Meet Us in Morristown, Sept. 25– and bring your uke!

Last month’s ukulele festival was so much fun that we wanted to keep the sunny vibe going.

And so MorristownGreen.com is delighted to present the Morristown Uke Jam at Meet Me in Morristown on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014.

This is the year’s fourth and final monthly edition of Meet Me in Morristown, a sidewalk fair that transforms the downtown into a sea of artists, musicians, dancers and crafts people.

“We’re putting the Mojo back into Motown,” said Kadie Dempsey of Morris Arts, co-sponsor of the event with the Morristown Partnership.

Some of that Mojo will be supplied on Thursday by poet Maya Stein, a.k.a. the  “Type-Rider,”   who bicycles around America with a typewriter and solicits lines of poetry.

Bobby Becker & Friends, a well oiled musical machine, will hold forth on the Morristown Green. At the same time, Irish dancing is likely to break out on any street corner.

And of course, you will want to stop outside old First National Bank, on South Street across from DeHart Street, where our ukesters should start playing around 5 pm.  (The full roster of artists is below; we are No. 23 on the map.)

‘THE MAGIC OF IT…’

“I played the guitar for 30 years, but I never did anything as remotely as creative as I can do on the uke,” said Mark Dutton, who founded the Morristown Uke Jam in January.

Once a corny prop in beach movies, the ukulele has become cool in recent years, thanks to viral YouTube videos by the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, better known as “Iz,” and uke virtuoso Jake Shimabokuro.

Taylor Swift, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and the late Beatle George Harrison all have recorded with the instrument.

“To me, the magic of it is, you don’t have to play it like a guitar. You can play it like a ukulele, and that’s more fun,” said Dutton, a software designer from Denville who was introduced to the uke by his then-teenaged son.

Players of all abilities gather on Wednesday evenings on the Morristown Green during warm weather. They jam inside Anthony’s Pizza on the first Wednesday of each month. Dutton posts tutorials on YouTube, and creates charts of popular songs for the group to practice.

Ukuleles have fewer strings (four instead of six) and a shorter, narrower fretboard than guitars; this makes some chords simpler to finger, Dutton explained.

“I think the physics of the instrument are easier,” especially for novices, he said. Yet in the hands of a master, a uke can produce incredibly complex pieces. “People are doing amazing things on the ukulele,” Dutton said.

If you have a uke, bring it with you on Thursday (ukes are portable!) or just sing along with the group. The more the merrier!

And if you can’t make it, don’t despair. Meet Me in Morristown will return for a second season next year, with a few tweaks, the organizers said.

NEXT YEAR…

Jennifer Wehring of the Morristown Partnership said the series may start a little earlier in the spring.  It launched at at the end of June this year. She also hopes to increase participation by downtown shops and restaurants.

While the whole thing is designed to feel spontaneous, the signup process may change next year to enable more artists and performers to participate, added Dempsey of Morris Arts. She also aims to extend the event’s reach from the Green to Speedwell Avenue.

“I learned that there is such a need for more upstart, fun, innovative programming in the downtown. The audience is already there,” Dempsey said.

Meet Me in Morristown offers a special opportunity to entertain young people who flock to local bars on Thursday nights, she noted.

“We have a lot of younger artists, and people coming for the bars later on can identify with them,” Dempsey said.

MORE COVERAGE OF ‘MEET ME IN MORRISTOWN’

VIDEOS FROM ‘UKE NEW JERSEY, TOO’ FESTIVAL

Info for Meet Me in Morristown artists/musicians, from the organizers:

Set up between 4 pm and 5 pm– after you have dropped off your things please do not park front of any retail or restaurants. If the businesses in town feel that the artists are taking their customers’ prime spots we may not get their support for future events.  Go to either the DeHart Street Parking Garage where there is a flat rate of $4 for parking after 5 pm, or to Maple Avenue where you will find metered parking… Musicians don’t forget that there is a special permit that night that allows  you to collect donations from people passing by. Be creative and make sure your donation box is visible. You can add the words Meet Me in Morristown to remind the public that you are part of the event.

Click to enlarge.