Welcome to the new website + more ukulele adventures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been hard at work getting the new website up and running and I hope you enjoy it! 

My last big blog was about the Cairns, Australia 2013 Ukefest and I'll be writing about some of the other adventure I have had since then. Lots to catch you up on! 

First off we have the Wine Country Ukulele Festival. This happened to be my first ukulele festival in California (believe it or not!) and I had an absolute blast. It was nice to see some familiar artists like Sarah Maisel, Paul Hemmings, Stu Herreid and Ken Middleton, but it was also my first time doing an event with Jason Arimoto, Dave Egan, Heidi Swedberg, and Daniel Ward. It was a great time to be had, and even though the temperature started to rise, it didn't effect the amazing amounts of workshop attendees who were there to learn! Being a full time ukulele teacher, I -loved- the emphasis on workshops! Thank you to Elaine for brining me down! 

Next we have the Tunes in the Dunes, put on by Full Heart Productions on the Coast of Oregon. This was such an amazing retreat. This is the very first time that I've been a part of a "retreat" like this... you could see how people changed during this event. For many attendees, they were put in groups for the first time and performed for the first time! From the food, to the location on the coast... just amazing. It felt like family after all was said and done. I was joined by Aaron & Nicole Keim, Jim D'ville, Guido Heistek and the Diggers who all brought such great energy in leading their workshops and performances. 

Later in the year it was off to Tampa Bay, Florida! I have not seen such energy before... Every single attendee brought so much positive energy with them, that it was impossible not to be swept up in it. I was joined by Sarah Maisel, Jim D'Ville, Julia Nunes, Steve & Amanda Boisen (the Barnkickers), Mike Hind and many other great local artists. It was great to see many east coast friends that I haven't seen in a long time! Can't wait to be back in Florida this March!

Hawaii Island Ukulele Retreat... this was quite the event! Just like the Tunes in the Dunes, it was amazing to get to know all of the attendees in the week we spent in Hawaii together. It was filled to the brim with performances, workshops, sightseeing... this will be a great event to keep an eye on. We were treated to great artists such as Bryan Tolentino, Keoki Kahumoku, Kris Fuchigami, Sarah Maisel, Dave Egan, and got to visit Chuck Moore's factory! An incredible trip. Huge thank you to Elaine and Andy Andrews!

There are a lot more things in the works! I can't wait to share more with you. But it is incredibly cold right now (it is now Dec 8th and we just had a huge day of snow!) so I will share more soon.

Much love and aloha,

Craig

New CD!

First off, after getting back from Cairns, I've been working hard all summer with my producer Tyler Fortier on the new album. We have finally finished it and it is available right now at CraigChee.BandCamp.com I'll have a huge write up about the project and all the amazing people that helped me in the next post. It will soon be up on iTunes and Google Play but for now BandCamp is the only place to get it digitally. You can email me to order physical copies or come see me at a ukefest :)

Cairns Ukulele Festival 2013 Day 10-11 + Wrap Up

*Again, a link to all my photos from the festival: All of my Cairns Ukefest 2013 photos!

The final days of the Cairns Ukulele Festival 2013.

What an amazing time… I always seem to be very reflective when I'm back from a long trip, but right now I'm being blasted with so many different emotions. I guess you could say I am bursting with a renewed vigor, a better sense of direction and surprisingly a bit of relief.   Ah, and maybe a punch to the face with inspiration.

We had such an incredible group this year. With Bryan Tolentino (with his beautiful wife Kalehua), Halehaku Seabury, Sarah Maisel, Ryan Imamura, the crew from KoAloha (Alan & Paul Okami, Griz) along with Australia's Montgomery Brothers (Ryo & Damo), Thom Jackson and Tiffany Smith, we all connected so well. For about a week, all of us pretty much lived together, ate together, shared songs, stories and more. I could sit and listen to any of these musicians all day, but to have them all join me on stage… just an amazing feeling. They all feel like family.

That's pretty much the last 2 days in a nutshell. Sharing of songs, sharing of hula, a blend of so many genres and backgrounds connected by the one instrument that many of us love so much. Thank you Gaby for putting this all together as well as to all the great volunteers for making this great festival happen!

I do wish I had more of a chance to hang out with the amazing Flap! or the Sweet Hollywaiians (who rocked it just as hard as when I met them 2 years ago!). Flap! from Australia has a great sound, I hope to do some collaborations with them if I'm back in the future. With the Sweet Hollywaiians, we got to spend a beautiful dinner together (thanks again Alan!) and they are just as friendly and funny as they are on stage. I was so happy to catch up with them and I'm so glad they are doing well. I promised I'd cook for them the next time they pass through Oregon so they don't have to rely on Panda Express :)

One of the hardest parts about this festival is trying to do everything and be everywhere! There is so much going on during the week that if I don't manage my time right, it completely wipes me out! This was the case last year where I was just trying to do too much but did not allow myself to rest in-between. There is a lot to balance for me, first we have all the promotional stuff (radio/tv/newspaper etc), the special events like the Green Island concert, Mystery Bus, etc, trying to find and catch up with old friends/attendees and get to know new attendees, take photos at every event, spend time with other artists, practice for the concerts (usually with some new collaborations on the spot), catch new acts/groups, cursing the dozens of $2 coins in your pocket that are dragging your pants down,  all while adjusting to the climate/time change. It can be quite the challenge! This year I had a lot more balance and although I still couldn't be everywhere, I think I did the most I could.

There are many things that I am doing now that I did not expect to be doing a few years ago. And the relief I mentioned earlier, only refers to the fact that I have been able not only survive the past few years but slowly work towards my goals. Using my first time in Cairns 2 years ago as a benchmark, I am definitely relieved and excited that I followed through with my decision to pursue music full time.

I can't believe I've been able to share the stage with so many legendary artists in the past couple years, travel as much as I do (not a lot compared to some others, but enough at the moment for me!) and to not only perform but to teach! Lessons have picked up so much and have provided me a chance to focus on creating and working on new music and I am incredibly grateful that my workshops have received such glowing reviews. I do take a lot of pride in my teaching and I'm glad to see the work spent on the workshops has paid off. Though I'm not playing nearly as much publicly in Eugene, it makes the shows that much more exciting throughout the year. There has been an increase in private party gigs though which has been fun! I think once the new album is complete, I'll again make the shift in performing more and teaching less.

I hope to be working with these artists much sooner than later again! I'll be seeing Sarah Maisel soon during her August west coast tour and at the Wine Country Ukefest!

It's going to be quite a packed end to 2013 with some new announcements soon to come! Special thanks to DaSilva Ukuleles, again to Gaby, the volunteers and all of the attendees, thank you for your support! The biggest thanks to my parents for putting up with my shenanigans and being so incredibly supportive. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to follow my dreams and I hope I can inspire others to follow theirs too!

Much Love and Aloha,

Craig

Cairns Ukulele Festival 2013 Day 4-9 (I fell behind!)

I have been having way too much fun at this year's ukefest and have fell behind on my updates! I'll be sure to leave a ton of photos at the end of this post to make up for it! If you're interested in all of the photos I have been taking, please frequent here: My Cairns Ukefest 2013 photos!

If you're interested in my personal experiences, keep reading! Since I last wrote, the other festival artists have been arriving. Sarah Maisel, Ryan Imamura, Bryan Tolentino, Halehaku Seabury, Thom Jackson as well as the KoAloha crew (Alan Tagama, Alan and Paul Okami) have been hanging out and sharing a lot of music.

I have also been seeing many familiar faces from those who live in Cairns and those who travel many miles each year to be here. It feels like a big family reunion! I must say, the artist line up this year is incredible... I feel so honored to be a part of this crew.

Ryan has taken everyone by surprise and has come out strong with his take on pop music and high energy performances. Keep an eye out on this guy, he is only going to get better and better. Bryan and Hale have been so inspiring to watch. When they perform, I am reminded why music was so important in my life growing up in Hawai'i. They remind me of why I wanted to play music, the sharing, the raw joy of creating something spontaneous. I can't wait for their full set on Sunday night.

Sarah I believe has become even more confident and comfortable wow-ing a mass of people with both her personality and music. She is such a fun person to even just be around. I am so happy that she made it down for this festival. She's been such a pleasure to work with the past few months and am so proud of her success.

Thom Jackson has still been keeping up with his great performance skill and even the KoAloha gang is spreading the aloha not only with their great uke building workshop but singing and doing hula too! Such a fun time to be had by all!

I need to make a special shout out to the Montgomery Brothers... What an incredible duo of musicians. Hopefully I'll have some videos to post after my concert with them tomorrow night. They are so versatile and add so much to the many performers they are helping to back up. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the festival events are getting better and more efficient. We had a great time at Green Island (I didn't get extremely sea sick this year!!!) and the mystery tour bus today. I can't wait to see what Gaby (Cairns Ukefest director) thinks of next! I could go on and on, but I need to catch up on sleep with some early workshops tomorrow morning, the world record attempt in the afternoon and my performance at Union Jack at night. Will try and update soon. Weather is beautiful, the people are lovely as ever, music is flowing, and laughs are to be had. This is Cairns.