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ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
 Posted - 04/28/2009 : 08:22:51 AM
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I arrived at the San Luis Rey Mission shortly after 8:00am. There
were already a few vendors setting up their booths. I erected a 9'
square EZ Up and a 7' triangle EZ up behind it. I used 4 bungie
cords to hang up 2 Vox DA5's at the top rear of the front square
EZ up and plugged a microphone and an instrument cable into
each for busking at our recruiting booth (we signed up 15 new
members!).
Now for the bonus - Michelle M shows up in her Camry with
decorations stacked up on the roof rack that looked similar to a
scene from a Ma and Pa Kettle movie. At a lightning pace, Michelle
(known down here as the "Real Michelle") transformed our plain
booth into an authentic Tiki Hut, where we played ukuleles and
danced hula for about three hours before we started our concert.
We were far enough away from the stage to not interfere with the
other bands that were playing. The vendors all around us really
enjoyed the crowds we drew, as they stopped by there booths and
purchased wares. Several newspaper photographers snapped
photos of our "Tiki Hut" and street performances, as well as our
concert at 2pm.
By 2pm we had about 40 members of the Ukulele Society of
America present, of which about half performed on the stage. The
other half were enjoying the concert from the audience vantage
point. We'll have Deja performing soon!
The winds were gusting 10 to 20 miles per hour in the afternoon,
by the time we arrived at the stage. Music stands and pages were
blowing everywhere. The winds also made it difficult to hear the
bass laying the backbeat. It was not too bad, as I used the line out
of the AXL B60 bass amp to feed the input of a Roland Microcube
Bass RX that was placed to direct sound across the stage so
everyone could hear it. Susan R (Hey Blondie) loaned me her
heavier music stand for the front of the stage so it would not topple
over in the heavy, gusting crosswinds. Terry T, Marie T, Tina S,
Hermie, Dallas N and I led the vocals. Eirik "The Iceman" played
bass for the entire two hour set. Fred Thompson played a lightning
fast solo of "Crazy G", just before we wrapped the concert and the
Earth Day celebration with "To You Sweetheart Aloha/Aloha Oe".
They say to always leave the best for last! Our lovely wahines
danced 14 hulas during our 2 hour concert! The brick stage was
hot enough to cook sausage and eggs, so several of the wahines
wore shoes while dancing. It was lovely to watch as wahines from
several halau's had varying routines on a split stage. Mariko,
who choreographed several of the hulas was cheerleading from
the audience. Our wahines invited ladies from the audience up to
dance hula to the "Hukilau". Tommy G "Lei'd" them and several
other ladies in the audience! We also played the background
music and stops for three cakewalks. The rest of the bands played
for a half hour at a time. We played for two (Five hours including the
jams at our "Tiki Hut"!)!
The events coordinator, Maureen Sullivan, said the attendance was
counted at over 6,000. Great job, Maureen and the rest of the
Mission San Luis Rey staff! It was a huge crowd until the very end.
I'd like to extend thanks and a job well done to the Ukulele Society
of America, Margaret and Susan R for most of the photos
used in this report, the "Real Michelle" for a superb job with
the decorations and the Ukulele Society of America and it's
supporters!!! Ric
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ukulele_Society_of_America
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 4:53:06 PM
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Thanks Ric!
I'm really upset that I had to miss it. Stayed too long at church and luncheon. Keep up the good work.
E Malama Pono,
CAPT Mike |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Kathie Fry
Aloha
USA
25 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2009 : 09:13:09 AM
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Love the pictures!
- Kathie |
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