The Rise of "The Little Uke"

ast Wednesday I drove to Portland Oregon from Eugene, which took 2 1/2 hours and one major traffic jam. I was on a mission to attend my very first live Ukulele jam before the pandemic. I especially wanted to attend because my good ukulele-playing friend Leonard whom I had known for many years in the ukulele scene was going to lead that night. When I pulled into a shady parking spot near the Oregon public house where the jam was taking place, I tried hard not to think about what may happen but what was happening tonight. A live ukulele jam. Totally worth the long drive and the 97° weather in Portland.

The jam would take place in a special community room. One ukulele player sat in the room with his wife. No one else had arrived yet. He was excited to see me, said I was leading a Portland ukulele Wednesdays the night when he first joined. He remembered peace and love songs. Yep, that was probably me. But I had not been back for a long time. No one had. Portland Ukulele Wednesdays went to zoom like many other jams. They had just started meeting in person again for one month. He said he wasn’t sure if he’d come tonight. I agreed with him. Said I had to come because I knew Leonard really well and I didn’t wanna miss it.

Soon after that, people brandishing Ukuleles did begin to show up. Many people recognized me. I put down my stuff and stood in line to order some food. That’s when I saw Leonard. He was so surprised and happy to see me, said wow I drove a long way from Eugene. Said I wouldn’t miss it. We hugged. With masks on. At one point his wife took photos of us. Both of us have led many ukulele jams over the years.

The group talked about their future playing in-person and it broke my heart to hear this. Then Tom introduced Leonard and he jumped right in with his cool resonator Ukulele. Soon we all played and sang together all united as one.

When Leonard stood up front and began to lead songs, my heart soared and I forgot about the long drive, the heat, and the Delta virus. I could hear the happy sounds of ukulele strums all around me, and I played along. I sang with my heart. Oh how I missed this, how I cherished a group of happy people playing ukuleles and singing together. Nothing compares, nothing. Tears filled my eyes as we sang, “Gonna rock this town, rock it inside out!” at the tops of our lungs. Life for those moments was as it should be.

We closed with Little Uke. Leonard said for years we needed a ukulele anthem. And this song, originally, One Guitar, should be it.

The end of “Little Uke” with Leonard leading. First in-person ukulele jam for me, and most likely the last for a while. Sigh…

I realized that a little Uke changed my life 11 years ago along with so many others. We could sing loud, be ourselves, let our freak flags fly. We are happy people playing ukuleles or whatever instrument we choose or we can just play C and sing loud, and kazoos are encouraged. Every aspect of my life got better after I was given a ukulele and attended my first ukulele jam with over 75 people. Things just morphed from there. I even became a better writer. Whenever I’m stuck, or whenever I’m stressed out about anything, I just play my ukulele. And I have lifelong friends who share my love for the ukulele. #LittleUke #ukulelejams #ukulele #100daysuke2021 #ukejams