Now in its third year, the annual Milwaukee Ukulele Festival – sponsored by The Milwaukee Ukulele Club – moves to a new home.
The event, founded and run by Milwaukee musician Lil' Rev, has been growing each year. This year's all-day festival takes place Saturday, Sept. 24 at Sunset Playhouse, 800 Elm Grove Rd., in Elm Grove.
"The ukulele, as an instrument is small, easy to hold and handle, you only have four strings to tune and the chord shapes are easy enough for most to grasp, relatively quickly and that is appealing to so many," Rev has told me.
"There is also an intimacy in that you have to hold it close to your bosom, you strum it with your hands and not with a plectrum so there is a cool human connection to the instrument. On top of all that, the ukulele is not only a cheap buy, but it is highly portable for your next beach party, camp outing, church picnic and more!"
In the past the Ukulele Festival was held at The Coffee House, near Marquette University. The new venue offers stadium seating and other amenities.
The doors open at 9 a.m. for a series of workshops – for all skill levels – that run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Dominator, Jon and Seeso then play a dinner-hour concert at 5 p.m. Then, at 7, Rev himself headlines the main concert for the first time. The performances will feature the uke in a range of musical settings, from American roots music to Hawaiian music and beyond.
Joining Rev will be Steve Cohen, Peter Roller, Jon Simmons, Robin Pluer and Dave Fox.
All day long there will be vendors, refreshments, jamming, lectures, a raffle for new and vintage instruments and more.
Among the evening concert performers and workshop teachers are Grammy Award-winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer; Michigan's Rob Bourassa, who leads a workshop on "The Music of Irving Berlin," and Gerald Ross; Marianne Brogan, founder and director of the Portland Ukulele Association and
Portland Uke Fest; Hawaii's Craig Chee; Florida's The Barnkickers, featuring the father-daughter teams of Steve and Amanda Boisen; and others.
Admission to the two concerts is $20. To attend only the workshops, admission is $45. An all-day pass is $65.
Purchase tickets by calling (262) 782-4430 or visit MUfest.com, which also has a complete festival schedule.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
