
But, the coolest part of the evening? All the folks that attended this party. Nearly 150 of you showed up and ukulele-d, sang along, laughed, danced and had fun. And, another thing that made me extra happy was the photographers and videographers that came to record this wonderful evening. So, to Rick Witlox & friend, Lex Zonneveld and Ruud Mooij i would like express my gratitude. Oh, and many thanks to 'The Beast from the East' and Alex who worked the bar and the market. Lastly, thanks to all of our ukulele friends that make our projects so wonderful. We hope to see all of you at the next show!