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HELSINKI BOSKO 2008-07-02 06:52:05 B&H flew into Europe not far from the Summer Solstice and found themselves severely jetlagged and sleep deprived in HELSINKI... the sun went down (though not completely) for at least 1 and a half hours a day! we were there to visit the folks at the FINNISH UKULELE NETWORK (FUN), to play at their home ground BAR MENDOCINO, with resident ukulele-band LOS BASTARDOS SYMPATICOS also there was PETE HOWLETT - ukulele maker extraordinaire - and it was B&H's great pleasure to meet him... Pete was delivering 10 or so ukuleles he had made for various FUN members, on order from a previous visit to Helsinki... the anticipation of the delivery of these instruments - dubbed the HELSINKI SOPRANO - was intense, and Master of Ceremonies Juha Väänänen gleefully prolonged the handing out of these long-awaited beauties... Juha's band played a lively set, followed by Pete playing the blues, before we went on and did the Safari-show... afterwards there was an auction or two and the handing out of the Helsinki Sopranos... then Bastardos Sympaticos jammed well into the light night... During the next days, Juha guided us around town, had lunch with us and FUN founder "SEPI" and his wife, along with MARKKU (who is a professional CLOWN DOCTOR who uses the ukulele in his work), and Pete Howlett We also went to SUOMENLINNA island - a former garrison island, a short ferry ride from Helsinki - where we drank beer and ate ice-cream with Juha and his lovely wife and daughter we found a nice scenic spot to conduct a safari interview... the Helsinki ukulele scene is small but healthy, friendly, growing and extremely enthusiastic! we had great fun on a road trip with "WEELIE" and UKULELE IGOR in a late model Russian LADA we went to visit a folk festival in the countryside.. in a town called FISKARS.... BAR MENDOCINO VIDEO FISKARS ROAD TRIP VIDEO here's Juha Väänänen of F.U.N. and Los Bastardos Sympaticos outside Bar Mendocino with the event poster... .jpg) |
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Bar Mendocino
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:23:20  |
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Los Bastardos...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:22:15 in action!  |
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Pete plays the Blues...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:20:25  |
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honey models the wares...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:19:06 it's auction-time!  |
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prize-giving (of another type!)
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:13:44 b&h reward Juha #2  |
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at night's end...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:12:14 a group shot with Pete and Los Bastardos Sympaticos (well, some of them)  |
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Suomenlinna Island
BOSKO 2008-07-03 22:09:54 on a beautiful day!  |
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uke transportation
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:34:27 bosko tries it Helsinki-style  |
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Ukulele Igor and the LADA
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:27:44 it has 5 keys and makes as many alarm sounds... we loved it!  |
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road trip pre-production
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:25:19  |
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FISKARS FOLK FESTIVAL...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:23:31 we arrived (and so did the rain!)  |
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the Australian connection...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:21:54  |
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hot Mando-Jazz...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:20:23  |
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traditional Finnish old-time strings...
BOSKO 2008-07-03 21:18:29  |
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a nice local ensemble
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:30:59  |
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uke protection gear
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:26:58  |
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keeping dry...
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:23:51 with beer, warm company and ukuleles...  |
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the LADA gets bogged...
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:21:09  |
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driving to the airport...
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:15:56 Ukulele Igor is the greatest  |
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goodbye Finland...
BOSKO 2008-07-02 07:10:07 flying out  |
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