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This weekend was a first for me. I performed a simple ukulele song on a stage with an audience. The song was “Princess Poopooly” and the venue was the C.F.Martin guitar company tent at the IBMA World of Bluegrass street festival.

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I’ll admit, “Princess Poopooly” is not a bluegrass song… it’s a silly Hawaiian tune. But the kind folks at the Martin tent invited any and all to come up on stage and show their stuff. Play a song, get a T-shirt.

The performance itself was underwhelming. I’ve never worked with mics before, so it was a little constraining to sit behind two: one for me and one for my ukulele. Halfway through my song, the uke mic dropped out of the stand and into my lap, which led to the most-remembered line of my act: “whoops!” The kids laughed and repeated that one over and over.

This was the realization of a promise I made to myself at last year’s World of Bluegrass festival. After watching a bunch of other folks step up and play (including both of my daughters), I decided that it was time to pick up an instrument myself and learn.

Big thanks to the folks in the audience who cheered me on.