PORT TOWNSEND — Let’s face it. The ukulele is adorable.
“It’s an endearing instrument; it has this vibe of the carefree and whimsical,” said Stuart Fuchs, the ukulele stuntman among the many performers to take the stage in Saturday night’s Port Townsend Ukulele Festival concert, titled Ukulele Bonanza One.
But what’s this about “stuntman”?
Naturally, as “I throw my ukulele in the air” — to show zest for life and music — “and I always catch it,” Fuchs promises.
Also a guitarist, didgeridoo and flute player, he seeks to push the boundaries of his instruments.
On the uke, Fuchs plays odes to Roy Smeck, the vaudeville and early cinema entertainer who played the tiny instrument with his teeth and behind his back.
“All the things Jimi Hendrix did with the guitar, Roy Smeck did with the ukulele,” added Fuchs.
For his part, he also likes to stir in some Brazilian samba and choro, then switch on a dime to Bach.
Show time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the Ukulele Bonanza, to also feature a galaxy of players around Fuchs: Del Rey, Brook Adams, Casey MacGill, Francis Doo, the Canote Brothers, Jim D’Ville, Heidi Swedberg, Mark Nelson, Daniel Ward and Lil’ Rev.
The Wheeler Theater, just inside Fort Worden State Park at 200 Battery Way, is the venue, while tickets are $20 at Centrum.org and 800-746-1982.
The same goes for Ukulele Bonanza Two at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 17.
Fuchs will be back, as will Rey plus featured performers Sarah Maisel and Craig Chee, Gerald Ross, Joel Eckhaus, Ralph Shaw, Jason Arimoto, Nani Edgar, Aaron Keim and Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer.
The two-week festival draws some 250 students to Centrum’s concerts, workshops and jam sessions at Fort Worden.
With Marianne Brogan as artistic director, the Port Townsend ukulele gathering began in 2013 following the end of a similar festival in Portland, Ore.
Celebrants here, mind you, aren’t limited to the one instrument.
Nova Karina Devonie of Seattle, for example, teaches an accordion workshop and a music theory class and, just as key, adds her instrument to the spontaneous afternoon sessions.
People who come to the ukulele festival are impossible to pigeonhole, except that they are “very passionate, open-minded and ready to have fun,” Devonie said.
That’s the attitude of Saturday night’s performers too, be they ukulelists or accordionists.
These are instruments enjoying new life in the arms of players of all levels, added Devonie.
She picked up the accordion at age 11, and began playing in bands as a young woman in the 1980s.
At music camps and concerts around the region, she meets people who have none of the old baggage around the uke and accordion.
When inviting people to Port Townsend’s Ukulele Festival concerts, Devonie is direct.
“Drop your preconceptions,” she said, “and be ready to hear amazing music.”
