First off, thank to you everyone who took the time to enter. We were overwhelmed with submissions and we’re sorry it took so long to announce the winners. You guys are all awesome. There were a LOT of good entries and deciding the winners were really hard. In the end we judged them by originality, and the question, “would we wear this shirt?” Here we go, top three designs that we really liked.

3rd place - $25 worth of shwag from the UU store

Submitted by - Nick Wong

2nd Place - $50 worth of shwag from the UU Store

Submitted by - Arnaud Charbonnel

First Place - New Kamoa Pineapple Soprano

Submitted by Samantha Nery

Congratulations to the winners! Please e-mail me (ukuleleunderground(at)gmail.com) so we can work out how to get your prizes. Once again, thank you everyone who entered. Stay tuned for an easier contest and chance to win your own ukulele.

Also, if you’re not already part of our awesome forum, you may not yet know about the new project we have going. In the forums, we have a legendary member Deach, you may have seen some of his videos on youtube. In the forum, he has become notorious for giving away ukuleles to young up and coming ukulele players. This has caused some controversy in the past, but it’s become the general consensus that he is just an awesome guy. So what started as a way to just immortalize an awesome forum member has somehow turned into a charity drive to give more ukuleles to more kids. We have a pre-order item for a Deach T-shirt in the store in which part of the proceeds are going towards the Kapa’a Middle School Ukulele band to buy them new ukuleles. The program is doing its part of perpetuating the UU mantra of growing the next generation of ukulele players so if you can, please buy a Deach shirt and help us get some new ukuleles to these kids!

Aloha! - UU Staff

Day 4 - “SD Bound”: The guys awake early to clean up russ_buss’ apartment in SF and head off to the airport for a (Virgin America!) flight to San Diego. In San Diego, they make it over to Pacific Arts Dance Studio where Aldrine teaches two workshops - a Beginner/Intermediate ukulele workshop and an Intermediate/Advanced ukulele workshop. The turnout is more than anyone could ask for and the team meets a LOT of awesome UUers and many new faces for a night of uke-ing.

Day 5 - “Mo’s”: Easily the longest and busiest day of the trip. The guys leave the hotel in search of things to do in San Diego. They have lunch with Joey Jr. at Phil’s BBQ, then chill at Pacific Beach. They hit up Reel Picture, the company that pressed and printed Aldrine’s CD, before heading back to the hotel for a warm-up jam with BJ and Bugoy. Everyone meets up at Mo’s Island Grinds, for a gig with Almost Islanders. A spontaneous after-hours jam arises with legendary band, Pau Hana, and the guys get to hang out with some hilarious brosephs from YT. Insane.

Day 6 - “Huntington”: Last day of the Tour. The UU Crew packs it up for the drive up to Huntington Beach. They stop off in Irvine to have lunch with Ryan’s brother Stephen before making their way to Island Bazaar, one of California’s largest ukulele shops. The entire place gets packed to the rafters with UU members and ukulele enthusiasts from across the LA Metro Area and everyone has a blast.

Honestly, the UU California Tour was the most fun that we’ve had in a long time. The entire experience was, in a lot of ways, life-changing for all of us and we have everyone who came out to the shows and supported us along the way to thank for it. As soon as we can make it happen again, we will definitely be back for more!

The BIGGEST MAHALO humanly possible,
-UU Staff.

Yay for Wednesdays! Today’s FREE streaming ukulele lesson with Aldrine will be brought to you LIVE from the island of Kauai. Be here at 2pm HST (that’s 5pm PST and 8pm EST) for some of the best ukulele instruction in the world!

>>Click Here For Free Live Streaming Lessons with Aldrine Guerrero<<

See you there!!

Alohas,
-UU Staff

Day 1 - “Arrival”: After a several rough flights and the airline having lost nearly all of their baggage, the guys arrive in San Francisco and head over to DaSilva Ukulele Co. for the first gig of the tour. The venue was wonderful, the people there were awesome, and the overall atmosphere made everything worth it (For more videos (and pics) from this performance, Click Here. *Thanks Ame!*)

Day 2 - “Break Day”: The gang wakes up late and spends what’s left of the morning trying to locate the lost luggage. They meet up with Russ_Buss who, knowing SF like the back side of his hand, shows them around the city. Everyone winds up at Russ’ apartment where Aldrine makes banana ketchup spaghetti and a 4+ ukulele jam session ensues.

Day 3 - “Hukilau”: The last day in the Bay area for the tour. The guys head up to the Kala Ukulele Company warehouse in Petaluma where they pick up a couple ukuleles to give away on the tour. They head over to the Hukilau Restaurant to check it out and setup for the gig. Bay area UUers pack the Hukilau and everyone has a grand ol’ time. (For more videos from this performance Click Here *Thanks Ame! - again!*.

*If you would like UU to appear in your city/town/area of residence, please let us know by posting a comment below!!

THANKS again to everyone who came out to see us in the Bay area, helping us to kick off this unforgettable tour. We hart all of you!

Aloha,
- UU Staff