The Burning Uke X Magical Musical Adventure!

We're all singing the Sgt. Pepper Reprise!!! FABULOUS AND INCREDIBLE!!!!

It was dark when I turned on to Little Basin Road last Thursday night headed for Burning Uke X campout making my way down the slightly treacherous yet beautiful redwood and oak tree lined road towards the campsite. Nothing would stop me from Burning Uke! This was the first year at Little Basin – Burning Uke had always been down at Plaskett Creek Park in Big Sur.

As I slowly made my way down the hill, I could feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, impending traffic court dates, the brake job I didn’t get on my car what was I thinking? And it’s not my fault I forgot about that stupid ticket from 2007. No one reminded me! When I finally got to the campsite, I felt a little lost – it’s huge! But finally at the top of the hill I saw Jeff West, the Humble Uker and I waved madly and said hello! I could hear people singing and playing ukuleles in the distance – already it had begun on Thursday.

Jeff rode with me in the car to help me find the cabin I was supposed to stay in with three other chicks, Roz, Judy and Susan. The only person I knew was Judy who was in our Silicon Valley Uke Club – but that was okay. I was just so excited to be a part of the magic of Burning Uke in spite of all the obstacles that I encountered. And in no time the stress and the weight on my shoulder lifted – and I found my happy place again, and throughout the weekend, more than once, I found myself wondering why LIFE can’t be like it is at Burning Uke.

No one was in the cabin when we arrived -- no doubt everyone was at the ukulele gathering site, which I hadn’t seen yet. I parked my car and we walked up the hill to the main area, past multiple picnic tables, lots of trees – good thing I bought that flashlight at the grocery store on my way up here, I thought – it’s pretty dark out here.

We found a walk-in refrigerator where I put my bags of groceries for the weekend – a lot different than Plaskett Creek Park at Big Sur, I thought.  We grabbed our ukuleles and headed up a small hill where we found the main gathering area – a huge stage all lit up and dozens of people.  A beautiful lit up sign hung behind the stage welcomed us all with “Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz.”  The audience area was huge – lit up Tiki torches lined the very back area behind picnic tables and benches – so many places for lots of people to sit.

A whole group of ukulele people stood up on the stage and sang and played, with Sandor and Peter Thomas leading – I saw my friend Steve happily playing his bass ukulele – oh good, he found the place – and a bunch of my ukulele friends. Others sat in folding chairs or on benches, their lights dancing away as they played and sang their hearts out. Jeff and I caught the tail end of that first evening – but excitement still filled the air as the jam ended. This was only the beginning!

Somehow I ended up hanging out with Sandor, Julie and her husband on the first night, sharing fun stories and good cheer – they even fed me and offered me good drink. What awesome people – just reminding me of how fortunate I am to be a part of the “ukulele” community.

Walking around at night in the pitch dark was freaky – and I wouldn’t have managed without a flashlight. But looking up at the millions of stars, so bright in the sky – some looking more like planets than stars blew my mind. I missed the space shuttle flying right by my workplace on Friday, but hanging at Little Basin with at least 100 other ukulele players definitely made up for it. I was in a special, magical place.

The Endeavor as it flew past my workplace Friday (thanks to Vic Balgot, IT for taking the picture!)

I tumbled into my bottom bunk bed awakening the others in the cabin by attempting to open the door and slept until everyone awoke the next morning – so grateful to be awakened by my roomies because I didn’t have a real alarm clock and the trees kept the cabin shady and dark – I didn’t want to miss a thing!

I walked through the woods towards my car and the big meeting area, marveling at how beautiful it was – the trees with the sun shining through them. It took my breath away.  Dave F. from our Silicon Valley group stopped his van in front of my car when he saw me getting my ukuleles, my chair, songbooks and a music stand out. He asked if I wanted a ride up the hill and I gratefully said yes – just another reminder of the cool people here at Burning Uke.  We drove past several people riding bikes with ukuleles on their backs or walking and everyone waved and said hello. And when I got to the main kitchen area, I saw a bunch of my friends – even Nancy and Vicki from the San Francisco Ukulele group – and Steve, of course, and the gang from the Silicon Valley Group and many from Santa Cruz – High Desert and beyond. I said hello to everyone, Carolee and Pat who rode a bike around and assured me that yes, we were definitely doing the Beatles jam.

Excitement filled the air as people ate breakfast – there was plenty of food and drink for all – no one ever did without at Burning Uke even if they weren’t able to bring food. That’s just the way it is – like when I was a kid and the hippies would bring in free dinners for everyone in the neighborhood – not just the other hippies, but for the kids and for the families – everyone. And there was free cotton candy and colorful balloons as kids ran around the park while the music played constantly and the twirlers twirled – Burning Uke captures that essence – I thought of this as I sat with all of my fabulous, colorful friends – with ukuleles.

Janet Lenore teaches the first workshop of the day

We all gathered in the main area for the workshops – first Janet Lenore – a fabulous ukulele player whom I remembered from the San Francisco Free Folk Music Festival – she ran the very first ukulele jam the festival has ever known – over 50 people showed up with ukuleles! She taught us how to play and sing Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” – only two chords, F and G, but with a nice little riff in between – and then we learned a new riff for Daydream Believer. That was followed by an amazing songwriting workshop – about how to write down bits and pieces as you think of them to create a song – words floating about.

Me and Bill -- random jamming on ukes!

Some of us jammed on ukuleles at lunchtime while eating – one must always keep a ukulele on hand here. After lunch my good friend Albert taught a workshop on Latin songs – he had all of us playing “Guatanamera” on ukulele while he sang the words in Portuguese! He taught us some other cool songs too – some in Spanish. Someone from the High Desert Ukulele Club had come up with the idea of a Latin music workshop – he was supposed to help Albert teach it, but he just started a new job. So Albert did an amazing job all on his own, writing chord diagrams out and showing us stuff.

Albert was FABULOUS teaching us all those Latin strums on ukulele!

The High Desert Ukulele Club, run by John, had a “pre 1940s” jam before dinner – every year they have really good jams – with interesting music and they share their music with all of us.  We all ate an amazing pot luck dinner – with more food than anyone could possibly want or ask for!  We all looked forward to the night’s festivities complete with the amazing burning ukulele that Jay Holliday created – and the welcoming to…Burning Uke X!!!! It was a night of singalongs, performances and fun.  Pearl’s Hula dancers’ gang performed what they learned in just one hour – and I wished I had gotten over to that workshop. Somehow I got stuck somewhere playing ukulele. And Leonard sang his famous, “Cows With Guns” song that I’d heard in San Jose – he had everyone laughing and cheering. Never fails. My good friend Steve blew EVERYONE away with his own amazing rendition of Yesterday mixed with some other songs – a ukulele solo that would make Jake Shimoburo proud, superb. I was happy that he got to show his stuff up there. He truly is incredible and he may not know it, but I’ve learned a lot from him. With Steve, though, you have to learn fast – he doesn’t explain much, he just gets right to it.

Afterwards, a group of us jammed in the kitchen area until 1:30am!  My friend Bill walked me back to my cabin in the dark – I had a flashlight. We stopped to gaze at the stars for a few minutes – you don’t see the stars like that where I live, although we do see stars and they do look cool.

I probably only got five hours of sleep when finally I awoke at 8:00 a.m., I was told by one of my roommates. I groaned – but I got up because I didn’t want to miss anything – and there were blueberry pancakes for breakfast (along with everything else one can imagine, of course).  Today would be even more exciting because of the Beatles jam that I always looked forward to the most!! 

Then Mary Jo and Dena from our very own Silicon Valley Uke Club taught a workshop on how to jam with bluegrass players – and we learned some really cool riffs. It was a nice way to begin the day. Then Carolee did her “build a band” thing and had us get into groups to form our own bands – and she explained what it’s like to be in a band. I never get tired of hearing her talk about being in a band – even though I’ve heard her more than once. I love Carolee – she is so colorful and fun and well, cool. She is light a bright shining star. She put me on the spot when she said, “And Mary will want to do rock n’ roll!” I laughed. Of course I’ll want to do rock n’ roll and I knew just the right song – it was all about rock n’ roll.

We had played the song the night before at our late night jam – a handful of us diehards still left – me, Leonard, Steve and Bill – maybe one or two other people. Finally there weren’t as many of us, so we played out of Leonard’s really cool songbook – the one he uses for the “after jam” at the beach in Santa Cruz – I had a printed copy of it as well. It was that Bob Seger song, “Old time Rock n’ Roll!” a fun song that said it all – and only three chords so everyone would be able to sing and play it with no trouble – yes, this was the song. So a whole group of people ran over to me and said, “Are we doing rock n’ roll?” And I searched through Leonard’s songbook attempting to find the song – but couldn’t find it.

“Can’t we do another song?” someone asked.  No, that was the song we had to do – I knew it. Bill offered to run down to Leonard’s tent and see if he could retrieve a copy – which he did! Found out it wasn’t in Leonard’s regular songbook, but it was a new song. Bill saved the day. We thought about doing a mash-up of Old time rock n’ roll with Rock n’ Roll Music, but it didn’t quite work out – we changed the key of the song to the key of C so everyone could sing it, and I was super proud of my group because they had to play different chords than the ones that appeared on the one and only copy of the song we had! In the end our group consisted of my friend Bill, Jeanette and Margaret from the Dana St. Roasting Coffee Shop Silicon Valley Group, another guy whose name I can’t remember and Carolee as well. And we got my friend Steve to play bass uke with us as well – we sounded pretty darned good if I do say so myself, rockin’ too.

Then it was lunchtime again – the weekend slipping by so quickly, all too quickly. There was another jam while we ate lunch – and I grabbed my 8-string ukulele and played along. Then after lunch Alan Ferentz taught a workshop on the chords to a song called “Bye Bye Blues.” He is always amazing – and whenever he teaches a workshop, I always come away with something that I’ll never forget – last year at Burning Uke it was that G7 chord up the neck a little that runs down to an F7 – with Hesitation Blues. So this year it was a whole new thing – and I knew that I’d learned new chord progressions I hadn’t even known about before. He comes all the way up from Ventura, California – for Burning Uke and Smoldering Uke, etc. Then my good friend Jeff, the Humble Uker, had a hillbilly jam where we got to sing fun songs – even to the music of the theme song of the Andy Griffith Show – about the fishing hole! And his own rendition of Ghost Chickens in the Sky – that song cracks me up every time I hear it.

Then…it was all about serious business – the BEATLES JAM!!!! What I always look forward to all weekend and get excited about. Don’t get me wrong. I love all the music and everything – and I’d learned so much already – Latin music, hillbilly songs, bluegrass stuff, a blues song, and I was even a part of a band which we called the “UKEalyptus rockers!” it was Margaret’s idea because she’s from Australia – and a fabulous one at that. Margaret is at Dana St. Roasting Coffee shop each month – and she sings beautifully – she sang harmony on Old time Rock n’ Roll and it rocked! I was losing my voice already.

It doesn't get any better than this! :) I got to be a part of the Beatles jam!

Anyway, Pat said I could help lead the Beatles jam which always thrills me to no end. He passed out song sheets so everyone could join in and play if they wanted.  I went up with my 8-string ukulele and I have to admit I was a little nervous because it was just me, Carolee, Pat, Eileen on congas and Gary C. on uke bass. I had my own microphones – one for singing and one for my ukulele. I always tell myself, you’re not a pro – you don’t really belong here – but then once I get up there and Pat leads us in to the first Beatles song, I immediately get past it and I just sing along and play – and everything is beautiful and it doesn’t matter – because it’s Beatles music…and this is all for the love of the Beatles music. 

Pat talked about the Beatles songs which he also knows so intimately well – and just a month or so ago, the Santa Cruz Uke Club had a Beatles Revue night – incredible – with Sandor teaching a workshop on playing Here Comes the Sun on ukulele. This is what it’s all about, I thought as I stood up there on stage and played and sang…

When we got to the song, “Something” my friend Steve boldly walked up on the stage and asked to play the uke bass – just like he did at that Beatles party! So Steve played uke bass while we all played and sang “Something” followed by the last three songs of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely heart Club Band, Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper Reprise and Day in the Life!!!! It was absolutely AMAZING and wonderful!!!  Blew my mind that I could even play those on ukulele – all thanks to Pat Tracy who put them all together so we COULD play them on ukulele! That finale on Day in the Life with Steve rockin’ it on uke bass was beyond FABULOUS! Another Beatles jam success that I will keep in my heart all year until we meet again for Burning Uke XI…along with so much more.

My friend Rick showed up at Burning Uke with his new girlfriend Dawn –and he and Steve got to jam a little.

We all convened together for another amazing evening – which included an incredible “musical” performance by Sandor and Beth – and she played her tie-dye ukulele (just like mine) for all of her songs – oh yeah, Beth also taught a harmonica workshop that day – and a whole group of people actually learned to play harmonica (I didn’t go to this because my brain is already filled with so much information). Yet she is also an amazing singer and all around musician as is Sandor. They sang bits and pieces of songs to form a story. So wonderful.

The hula hoopers did their thing – even with glow-in-the-dark hula hoops which also reminded me of the 1960’s in San Francisco – so much!

And, the harmonica players all went up and played what they’d learned – I was so impressed! I didn’t go up for the workshop performances – on the first night, I offered to sing “Daydream Believer” in honor of Janet Lenore who had to leave that same afternoon for another gig – saying she was sorry to have to leave. A group of us went up and did that on Friday evening. Then Carolee called up the “bands” to play – the ones we’d all put together earlier in the day. Steve was part of a group called “Zed Leppelin” and they played and sang “Chinese Laundry Blues,” a favorite of Steve’s – it was great! Another group did a fun and rollicking rendition of Proud Mary, and another sang a funny song about cups – it was the hugest group. Our group was pretty small – I thought we did a great job with Old Time Rock n’ Roll! Little did I know that I’d end up on stage yet again when Carolee happened to pick the song number “198” from the Santa Cruz Ukulele songbook which happened to be “If You’re Going to San Francisco Be Sure to Wear a Flower in your Hair!” She asked if I’d come up to sing it with her, and I was more than happy to – it’s one of my favorite songs of course. I had a yellow flower in my hair with my yellow Burning Uke X hat and Carolee wore an orange flower in her hair with her orange Burning Uke X hat! It was perfect! J Total love.

THEN the evening ended with…those final three Sgt. Pepper songs yet again!!! It doesn’t get any better than that. Other people joined us on stage too – and we all sang it and played it…ending Burning Uke X’s final evening event with Sgt. Pepper and Day in the Life…

We're all singing the Sgt. Pepper Reprise!!! FABULOUS AND INCREDIBLE!!!!

A lot more people stayed to jam afterwards on Saturday night – a fire built in the fire pit below the stage this time. We played and sang until well after midnight – I was amazed I still had any energy at all and my fingers were sore from playing so much, but still we kept on…in the end it was only me, Leonard and Bill – Bill’s voice was gone too, and we agreed it was finally time to take off. Albert played his snare drum, Steve played his Rick Turner ukulele – I passed out some songs I’d made copies of – so we all got to do Secret Agent Man and Hey Jude. We played everything – from Mustang Sally to the Crawdad song and Leavin’ on a Jet Plane – we played a lot of songs from Dave’s Burning Uke X jam book too.

I was so tired by the time I sneaked back into the cabin, my roomies all asleep, that I crashed the moment my head hit the pillow and didn’t wake up until everyone else got up.

Me with Marty, Albert and Steve at Burning Uke X!!!!!

 Sunday morning – the last day – oh how I wished life could be like this, I thought as I walked one last time from my cabin to my car and then up the hill. I didn’t mind the walk at all. It was so beautiful. I got my stuff into the car and had breakfast with my friends – our last meal we would all share together, hanging with Marty and my friends Steve and Albert and the whole gang. Then we all gathered for Rhan Wilson’s and Rick Zeeb’s awesome Matthew Mark Uke and John gathering – which they do every month at a park in Santa Cruz – they have a songbook and lead everyone in various spiritual songs, and I got super excited when I saw George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” in their songbook as well as “Let it Be!” We all sat underneath the beautiful trees and sang and played…a perfect way to end a perfect weekend…in a beautiful world filled with good people, music, friendship, love and passion…for life, for the music.

So I said my good-byes, lingering for as long as possible, waving at folks as they drove by in their cars, vans and motor homes – attempting to capture one last bit of those special moments before taking off back up the hill to the main road, driving towards home.

But that’s not all! The adventure was supposed to end here – I go back to reality and that’s it, right? Wrong.

I decided to stop in Niles, which is only 1.5 miles from my house on my way home. Some flyer I’d seen in the area mentioned live music all day long – I had just discovered the beauty and intrigue of Niles (Historic Niles District, technically a part of Fremont, but the folks in Niles think of this place as their town) a couple of weeks ago. A folksy rock band played as I drove down the main drag of Niles and I swung into a parking place right across the street from the Plaza and train station where all the festivities took place. 

A train roared by right behind the band as they played, and the dazzling blue sky and rich green grass of the area almost blinded me – people sat in fold-out chairs or on the cement benches. Some stretched blankets out and sat on those – or miniature tents. Small kids ran and played and danced to the music, families, dogs, people of all ages. This was a beautiful, low key family music event, I thought. As I sat on a bench, listened and watched, I thought of Burning Uke yet again and felt a little sadness because I already missed all of my wonderful ukulele friends and here I was sitting alone on a bench – Yet again, I wished life could be like Burning Uke where everyone is happy and no one cares about your background, no one judges – it’s all about togetherness and playing the music. I could feel a sense of it here in this place…Niles.

“Hi there, we meet again!” I heard someone say. I looked over and saw Margaret wearing a sunhat – she loves to play the ukulele! I knew Margaret from the San Francisco Folk Music Group. She and her sister had facilitated a ukulele singalong jam at the SF Folk Music campout last July. Margaret drives a BART subway train – and she brings her ukulele to work, playing it when she’s on the side track (but she assures me she doesn’t play it while driving the BART train).

“Hi there!” I realized I was still wearing my yellow Burning Uke X camp, and that my hair was completely unkempt and tangled as it always is after a weekend of camping.  “I just came from Burning Uke!”

Margaret said she wished she could’ve gone, but that she would definitely go next year. Then she asked if I’d heard the band previous to the one playing. “This one lady played the ukulele, and she was really good!”

“Sorry to miss that – I just got here.”

The band finished playing and a guy with a cowboy hat went up on the stage. Apparently his name was Mike McNevin and Margaret told me he had jams at a place called the Mud Puddle in Niles – funny that she’s the second person to tell me that. That guy from the band which played Beatles music, No Fly List, had also mentioned him.

People cheered, small kids ran around and parents chased them – two little girls banged on small tambourines and a guy wearing bright-colored tie-dye sat next to his dog who also wore a tie-dye dog jacket.

“Hey, there’s the lady who played the ukulele – c’mon, let’s go talk to her!”  I followed Margaret and there I saw – Janet Lenore!! Oh my gosh – she was our first workshop person at Burning Uke X!!! And here she was in Niles. Janet had to leave Burning Uke on Friday after her workshop because she had another gig. I also remembered Janet Lenore from the San Francisco Folk Music Festival – she ran a huge ukulele jam, the first of its kind at the San Francisco Free Folk Music Festival. Over 50 people showed up with ukuleles. Her boyfriend Jeff played the uke bass, and he was with Janet – they are such cool people.

Me with Margaret, Janet and Jeff in Niles!!!

Janet was happy to see me too, and joked that I was stalking her. I told her I’d just now come from Burning Uke and she said she wished she could’ve stayed, but there’s next year.  Suddenly I wasn’t alone and the adventure had not quite ended yet. Another guy I knew from the SF Folk Music Group, Don – walked over and hung out with us. Then Margaret asked me if I wanted to go over to a place called “The Vine” across the street to hang out and Janet and Jeff said they’d go over there too and play some music. I paused for a moment, thinking I should go home and get cleaned up – I probably looked pretty bad.

“Oh c’mon. If you went home, you’d probably just be doing laundry!” Margaret said. We laughed, and I agreed. Okay, yes, I will go over to the Vine! We waited until all the bands played and then walked across the street. The Vine looks like a restaurant when you first walk in, but then when you walk through to the back, it’s like a completely different world – an outdoor area shaded by giant palm trees, inviting, with tables, chairs, a fire pit, small chairs for kids and even some dogs!  The wooden stage looked like the back porch of an old house replica – so beautiful and quaint. Margaret and I sat on chairs in front of the fire pit. She ordered a beer and I ordered a wine – it was the kind of place where one could almost put their feet up. She told me about the alley ways around Niles and how cool it is to wander down them – she lived right down the road and knew the area well.

Janet and Jeff arrived – Janet with her ukulele, Jeff with his bass. Don played a little soft guitar on the stage, and then guys with guitars in cases showed up. Looked like there was going to be some music and even a jam session perhaps.

A couple sitting next to me with a golden retriever asked me about “Burning Uke” and the guy told me about how he loved the ukulele and always wanted to play. Janet went up with her ukulele and played –she’s really good! Jeff played bass…then she played the mandolin for one song. Amazing!! I was glad I’d stopped in here when suddenly I got put on the spot when Margaret said I should go get my ukulele. Me? Oh here we go again with that scared feeling – that, “oh no, I’m really not good enough for this” feeling – but I still ran out to my car and got my 8-string ukulele anyway. Janet closed out with her rocking rendition of “White Rabbit” on ukulele – sooo cool!

Mike McNevin arrived with others – and everyone sat casually sat around as Bruce and another guy played guitars and sang.

Then a tall guy with a cowboy hat named Bruce went up to play guitar, alongside another guy whose name I didn’t know. Bruce apparently owns almost all the buildings on the block, Margaret shared with me – so if he wants to play or sing, he gets to. He also built the stage! I felt as if I was in a small town where everyone knows each other – sort of like that wonderful original song I’d heard one band play and sing – about moving someplace where the waitress calls you “honey” and everyone knows you. Sort of like Burning Uke X even – if people don’t know you, they make it a point to get to know you – or to at least play ukulele alongside you.

I had no intention of going up on the stage with my ukulele, figured I’d just play along whenever I could – no biggie. But then suddenly someone said, I think it was Mike McNevin, but am not sure, “Hey uke lady, come on up and sing some songs!”

I felt a big lump in my throat – I had no song sheets to look at, I thought – as I found myself sitting on a stool on the stage with my ukulele, like I belonged there when I so obviously did not. This was not the same as Burning Uke at all. Bruce said he wanted to do a song and I asked him what key it was in. He said, “I don’t know, what’s this?” and played a chord I did not recognize (and I do know guitar chords). A feeling of dread washed over me as I looked over at Jeff, the bass player, hoping for some guidance in this rather urgent and scary issue for me.

Somehow I managed to play along ,finally sort of figuring out what key the song was in – or at least I hoped so. I remembered Janet Lenore had said, “sometimes less is better,” so I just thought I’d look good and strum a chord every now and again.

Then somebody shouted, “Okay now the uke lady gets to sing a song!” Oh great, I thought! I announced that I’d just returned from Burning Uke Campout and everyone cheered for Burning Uke. I decided to do a stand-by song I really know, A Hard Day’s Night – a guy who played one of those horns with a piano thingie on it suddenly showed up alongside us on stage as I sang and played and Bruce attempted to play along. Jeff, the bass player, was right on the mark – thank heavens! He kept me in line as I made my way through the song, and I could see some people singing along. Whew!

We ended up playing other songs – like Mellow Yellow, and another song I did not know at all, nor was I sure of the key of…but then another guy showed up on stage and broke into “The Weight,” and I breathed a sigh of relief because I do know the chords to that.

After people sang and played, everyone sat around in a circle around the gas fire pit and played songs and I just strummed along – that was my favorite part, just jamming with the other people – Mike McNevin played and sang a fabulous famous song he wrote about the “town” of Niles, and a very cute young lady who worked at The Vine explained that the song was used in a movie, and that she had always asked Mike to use her name, Annie, in a song – well he didn’t use her first name in the song, but he used her middle name, “Hawaii.” So that was good. I loved the song and I’m grateful for these people for keeping this town alive, along with the guy I met two weeks ago in Niles, Red – and another guy who ran one of the antique stores – who had told me all about the history of this place.

Jammin' at the Vine on Uke -- WHO KNEW this would happen? Two years ago, before the ukulele, I wouldn't have been caught dead doing this! SERIOUSLY!!!

Just two years ago, I wouldn't be caught dead jamming with musicians like this -- not even. And there I was playing music with people I didn't know!

Finally, the tiredness of the weekend washed over me and it was time to head home. Yet I knew I’d be back – here, and wherever the music played. I said good night to my friends, even the new ones I’d just made. Within five minutes I pulled into the driveway of my house, still wearing the yellow Burning Uke X hat which I will treasure forever.

And so ends the fabulous magical Burning Uke X adventure.

Check out all the pictures from Burning Uke X here!

Burning Uke or Bust! My Burning Uke Experiences So Far!

Tomorrow night right when I get off work, the adventure begins as I head over the hill to Little Basin up in the Santa Cruz mountain redwoods – to Burning Uke X campout! I’ve looked forward to this all year. This will be my third Burning Uke experience. I’m excited and anxious – how many ukuleles shall I bring? The first year I only had one ukulele and now I have five!

Burning Uke 8  my first Burning Uke Experience (September 2010)

“Mom are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Jeremy asked me as he handed me the tent I’d ask to borrow.

“Of course I will! It’s going to be fun.”

“But who are these burning ukulele people and I hope someone helps you with the tent…”

“Don’t worry!” I laughed.  Although, I was new to the ukulele world, I felt as if I fit right in.

Just two months earlier, I had seen a sign at my long-time favorite coffee shop, Dana Street Roasting, in downtown Mountain View – the coffee shop where my youngest daughter pretty much grew up, my regular hang-out place. So many memories at this coffee shop. The sign said, “Ukulele Singalong Jam, Second Monday Nights!”

My friend Mike gave me a ukulele. It was incredibly random. Although it was a baritone ukulele, the largest of them, he said he tuned it like a soprano ukulele – the re-entrant G-C-E-A tuning. At first I wasn’t happy because I knew guitar chords and this meant I’d have to learn how to play a whole new set of chords – I wondered if I would ever even be able to do that. So I’d downloaded some chord diagrams off the internet and messed around with the ukulele – remembering that really cool chick who called herself “Ukulele Donna” the one time I was able to visit Maui for a week – and how she’d showed me a few ukulele chords. But she played the ukulele upside down and left-handed because “that’s how my grandfather taught me,” she explained. So I was more than a little confused yet mesmerized by this wonderful happy-sounding instrument that always reminded me of Maui and magical places.

So I took my ukulele to Dana Street Roasting Coffee Shop expecting a few people with ukuleles. Nothing prepared me for well over 75 people with ukuleles! I remember Dave Fitchner, a happy guy with a deep voice, welcomed me as I walked in and offered people loaner ukuleles. I managed to find a seat at a table with a couple of other ukulele players – and I couldn’t stop looking around the room. I don’t think this coffee shop had ever been so crowded. We all played and sang songs, and I was still thrilled to see the signs Lynn held up reminding me of the ukulele chords from diagrams I downloaded from this website. This was all amid having to move from Mountain View to San Jose and all the craziness of my life.

People told me about the large group of people who play ukuleles on the beach in Santa Cruz and a couple of weeks later I had to check it out for myself. I was hooked. Next thing I knew, I had signed up for Burning Uke campout – I’d only been playing the ukulele for a couple of months in my spare time.

A few days before Burning Uke 8, someone sideswiped my car and totaled it, so I had to get a ride to the campout – Bob Carson, an 82-year-old semi-retired orthopedic surgeon guy, who played ukulele and could sing bass beautifully, offered. So armed with a tent borrowed from my son, assorted mattress pads, one ukulele (the only one I owned), a purple music stand I’d just purchased and the Santa Cruz Ukulele songbooks, we headed out in Bob Carson’s truck towards Plaskett Park in Big Sur. I got to listen to his amazing stories as we made that frightening journey down Highway 1, the truck swerving just a little too much at times when Bob would doze for a just a moment and then immediately wake up again. I had forgotten how beautiful the Big Sur area was – breathtaking ocean views.

We managed to get there in one piece and thankfully people welcomed us and helped me set up the tent Jeremy lent me – turned out to be a huge 7-person tent just for me!

Burning Uke 8 (September 2010) - my FIRST Burning Uke with my FIRST and only ukulele!

Darkness enveloped us quickly at Plaskett Creek Park down at Big Sur where I'd gone for Burning Uke 8 - it was a Thursday night, so no big community music jam was planned, just a group of people getting together to sing and play by the campfire. I fumbled around in the tent I got help setting up for stuff.  It was so dark and I couldn't really see anything. I could hear rustling outside and hear the ocean tide, though. I managed to find a flashlight and the special LED light, and the black case that had my purple music stand in it...and of course the Uke and the songbooks.

I just followed the music as I tripped a couple of times on uneven ground and a small hill towards the people playing and singing by a huge roaring fire. As I approached, suddenly a glowing set of lights in the shape of a ukulele high up on a tree lit up and everyone cheered.

"Welcome to Burning Uke!" I could hear someone say. Everyone cheered again - I saw shadows of people, most with ukes. Oh and there was that hyperactive hippie guy, Pat, whom I'd seen at the Santa Cruz Beach jams on Saturday mornings before.  I couldn't miss him even in the darkness with his bright-colored tie-dye on. He had this huge upright bass he'd made and he never stopped moving and dancing while he played. People sat on benches and folding chairs, some stood, music stands with yellow lights shined dully, and then there were the headlights that people wore on their heads that constantly moved. I didn't feel comfortable with one of those headlights. Somehow my LED light and my books ended up sitting on a wooden picnic table and when it got completely dark, I couldn't find them again - I hoped they wouldn't get mixed with others. I finally stood up with my uke strapped on - thankful that I had a shoulder strap for it and looked on with a couple of other people huddled around a music stand, with someone's head light (literally on people's heads) guiding us as someone would call out a song number from our Santa Cruz ukulele songbooks.

Amid the campfire smoke blended with sea air, we sang and sang, and I played even when my hands felt too cold to strum or finger the chords, feeling the strings of the uke against me - I could see some of the ladies, two of them called "the Hula girls" whom I thought I recognized from Santa Cruz, dancing close to the campfire as we played song after song 

Some songs I knew and some I didn't. I played them all and I didn't care if my fingers got sore. I thought of my friend Mike. This was all because of him - he gave me a ukulele and now here I was surrounded by all these people at a campsite playing music. Who knew this would happen?

This guy named Andy, who apparently was one of the founders of Burning Uke, played some really cool stuff on his tiny ukulele - he and his wife had traveled all the way from Hawaii to be here. It was so much fun - I wasn't a spectator, I was playing right along with everyone else. When everyone finally decided it was time to go back to their tents to get ready for a long, serious weekend of workshops, jams and playing. With the fire going down and people with headlights and flashlights heading down the hill to their tents, I became a little frightened - I didn't want to say anything to anyone, but how the heck was I going to find my stuff, get down the hill and find my tent? I could feel the dampness in the air as I managed to find my books which had become damp and my LED light. Carrying all of my things, I slowly made my way down the hill, trying to keep hold of my flashlight - towards the tents. I could hear people laughing and talking in the dark.

The weekend was filled with cool, ocean breezes amid sunshine and a whirlwind of ukulele workshops and jams, walks to the beach first thing in the morning, more ukulele playing and workshops, strumming until the late night hours…by the end of the four-day weekend, I knew how to play the ukulele.

Check out the Burning Uke 8 Photos here.

Burning Uke 9 – September 2011

This year I’m an expert! I've actually acquired three ukuleles and I've been to a couple of ukulele festivals and played on the beach in Santa Cruz a whole bunch of times, San Jose Uke Club, San Francisco Uke Rebellion -- and even jammed with the Sacramento Ukulele gang -- I've traveled far and wide with my ukuleles.  This year I brought my beautiful flame mahagony Kala ukulele with the pickup and the built-in tunor along with my tie-dye fluke ukulele.   I know all about Burning Uke and sort of what to expect. 

It's a good thing I brought my tie-dye fluke uke to Burning Uke 9 with me because it's made of plastic and cool, damp weather won't hurt it!

This time I got to sleep in a motor home for most of the weekend because I lent my car to Myrleen from the Monterey Ukulele Club so she her dog could be in a performance of Annie in Monterey. That worked out well. The damp, drizzly cool weather off and on over the weekend did not diminish the bright shining lights of Burning Uke 9 at all, the last year it would be held at Plaskett Creek Park in Big Sur we'd been told by Marty. The sun peeked in and out of the clouds, and the fog and dampness didn't stop us from strumming our ukes, or from festive singing and general merry making well into the evenings.

One evening a roaring fire in the fire pit at the top of the hill of our campsite kept us warm as we played and sang, but soon the group moved down the hill to a campsite. I made my way down to the campsite to sing and play some more -- even though it was cold and damp staring longingly at the nice, warm fire at the top of the hill.

"Hey, everyone, let's go up to the fire where it's warm!" I said several times between songs.

All of a sudden, Bobbi, Jay, Wendy and gang broke into a lovely song on the fly -- in perfect harmony, which sang "Mary, bring the fire down here!" It was amazing...they had created the song just for me and sang it for a very long time...

In the evenings, lights danced through the campsite and Sandor and Carolee led us all in songs -- people went up to sing and play and the people from the Hang Gliding campsite next door migrated over and participated too. This year the workshops made so much sense -- Alan taught us the Hesitation Blues and I learned to play Yellowbird -- Rhan had us all dancing and stomping in rhythm on a damp afternoon.

the fog didn't stop some of us from walking on the beach.

Me and Cherie on the beach at Big Sur on a BEAUTIFUL gray morning!!!

The Beatles jam led by Pat and Carolee was definitely one of the major highlights of the weekend!!! I was thrilled to be able to help lead! Eileen kept rhythm on conga, and Cliff from the Strum Bums played the washboard!



The sun even came out for a while while we played Beatles songs! It was one of the most popular jams of the weekend! I was excited to be a part of it.

As I looked out at all the people while we sang Octopus' Garden, I saw people from the Santa Cruz Ukulele Club, from our Silicon Valley Group, from San Francisco, High Desert, Monterey and beyond, all of us here to play ukuleles together in peace, love and harmony...I felt overwelmed with warmth and gratitude, happy to be a part of something so amazing... it didn't matter what the weather was like...everyone here shined brighter than the sun.

On the second night of the evening singalong/jam and burning uke ritual, a group went up and played these...they look so much like bongs -- they found them on the beach and used them like horns! It was absolutely hilarious. I laughed so hard that I couldn't get any good pictures.

I laughed for literally hours when I watched the group with these!!! HILARIOUS!

and of course, on the final morning, Sunday morning when Rhan and Rick closed us out with Matthew Mark UKE and John...what happened? The sun came out!!!



good-bye Plaskett Creek Park, hello Little Basin for Burning Uke X!



I stopped at the beach one more time on my way home because it was such a beautiful day -- and saw the hang gliders...some had joined us and one guy even sang "Rawhide" while we all played ukuleles the night before!

Burning Uke 9 -- last year at Plaskett Creek in Big Sur, another fabulous, amazing experience.


Burning Uke 9!!!!! Oh yeah!



Check out Burning Uke 9 Photos here.

A Day in the Life of a Ukulele Player

Saturday morning I was awakened at 8:30am by a fellow uke playing fanatic who suffers a little from "ukulele acqusition syndrome." "Let's go to the beach and jam!" he said. Bleary eyed, I peered at him through the open door and blinked...I'd been up way too late Friday night...hung out at coffee shop to hear Blue House play than went over to Murphy St. in Sunnyvale to hear another band and in the middle of it all my brother had called to inform me his daughter was having her baby...but I still threw on my clothes and flung a couple of ukuleles into the trunk of my car and said, "Let's go!" How can I ever say no to playing ukuleles on the beach with at least 75 to 100 other people? and of course I had to bring my 4-string Nalu because it's bright and fun, and also my 8-string ukulele, my pride and joy...with a rich, unique sound...

We got to the beach by the harbor, a perfect, sunny day, waves crashing against the shore, and joined the circle of at least 100 fellow ukulele players -- one guy played an upright bass and a couple of people played conga drums...we sang and played for at least two hours and then a small group of us jammed for another hour...in between the jam at the beach and the Beatles Ukulele Party at someone's house, my brother called to inform me that his daughter had a 9 lb 7 oz baby boy in Portland, OR! Yay! My brother is now a member of the "grandparent club!" We headed over to the house and set up -- so that we could play ukuleles with about 100 OTHER ukulele players and sing Beatles songs!!! my friend played the U-bass...and we closed out with Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper Reprise and Day in the Life!! Then me and a few others stood around while I played yet more Beatles songs...and I was surrounded by beautiful harmonies...I played the 8-string ukulele for this... it was a lovely day --and we all talked about Burning Uke X -- the huge ukulele campout coming up on September 20th where we'll play ukuleles for three and a half days straight!! Oh yeah!

So last night after reality set in at work, I headed over to Dana St. Roasting Coffee Shop, my favorite coffee shop for over 13 years (the owner Nick reminded me of how long it's been, wow!) for the Silicon Valley Uke Group monthly singalong jam!!! I never miss this...Dave brings bunches of extra ukuleles and hands out loaner ukes for those who need them...I got there at 6pm and already the place was filled with ukulele players -- the owner of the coffee shop has to bring in bunches of folding chairs to accommodate all the people who show up with ukuleles or who want to borrow one! It's fun ukulele insanity! we pass out songbooks...many have them printed up already. We teach a beginning uke workshop at 6:30 and by 7pm everyone strums four uke chords on the ukulele! Then we played and sang songs for two hours -- songs from the 60s and 70s, to old songs from the 1920s...you name it, we play it! Bad Moon Rising, Leavin' on a Jet Plane, 59th St. Bridge Song, Take It Easy among my faves...but last night the song that stuck in my head even today as i sit at work and chuckle...was "Ghost Chickens in the Sky!" Just imagine over 75 people playing ukuleles and singing this song...and even clucking -- Dave F. wearing a chicken hat on his head... Man, I wish I'd gotten photos of this..! so just imagine...Ghost Chickens in the Sky!!!!!

Ghost Chickens in the Sky Here!

Magical Musical Sunday Adventures

The adventure began at the Ukulele Rebellion in San Francisco. I normally don’t drive there – it’s better to take BART, but I had a very important event to attend after the Uke Rebellion. I parked up the hill on Divsadero Street and walked down with two ukuleles, a packpack with songbooks and a music stand in tow and met with about 25 other uke players at Oakside Café right next to the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. My friend Emeline wanted to play my 8-string uke, so I played the Kala with a low G string on it – we played from the Daily Ukulele songbook and then we played our own songs – 80’s songs such as Take On Me by Aha and Friday I’m In Love and then contemplated our mash-up of Stray Cat Strut and Hit the Road Jack – switching from one song to the other in the middle worked but could we play the two songs in unison as well? After the jam me and my friends Dean and Steve walked up the street to a café – a cold, icy San Francisco wind blew as we sat outside, but that didn’t stop us from jamming some more on ukuleles.

Finally, I continued the musical journey south to the Quarter Note in Sunnyvale – the benefit concert for Dave Price, an awesome drummer guy, who was recently in a car accident that messed up his arm pretty bad.  Many local musicians from the south bay would be there to support Dave and I’d been invited. How cool that everyone would “come together” for Dave.  When I got there, I could barely find a parking place – it was around 7pm and the place was packed! An awesome band played when I walked in – I’d missed a few of them, like South 46 and others that I liked. I saw my friends, all the people I’d hung out with at Woodham’s and JJ’s whom I hadn’t seen in a while – some dancing – everyone was happy to see me and Stuart and I danced right away. I had forgotten just how many people I knew in this musical social world. The band ended and my good friend Mike Osborn was up next – I hadn’t seen Mike Osborn in ages and remembered how my friend Vikki and I had discovered him at an event to help Doc, the guitar player, get his driver’s license back – it was the first time we’d watched Mike Osborn play guitar, and the way he played it was like no other I’ve ever seen – he really knew how to show his love for the guitar. So I was happy that I hadn’t missed him. As I heard him play and sing, I remembered just how good he was – then Dave Abbott went up and sang and played with Mike and his bass player – good old rock n’ roll music. I felt immersed in the music, surrounded by all these cool people.

After Mike Osborn, one band after another went up and played and each one was amazing in its own way – Ariel belted out the tunes – like Bobby McGee with her band, Johnny Neri and his band wowed us with good old rock n’ roll music, and Oliver, Dennis Dove and Dwane gave us some bluesy and soul music, along with the Deevas with their amazing voices – Mike S. and Kenny, with GypsyJack and Mario played together and reminded me of good times when they broke into, “Every Time I Roll the Dice.” It was impossible for me to take pictures of everyone. All I know is, my friend Emily, whom I hadn’t seen in months, showed up for a while, Dave Price himself was there, and Chuck was the MC of the night – I danced and danced, talked and hugged all of my friends, and stayed for as long as I possibly could – remembering that I had work the next morning but somehow not caring – like when they’d have those Sunday night jams at Woodham’s and I’d swear I’d be home by midnight – yet at 1:30 in the morning there I was dancing and singing along while someone played Johnny B. Goode – yep, good times.

Before I left, the guitarist who plays with the Johnny Neri band, walked over to me – sweaty from playing lead on the rock n’ roll songs.  “I’ve been looking out for you!” he said. “I know it’s probably been a year, but here!”  He held out his hand and handed me a bunch of guitar picks – all of them said “The Beatles” on them and they had various pictures of the Beatles on the backs of them.

“Wow, thanks,” I said looking down at the guitar picks, wishing I could remember this guy’s name.  I knew him though.

“My Dad got those at Abbey Road, and I knew you loved the Beatles, so thought you’d want them.”

“Yes, thanks for thinking of me.”

I stood next to my long-time guitar teacher, friend and the person integral to bringing me into this music world, Mike Sult, and looked at the Beatles guitar picks. I handed one to him and said he could have it because I knew he liked the Beatles. He thanked me. As I stood there looking out at all the fun, eclectic musical people around me and listened to the music, realizing that I know them all – that these are my friends – I felt like the luckiest person in the world. The Dave Price Benefit Concert was an amazing success.

Check out the photos here.

Finding the REAL Hollywood!

The adventure on Sunday did not end at Hayward Memorial Park! In the late afternoon, as I drove back down Mission Blvd., alongside golden hills to the left of me, older business buildings and stores to the right of me which rapidly changed into flowering bushes and beautiful neighborhoods tucked in to the right of me, I decided to drive just a mile and a half further than the street I live on to Niles.

I’ve passed by the street countless times on my way to I-680 – a sign that says, “Niles” that you drive under and Jen had mentioned that she drove through and saw a bunch of old buildings – sort of like the olden days. But I’ve never actually stopped there to check it out. It’s just a tiny section of Fremont apparently – called Niles. I also had heard of a train that traveled through, but didn’t know much about it. I’ve lived in Union City since February and still don’t know that much about the area – except what I’d discovered in Hayward and where places like the BART station, the Safeway Store and the cheapest gas station reside.

I made a right turn and drove underneath a giant arch with the word “Niles” in huge white letters arched across the top and down a street, then made a left on what looked like the main street.

Wow, I thought as I slowly drove down the street – I felt as if I had gone through a time tunnel and was transported back into a different place and time. Why hadn’t I seen this before? Why didn’t I know about this?

If it wasn’t for the long row of Harley Davidson motorcycles parked in front of a bar with loud music blasting out of it and the cars parked on the street, I would have believed I was back in the early 1900s – As I kept driving looking for the closest parking spot I could find, I got that excited feeling just like I always did whenever I’d visit Virginia City, Nevada – that amazing town tucked away in the Sierra Nevada’s above Reno and Carson City – you turn a corner and suddenly you see those tall church steeples and an old town nestled on the hillside. Virginia City always draws me in – it’s a magical place filled with mystique and history and every time I visit I find out something that I didn’t know before. Also, Virginia City preserves more historic buildings than any other city in the United States – the sense of history, of knowing Mark Twain and all those folks from the gold rush walked down these same streets excited me – and I’m always drawn to the place.

But Niles is about two miles from my house, if that. Nestled into the foothills in between Fremont and Union City, it seems – I got that same feeling of excitement, of history as I checked out all the old buildings, the antique stores and craft stores, and an old-school train station. I parked my car and walked down the main street marveling at all the beautiful, historic buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s – I could just tell. I looked into the windows of the shops that were closed and looked at the novelty items, the antiques, the ceramic Christmas town all lit up. The golden hills glowed against the darkening blue sky and I saw an Amtrak train pull up into the quaint train station across the street and heard the train whistle blow – like olden times, even though the train itself wasn’t old.

I found a library – I could tell the building was old – and a sign said the library was only open on Tuesdays from 10 to 5pm. Not exactly the most functional library, I thought, smiling, but a really cool looking place nonetheless. Then I walked down a residential street that truly felt like I’d been transported in time because there weren’t many cars – quaint old houses with porches – most with wooden chairs on them, beckoning – a beautiful Victorian-style house with an arch of vines and an American flag hanging – like something you’d see in a movie. The oak trees all sturdy and thick – obviously they’d been there as long as the houses, if not longer. Oh how I longed to live here in this beautiful tiny area called Niles – yet I was not far away. I could come back here any time. Unbelievable.

I meandered back to the main street and passed “Joe’s Place.” It looked like an old bar converted to a place that also served coffee, tea and sandwiches – but it had that saloon feel and look to it. I passed more restaurants and cool shops – a book store that was already closed with old books, a shop with an old wooden sailboat in the window – most were closed some of the restaurants open. Across the street, I saw an old train car from days gone by and on the hillside above the area the word “Niles” written in white. This place wasn’t like he rest of the area – it was a special, insulated area that had been somehow preserved – mostly known apparently by the locals and the bikers – the usual suspects, which is okay. I don’t mind the bikers – they always prefer these types of towns and they know of the cool places.

At the end of the block, I found a store that was open – two guys stood out in front of an old antique store stuffed full with odds and ends. I saw an old cigarette machine from back in the day that said a pack of cigarettes was 50 cents. Next to it sat an old school desk bench with the desk behind it – and a real inkwell in the desk. Ohhhhh, how I’d love to have that bench – I don’t often get excited about furniture and that sort of thing, but this was cool. The guys smiled and nodded and said hello – one was younger, donning tattoos – smoking a cigareete. The other guy was older – he reminded me of a local who’d hang out at bars all the time – definitely he’d seen a lot in his life and he looked rugged – but his smile and bright blue eyes were kind.

The younger guy said he liked my Magical Mystery Tour t-shirt that I wore – I told them about the Beatles band I’d seen in Hayward earlier that day. Then the other guy, who introduced himself as “Red,” told me about how he played guitar – and used to play in bands in Niles back in the day. He pointed down the main street and said there used to be a whole bunch of bars – with music playing at each one. “You could just walk from one to the other!” He laughed. I tried to imagine what that was like – sort of like all those saloons up and down the main street of Virginia City, I thought.

Red told me he’d lived in Niles for 25 years – right there in Niles – which he considered his town – and before that he’d lived in another small town called Greenville. “Everyone knows you in these towns,” he says. I nodded. I could only imagine.

Red told me about these underground tunnels that ran all over underneath Niles -- and how the guy who runs the antique shop even had a secret passageway to one of them from back in the day.

Then the other guy asked if I knew the history of Niles. I confessed that I really didn’t know much. He told me about an old train that you can still catch that runs on Sundays – that the town was a huge hub for trains back in the day. “But did you know this was the original Hollywood?” Red piped in.

No, I didn’t know that, I said. In fact, I had no idea! “Well all those silent films with Charlie Chaplain and those guys – and even a lot of the old westerns were filmed right here in Niles! Then Walt Disney and the big wigs bought property down in Hollywood and moved everything down there.” Red shook his head as if this was a major tragedy. “I don’t get it. The weather’s perfect here too!”

We all stood there silently, suspended in time for a moment as I took it all in. I could tell these guys were really proud of their town – it wasn’t just about selling stuff at this old antique store, nothing like that at all – they loved this place, truly. A young, sandy haired boy emerged from the antique store, around 9 or 10 years old, and the younger guy put his arm on his shoulder.

“That’s so cool,” was all I could come up with. I could not think of anything more intelligent to say – and really, it is cool.

“There’s a Charlie Chaplain museum down the street about three blocks,” Red said, pointing down the street again. “It’s probably closed right now, but you can look inside.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that..” I explained that I just lived down the road, so I’d be back when everything was open. Red told me the old train would run a couple more times this year too.

“Next time you come by, I’ll have my guitar! I like to sit on that bench right there, but I think a lady wants to buy it.” He pointed to the awesome school bench I’d seen. I didn’t blame him for wanting to sit there and play guitar and I wondered why he even said that.

“Cool, then I’ll bring my ukulele!”

Red told me a lot of musicians lived in town – always so many musicians in cool old towns like these, I thought. Red shook my hand, and though I knew he was washed up in many ways and chances were I’d never see him again, our eyes met for just a moment – Red was a part of the history of Niles. He belonged here.

I said good-bye and headed back down Main Street and found the museum just like Red had told me. It was closed, but it looked like they had all kinds of shows and events there – I vowed to myself to return as the sun set and the music played in a bar down the street where the bikers hung out. They nodded and said hello as I walked back to my car and drove home, feeling as if I’d found a bright shiny gold mine just a mile from where I lived now.

Check out the pictures of Niles here.