In my physical absence at MUD 9 due to recent open heart surgery, it was heartening and healing to see our members of our wonderful Michigan Ukulele Community step up and help make things run as smoothly as ever. I know I’m going to forget someone, but I’d like to try and give thanks to the folks who made the weekend so special.

Our line up of performers/teaching artists featured a variety of fresh faces in the ukulele world, most of who had never been a part of Mighty Uke Day before. Kim Bjerga, Clark Holmes, and Andy Nufer, aka The Naked Waiters, wowed everyone at our Friday night with their heavenly harmonies and relaxed, yet professional stage presence. And, when they teamed up with our Saturday night headliner Danielle Ate the Sandwich at the Sunday Acoustic Afterglow concert, it sounded like the four of them were born to sing and play together – and we hope they find many opportunities to do so. (Check out this wonderful rendition of “My Girl” they collaborated on.) Speaking of Danielle, the last time she graced the stage at Mighty Uke Day was six years ago at MUD 3 when she impressively headlined our first Friday night show as a newcomer to the Michigan uke scene. She was a big hit with our attendees that evening, but headlining the Saturday night concert, she showed how much she’s grown in her songwriting and performance; still with the same engaging and quirky sense of humor, but now paired with a maturity in her song lyrics that come only from life and touring experience.

Our opening acts demonstrated the wide range of music the uke is capable of. Steven Espaniola taught two years ago at Midwest Uke & Harmonica Camp and brought a much-needed and important taste of traditional and contemporary Hawaiian culture to MUD 9 in his workshops and performance. My Canadian “ukulele sister” and James Hill Ukulele Initiative Level 3 graduate, Cynthia Kinnunen, taught four engaging workshops and performed with her husband Ben as “Transit Lounge” at our Friday night concert. We were very lucky to land Matt Dahlberg for MUD 9. He’s a popular and effective online instructor with limited opportunities to travel, everyone enjoyed learning from him in person and on seeing him perform Friday night. Abigail Stauffer is a talented Michigan singer-songwriter who we’ve been trying to bring to to Mighty Uke Day for a few years; she was well worth the wait. Her soulful voice and emotional presentation was captivating.  

Along with our headlining acts, we had a variety of great music at our Featured Performer and Open Mic stages. Some of you are seasoned performers and some were playing in front of an audience for the first time, thank you so much for sharing your talents and tunes with all of us. Thanks to Mike Dyer for assisting with sound all day at the Featured Performer Stage and to Punch Drunk‘s Chuck Deyo and John French for keeping the open mic running smoothly.

We couldn’t have put this all together without our volunteers, stationed at the workshops, various stages, MUD HQ, and other areas. Thanks for donating your precious weekend time, I hope you had some fun during, and outside of, your shifts.

At the risk of missing someone and in no particular order, I’d like to give some special shout-outs to those who really went above and beyond in helping in making this year’s festival a success. (The activities listed don’t begin to cover the responsibilities they so willingly undertook.)
LAUGH co-founder Dave Pasant for leading our Friday Flash Mob and Saturday Opening Strum.
Mike Dyer for helping with “wrangling” the Featured Performer Stage at the Urban Beat
Patrick Malloy for playing bass with Dave at the Saturday Opening Strum
Shari Ballard and Amber Rozel (aka C.A. Jones) for an their entertaining introductions at our evening concerts and playing chauffeur for some of our musicians
Punch Drunk’s Chuck Deyo and John French for helping Dave at the Flash Mob, running the Open Mic, leading the Two-Chord Strum, and entertaining the crowd at the evening concerts
Cindy Mielock for being The Naked Waiters private driver and Lansing tour guide. (I know; it’s a rough job, but someone had to do it!)
Casey Beauchamp and Mary Hutchins for running the MUD and artist merch sales at the Tent City and concerts
John Payne for helping with Tent City setup and tear-down and doing whatever else was needed.
Larry Stump for bringing his Guinness Book of World Records Giant Ukulele to display in Old Town and on the stage.
Cindy McElroy for manning the Bucket Brigade donations and hosting the performer Green Room.
Jon Benallack for logistics management at Dart Auditorium, photography, and graphic design.
Rhea Van Atta for coordinating supplies for the green room, merch sales, and providing needed and loving support as I recuperated.

I’d like to give big props to this guy; MUD 9 would not have been possible without him. Larry Cooley has been an invaluable “man behind the scenes” at over the past years at Mighty Uke Day organizing the volunteers and workshops and providing financial guidance, but in my absence was forced to step out front to take over many of my usual duties including hosting the main stage; at which he did so well and enjoyed so much, I don’t know if I’ll get my old job back for MUD X! Thank you Larry for your invaluable leadership and friendship.  

Sponsors old and new donated instruments and other items for our silent auction along with other contributions. After all was said and done, we raised at least $12,000 to go towards our Music is the Foundation school and community music programs. Thanks to the Ten Pound Fiddle and their “Fiddle Scouts” program for funding the Beginning Uke Workshop with Marquette’s Papa Crow, Dave Birney and Dave’s Ukes for their incredibly generous sponsorship of the Featured Performer Stage, GHS Strings for their sponsorship of the Ukulele Care workshop, and the Old Town General Store for sponsoring our performer and volunteer Green Rooms. Silent auction instrument donations were provided by Ohana Ukuleles, Mainland Ukes, Dave’s Ukes, Amahi Ukulele, Dave’s Extravagant Ukes, and Farida Guitar & Ukulele. A huge thank you to our VIP ticket-holders who donated a little extra to help the cause. A huge thanks to Daedalian Lowry and our media sponsor, WLNZ Radio 89.7 from Lansing Community College; their participation allows to use Dart Auditorium for our evening concerts. Big props to Melissa Kaplan, Bob Fernholz, Julian, Liam, and Steve at Dart for their organization and expertise.

Other friends of MUD 9 include: Slick Shirts, MICA Gallery, UrbanBeat Events Center, Mother and Earth Baby Boutique, Melissa Sigh and the Sigh Studio of Music, Old Town Commercial Association, Red Cedar Friends Meeting House, Dean Transportation, Capital Area Transportation Authority, Tony Coleman and Margaret Meagher of Tiny Goat Films (who started it all with the “Mighty Uke” documentary), the Cozy Koi B&B, the Quality Inn University hotel, and our “home away from home” Sir Pizza.

Mighty Uke Day has strong supporters in the local press including Rich Tupica from the Lansing City Pulse, Karen Love and Jack Robbins from WLNZs “Coffee Break”, Tim Barron from Tim Barron’s Radio Michigan, and Veronica Gabriel from TV6 – thanks for helping us get the word out by covering our funky little festival. To top it off, we also got a shout-out in the Chicago Tribune from travel writer Phil Marty and in AAA Living Magazine. Thanks also to Stan Werbin and Elderly Instruments for helping spread the word via their email list.

Video from the weekend are being uploaded to our YouTube page and check out Jon Benallack’s official photo album as well as photos and video posted on Facebook.

We are always trying to make Mighty Uke Day better, so please take a moment to fill out our post-festival survey. We value your input and take it into serious consideration when planning future events.

Mark your calendars for Mighty Uke Day X (our tenth year!), which will be held May 8 – 10, 2020 in Old Town Lansing. Keep up to date on details as they develop via our website and Facebook page, and sign up for our “News from the Great Uke State” newsletter; there’s always some ukeing going on in Michigan!

Peace, love, and ‘ukulele,