UkeFesting

It’s amazing what you can find on the internet, but you probably knew that. What I found is a four day ukulele camp for adults at the Strathmore Music Center, and I signed up.

I don’t love commuting to Washington, DC for anything, but I’m kind of used to it by now after clinical studies at Georgetown University and NIH. On the best of days, you’d better allot an hour’s driving time, but there aren’t many best of days in the vicinity of the DC beltway, so this morning--the last day of the Ukefest--was closer to an hour and a half.

Cathy Fink, who led most of the sessions I signed up for, is a ridiculously accomplished musician, but also an entertaining group leader with patience for the fumblings of those such as I, who squandered our childhoods and didn’t hone our musical wiring when the honing was good.

While I could not impress anyone with my musical prowess, collectors did notice and admire my 1927 Gibson uke. I am not worthy of a venerable instrument, but there--it’s got me.

Cathy Fink may start to think I’m stalking her, as I’ve just signed up for an 8 week songwriting class she’s teaching, starting in September. (More commuting to DC, and--in a note of exceptional coolness, there will be a guest lecture by Tom Paxton, writer of The Marvelous Toy...zip when it moves, and bop when it stops...) She’s also appearing at the 2 day Virginia UkeFest in Richmond, at the beginning of November, and I’ve got my sights set on that one as well. I’m not stalking her though--I just see a path that interests me and she happens to be standing smack in the middle of it. No worries though. I am eminently ignorable, and I’m sure she’ll manage just fine.