The Back Story: December, 2009

While visiting family over the holiday, I noticed my mum’s old Kamaka ukulele that she’s had since the 60’s, sitting cracked on the shelf. Seemed a shame to waste a perfectly good ukulele, so I talked her into letting me get it fixed up for her.

New Year’s Eve, 2009, on my way up to Baltimore to ring in the new year with friends, I dropped the uke off for repair at the House of Musical Traditions. They were selling beginner Makala ukes for $35, so I picked one up. The man behind the counter tuned it up, and before I would leave I asked him to teach me a few chords.  He taught me C, G, and F and showed me a basic song (I wrote the uke tabs on the back of the price tag)

By an odd serendipitous quirk of the universe, there were no less than 5 ukuleles, 2 accordions, and a mandolin at the NYE party.  A few hours into the party, I was teaching everyone Auld Lang Syne!

Thus began, 2010, the year of the uke.

I spent the weekend holding the uke nearly non-stop. While I was watching tv. While surfing the internet. Waiting for food to cook.  (I didn’t take it with me when I went to the library. That would have been weird.)

Getting that first ukulele was like the scene in Harry Potter when he first gets his wand.

I haven’t put it down since.

The Back Story: One Year Later – December, 2010

One year, to the day, after I picked up my first ukulele, I was on stage at the Sycamore Rouge, MCing their NYE Gala.  I had the honor of realizing a dream of playing the traditional NYE song, Auld Lang Syne on stage, with a huge brass band (No BS Brass Band, from Richmond, VA) backing me up!  There was no going back.  The Uke was there to stay!