Cairns Ukulele Festival Day 4 + 5

Wow the days are flying way too fast! So the past two days were filled with boat rides, bus tours, both filled with mini concerts and the official opening to the Cairns Ukefest! There is way too many things going on to write out in detail at this time (I need to wake up early to teach a workshop), but I will say that everyone seems to having an amazing time. Performers included! There is such a strong bond between the performers and I believe are having as just as much if not more fun than the attendees! Am many of last years attendees know, I got really sea sick on the boat out to Green Island and history repeated itself... at least for the first part of the boat ride. But it was worth getting out to Low Isles, it was stunning. Ukuleles filled the Quick Silver ship inside and out and despite the cold weather, everyones' joy kept us warm and kept us playing. Derrick Sebastian and Monitoba Hal brought the crowd to their feet. It was a great start to the concerts and I only wish more people could have experienced it. After taking the most of the night to recover from the sea almost 100 of us boarded a double decker bus to go sight seeing and jam along the way. Despite the wind on the top it was a really neat experience to go around Cairns and take in all the beauty it had to offer. The stand out moment for me was watching Fulare_pad perform for the first time. Brilliant... so much fun and so much energy. I really look forward to their 2nd concert at the Tanks on Sunday! While this was going on we had other uke stars hosting workshops and had the showcase of Australian ukulele masters. There's so much happening!!! We are making use of every single hour of the day and I am so excited to be including a ton of local and international performers in my set tomorrow after the world record attempt...

I will leave you with photos tonight and will promise to write up more detail about the many events that happened and will happen. We have a HUGE day tomorrow with the record attempt and the start of the full length concerts. It's so hard to keep some some of the surprises under wraps... I hope to video my set for you to experience them first hand! Good night, wish us luck!

Cairns Ukulele Festival Day 2 + 3

I am struggling to stay awake and update the blog because there has been so many things happening during the last few days! There were ukulele paintings, ukulele building workshops (by the Ko'Aloha crew), interviews, practices, and of course spending time trying to find my luggage! Good news, Qantas claims to have finally found it and will be delivering it early in the morning... fingers are crossed! I will post a few photos that I have taken over the past couple of days and will explain everything tomorrow when I have more time (need to wake up early to photograph an event in the morning before opening ceremonies in the evening! All of the artists are having a blast together and there will be some amazing collaborations happening this weekend... I'm so excited! Enjoy the photos and remember that I will edit them all at the end of the trip and post much more than the select few used in this blog.

Cairns ukulele festival day 1

A rough start filled with chance encounters that remind me what kind of person I aspire to be. It hasn't been an easy trip so far. Of course there was a pair of babies 1 row and 2 seats away that did not seem to sleep at all for the entirety of the flight from LA to Sydney... or course there was a group of high schoolers studying abroad that gave no second thought to slamming the overhead compartments closed after stuffing it to the brim even with an instrument and camera gear sharing the space (extremely glad I bought a great uke case for the trip, will write about that a bit later). This goes a bit further... We'll start from the top...

After a drive from Eugene to Portland, a flight from Portland to LA, my flight from LA to Sydney was held up for almost 3 hours. Apparently the handle for the cargo hold fell off as we were getting ready to take off. That is all the information we were given and one can only assume that a fix is more complicated that replacing the handle with a spare one. Because of the delay, I missed my flight to Cairns from Sydney and ended up stuck for a few hours in customs trying to find my luggage. I had flown Qantas from LA to Sydney and was supposed to have transferred to a flight from JetStar to Cairns. Apparently Qantas and JetStar don't play nice together (as I was reminded numerous times by employees from both companies). I was sent through the Customs line twice, checked two separate areas of baggage claims and still could not find my bag. The whole ordeal wasn't all bad... Staff members from both Qantas and the airport security helped me get around long lines of security and customs the second time as well as escorting me around straight to the ticketing area to figure out my next flight. It was genuine kindness that drove these people to help. They could have just pointed me in the right direction but took it upon themselves to make sure I was taken care of. Some of the staff escorted me all the way through Customs the second time to make sure I had no other issues to worry about. They definitely made a difficult experience bearable.

From there I had to take a couple extra flights to finally arrive in Cairns.

Due to the extra flights I was able to meet an up and coming artist from Portland, a Ukulele Underground member studying abroad for the summer, a family from Samoa, a couple that just learned the joys of the ukulele and a couple of rugby players who were interested in learning the ukulele but didn't know where to start. The whole ordeal has been a blessing in disguise. I spent the night BBQ-ing and playing music with my lovely host family the Walkers and couldn't be happier. Though I can only hope in the morning I'll get a phone call from the airlines with good news about finding my luggage filled with the rest of my camera gear, CDs, uke gear and clothes. Fingers are crossed :)

Cairns Ukulele Festival Day 0

I am sitting here in the LAX airport waiting for my flight to Sydney. I remember last year how excited I was heading to Cairns for the first time and as hard as it is to believe, I think I'm even more excited this year to be returning. It's almost like returning home to see family. That's one of the biggest differences about this festival. With many events during the week leading up to the weekend of concerts, one is able to meet and have more time to interact with other festival goers. When talking to groups of people last year, a common story was that they just met during the festival and ended up spending the week together. Absolutely amazing. I told myself last year that if I was to return, I would want to be involved even more, to get a chance to spend more time with attendees... My wish came true and Gaby (the amazing festival director) has given me a chance to be much more involved and I will be giving it my all to help live up to and exceed the growing expectations of this festival. As the ukulele continues to gain momentum, the Cairns Ukulele Festival will continue to grow and stand out as one of the greatest ukulele festivals in the world, especially when paired with the amazing crew that put it on. For me, it will forever be a home away from home.

Like last year, I will be trying to do a daily blog and will be taking a ton of photos! Don't forget to check out my youtube channel, or listen to my album on iTunes or spotify. Here is a link to a blog that shows a quick sticker we made for the festival! They were a great company to order stickers from , will do so again soon! A preview of our new sticker!