Napa Wine Country Ukulele Fest Recap

I'm a little afraid to say this, because it might ruin my reputation as a complete train-wreck, but I actually remember the events of this past weekend, September 10-13.  It may have been that I consumed just the right amount of alcohol or enough water to counterbalance the effects of said alcohol, or maybe the whole adage of "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger", has suddenly turned me into some kind of hot mess superhero.  Whatever it was, I'm happy to report to you what I recall from this weekend of ukulele mayhem.

On Friday, by some act of divinity, Boozelele, Little6ster and GrumpyCoyote (aka GrumpSauceNoPants) all arrived at the Oakland Int'l airport at the same time.  Not a few hours apart each, but exactly at the same moment.  This means I only needed to make one trip to the airport.  You can hear the oil wells all breathe out a big sigh of relief.  We then headed straight to Oakland Chinatown where I  introduce them (somewhat menacingly) to Vietnamese sandwiches. Turns out they liked the food very much, and they even had a "vegetarian" option for Grumpy. The rest of the day was drinking and jamming at the house.  6ster brought us all some wine from France for our drinking pleasure.  Did you know they made wine in France too? Wild!

On Saturday, we (for some reason) had a late start heading out to the Wine Festival in Napa.  The drive was beautiful, but extremely long.  We were all antsy to get to the event because we were running so late.  Boozelele was especially anxious to get there because he was forced to listen to country music on most of the ride.  The only times we weren't listening to country music, it was Marilyn Manson on the stereo.  Not a good day to be Boozelele.  We met Craig Brandau, Cali Rose, Ken Middleton, Don, Bruce and Bruce's son when we arrived at the festival.  Kind of farted around for a while and then played some songs with Ken on stage as well as off to the side on a dirt hill.  Picnicked with Don, Bruce and son, Dominator and his wife.  Browsed the ukulele marketplace section and met some more cool people, Lorenzo (all the way from Italy), Victoria Vox, Mandalyn May.  Strummed some ukes, nodded our heads like we understood the subtle differences between tonewoods and strings, then disappeared into the parking lot.  It was time to go home and do some serious drinking!!  We recorded some tunes that night and were joined by Mandalyn who is a totally cool chick.  In case you don't know, she's a roaming musician that just kind of floats around California (and the world) and plays music all over the place.  That's cool!  She also had a bag of guv'ment chips she got from the Strawberry Music Festival.  I just finished the last of it today!

Sunday was something else, the five of us went to eat brunch (or by the time we got out of the house, it was more like late lunch) at an outdoor restaurant on the waterfront of the bay.  We had bloody marys, omelettes, burgers and sunshine.  Beautiful day to be outside (and alive!).  We then ran into some hipsters that had been partying for 2 or 3 days straight and Mandalyn and 6ster took turns serenading a dude that was passed out on a bench.  His friends just stood there and laughed and laughed and laughed.  We have video of the happenings and it will likely be posted to Youtube soon so keep your eye out for some kind of jackass montage on one of our channels.  We then took some prom photos next to the waterfront and then headed home to meet up with Don and Bruce, who were waiting patiently for us while our tardy asses made our way home.  More drinking and jamming.  It's what we do.

Monday was for hangovers and saying goodbyes.  One of the many reasons I hate Mondays so much.  Another wonderful UCB gathering full of fun, music, adult beverages and laughs all around.  What more can a person ask for?  (other than winning the lottery and buying New Hampshire)

Good times....

Here are some songs we recorded this past weekend:

• Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
• I'll Be Around - The Spinners
• Burnin' For You - Blue Öyster Cult
• Pump It Up - Elvis Costello

(More pictures to come)