Santa Cruz Ukulele Club in the spotlight
There is a bumper sticker, common in my part of California, which reads “Keep Santa Cruz Weird!” 
I am still strongly considering retiring there someday.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel article describes several icons of life in Santa Cruz Country: the surfboard, the redwood tree, the protest sign, the tie-dye T-shirt… and the ukulele? The article goes on to explain the presence of the 4-stringed instrument as primarily a result of the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz, “a broad collection of oddballs and misfits.”
Filmmaker Nina Koocher did not have to “be told twice.” Her first visit to a monthly meeting of the Uke Club at Bocci’s Cellers, with 97-year-old Hawaiian uke master Bill Tapia and a group of pre-teen uke master wannabes was enough.
Six years after that first experience, Koocher will premiere her film, “Under the Boardwalk,” at the Rio Theater next Tuesday! Her film traces the growth in popularity of the ukulele after the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco 100 years ago. To add that perspective, Koocher brought in the late writer and Hawaii-lover from Santa Cruz, James Houston.
Among the accomplishments of the Ukulele Club is “Burning Uke,” an annual camping event in Big Sur, in which a giant ukulele built by the Geno Galli (now deceased) was burned. One founder of the Club, Andy Andrews, described the event: “It’s like Burning Man for old guys too lazy to drive to the desert.”
The screening of Koocher’s film, “Under the Boardwalk,” will be preceded by a live Uke Club jam and followed by a Q & A period.
Needless to say, the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz has a Wiki, a Songbook, and a rich history (by Gail Rich, no less)!
-Bill at
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