Reno Ukulele Festival

I did not know, or probably forgot, that this song is about a drug addict. I had one job in the scramble band: to provide the instrumental solo. It’s hard to hear in the video, but I nailed the notes and timing. I played notes around Em C7 B7 verse chords. I had never composed a solo before, though I occasionally played song instrumentals on my covers. It helped that I had been working with my ukulele-playing neighbor Larry on this very thing. Scramble bands were a festival feature, requiring a sign-up: playing skill level and willingness to play bass determined assignment to 1 of 5 bands. Band members chose a song and a leader. After a quick rundown of member’s skills, our leader (an Aussie lady, Chantelle Riordan, with experience with this kind of thing) looked at me and said: “You do the solo.” Our band, the “Hootchie Koochies,” was 1st on stage. I had to rush to get my amp set up and ukulele tuned. I used the Risa Electric. When the song was complete, I had to scramble to get my stuff off the stage as the next band was coming. We had three practices over three days—a good experience. Vocals, ukulele rhythm and bass by all were excellent.

Sidelines was my 2nd open mic. I used that morning’s open mic tips class to position myself close to the microphone. My previous open mic revealed that I needed to do that. One of the instructors acknowledged the improvement and that I had a good voice. Someone said that I sounded like Leonard Cohen. That’s good to hear. I brought my amplifier to act as a monitor for my iPhone GarageBand-composed bass line. Fortunately, the audience could listen to the bass and percussion as well. A Bluetooth connection from the iPhone to the amp worked. Last year, I plugged the iPhone into the soundboard. The audience could hear the bass, but not me. One of the limitations of the festival’s public stage is that there are no monitors. Also, the soundboard is to the side of the stage, so somebody must advise the sound person of what the audience is hearing. I intended to do Sidelines last year. I had not publicly performed the song at a Zoom yet. I struggled with practicing Sidelines more than most songs. So, I changed the key from Bb to F, making playing and singing easier. I performed the songs at 3 Zoom jams over the year. The year’s practice paid off well.