Burning Uke

Another interesting bus ride today.

The lady across from me - caucasian, mid-40's, conservatively dressed with makeup and hair done up, huge square earrings with pastel blocks on them - had a plastic grocery bag filled with something colorful at her feet, and a small instrument case in the empty seat next to her. Also at her feet was a plastic Trader Joe's re-usable grocery bag. Sticking out of it was a fresh-cut flower in cellophane. I asked her "What kind of instrument is that?"

"It's a ukelele," she said.
"Cool." I said.

She went on to tell me a lot about ukeleles. They are inexpensive. They are easy to play. People have pretty low expectations of ukeleles - you don't have to sound good when you play.

And then she mentioned this yearly gathering of ukelele players in the desert where they burn a huge wooden ukelele. It's called Burning Uke.

She also mentioned that she was on her way to the beach to meet up with the group she plays with ("None of us are very good, really."). She said they play every Saturday at 10am through summer. "Do you practice a lot?" I asked? "No," she replied. "I'm one of those people who doesn't sound good when she plays. But I have fun and that's what it's about. I only know two chords."

I don't think I'll make it to Burning Uke, but I was intrigued enough to check out the concert on the way home - the beach they were playing at was between the bus depot and my home. I rolled around the corner and was surprised - there was a group of about 30 muscians in the sand - mostly ukeleles, three tambourines, a couple of guitars, one stand-up bass, and this old guy on the bongos. Watching this guy made my face hurt from smiling so much: