A veritable summit of the strummers will take place Thursday evening in lovely Middlefield, Conn. There (at Peckham Park) and then (at 6:30), you will be treated to the five-man uke group the Humble Bees, as well as special guest performance by Jim and Liz Beloff, who have been, ahem, instrumental in sparking the national revival of the ukulele. Jim (whose father, Marv, is a member of the Humble Bees) was raised in Meriden but now lives in California. He’s written the book (literally) on the uke, made how-to-play DVDs, compiled a collection of uke tunes for Rhino Records, and designed his own lines of uke-like instruments, including the fluke (check their website for the scoop on the fluke and all things uke:
The Humble Bees are too humble to toot their own horns, so I’ll do it for them. In recent years, the Humble Bees have played nearly every senior center, town fair and festival in the state. Whatever fees that they’ve made have been donated to the American Association of University Women, to be used for scholarships. In this way, they’ve raised thousands of dollars for the AAUW. Plus they’re a whole lot of fun to watch. Bring sunglasses. You will need them to protect your eyes from the colors on their Hawaiian shirts.
