Kavarna's Ukulele Night is only a few days away and we're extremely excited. I think it's safe to say that nothing like this has every happened in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm pleased to announce the full line-up (though this will be an informal evening and unknown people are encouraged to show up with ukuleles to perform), here's the very loose schedule:

7:30 - Kavarna House Band: So far we've rehearsed once and we didn't quite make it through one song, so we'll see what happens. The Kavarna House Band may end up just be me making an ass out of myself. Truth be told, I'm an extremely amateurish musician and I'm not particularly inclined to perform in public; but I brought this gathering together so I feel a sense of obligation to perform one way or another. In any case, I will start the show and encourage any stragglers to let me know if they would like to perform later on in the evening.

After this point, all times are completely arbitrary. The schedule assumes that each ukulelist will perform for 15 minutes, but that won't necessarily be the case - some may be briefer, some longer.

7:45 - Neal Paisley: Neal will be performing a selection of songs with guitar accompaniment. His performance will be a testament to the power of the internet to make connections and to form communities, which is something that I've always been excited about. You can catch up with Neal at his homepage on the excellent ezfolk.com website.

8:00 - Nick Utrie: If you've followed the Green Bay jazz scene for the last couple of years, Nick Utrie should be a known quantity to you. Whether you've come across him in his excellent band, Nick Utrie's Tribune, or seen one of the excellent shows he's put together with the Center for Artistic Collaboration and Performance, it's safe to say that Green Bay owes an enormous percentage of its jazz to Nick. What you have not seen before, though, is a solo performance of Nick on his ukulele. Personally, I can't wait to see what he does with this opportunity.

8:15 - Aaron Baer: Another testament to the internet, I discovered Aaron Baer in an online directory of ukulele players, contacted him and was really happy when he decided to join us for the evening. Aaron seems to play the ukulele frequently in various places around Lake Winnebago. I've been very amused by his website aaron-baer.com, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does.

8:30 - the Reverend Eddie Danger: Mark Riggenbach's (of the Delta Jets) been talking about this guy for months now. Unfortunately I've had some kind of scheduling conflict every time he's played in the Green Bay area. As well as being the impresario of the Feel Good Festival (which will feature Greg Brown this year!), Eddie plays "Funky, Soulful, Folk With a Tribal Twist of Jazz." His website is here.

8:45 - the Delta Jets: Dale Anderson and Mark Riggenbach have been playing their traditional delta blues all over the region for awhile now, hopefully you've had a chance to check them out! For Kavarna's Ukulele Night, Dale will be setting down his steel dobro guitar and picking up one or many of his ukuleles (he has an amazing collection of plastic ukes!) to play a few tunes. Mark will be accompanying him on guitar. You can learn more about the Delta Jets here.

9:00 - Victoria Vox: Victoria Vox (who Northeastern Wisconsin recently lost to love and the Mid-Atlantic region) is a wonderful singer and songwriter who's rapidly becoming a star in the ukulele firmanent. Having recently released a record of ukulele music, she'll be performing her first all ukulele set at Kavarna. Later on this Spring she'll be performing at the New York Ukulele Festival, so catch her here first!

***

That will end the scheduled portion of the evening, however, we'll still have plenty of time for a ukulele open mic, impromptu uke combos, and other ukulele shenanigans. I know that there will be quite a few other players around who have not officially come on board yet, so we'll see what happens. It will be a grand evening, and it should be pointed out that Kavarna is ours, so it closes when we say it closes.

UPDATE 1: This was an enormous success! Will post photos when I have the leisure time.

UPDATE 2: Ukulele night audience member Joanna has posted the following photo gallery: Uke Night at Kavarna. I'm totally grateful to her, first because her photos turned out better than mine, but mainly because she actually got the job done. Thanks Joanna!