Monthly Archives: December 2011

If you weren’t at our holiday party, those of us who were wish you had been there

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We had a great time at our South Austin holiday party this past Thursday, Dec 8. Around 35 people attended, and everyone ate, drank, strummed, sang, and had a wonderful evening. Among the greatest of the treats (and there were many, as you can see), was Harry’s terrific haupia–Hawaiian coconut pudding served on a piece of palm leaf and garnished with pomegranate seeds (no, one didn’t eat the palm leaf).

We sang lots of holiday songs — notably “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — along with our previously featured “Blue Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”Several of us also shared non-holiday songs, too, such as the 20s Ukulele Ike hit “You’re My Weakness Now.”

Remember that in the future, we will be holding our meetings on the second Thursday of each month. That means that in January, our meeting will be held on Thursday, JanuaHarry's haupia--mmm!ry 12, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Central Market North (the place we’ve met for most of the past year).

Did you know that we have now been meeting for 12 months? Our January 2012 meeting will complete the cycle, and we look forward to strumming along with you into the new year.

103-year-old uke musician Bill Tapia dies

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Many of us in the ukulele community have heard of Bill Tapia, a professional musician of Portuguese parents born in Honolulu on the first day of 1908. He started playing the ukulele as a boy, and by the 1920s had become a professional musician. He was performing in Hawaii and on cruise ships during the first ukulele craze of the 20s and 30s, and switching back and forth between ukulele and guitar, kept on performing until his death on December 2nd–only about a month before he would have turned 104.

If you look for him by name on the Web, you’ll find plenty about him, but you can read about his death here. What a big loss for the uke world!