We had about 26 people join us this past Tuesday, and it was a good, friendly meeting. There were 7 – 8 first-timers who joined us at our meeting Tuesday night — welcome! I hope you enjoyed yourself, soaked in some of that uke-camaraderie, and that you keep coming back!

We also had more folks than ever step up to perform a solo number for the group. Bravo! It’s a thrill to see how much ukulele talent there is in Austin. We sang that uke anthem Flaming Ukulele in the Sky, and among the group was the author himself, Pops Bayless (below).

A reminder about Sweetpea’s Ukulele Night at Skinny’s Ballroom next Wednesday, October 19, at 7:00pm. Skinny’s (http://skinnysballroom.com/) is located downtown at 115 San Jacinto with parking right across the street.

And next Tuesday, October 18, Del Rey is bringing her Blue Ukulele workshop and house concert to Austin. There are still a few spaces available and this is an opportunity not to be missed! See our blog entry for more details: https://austinukulelesociety.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/dont-forget-del-rey-coming-oct-18/. Contact Sandy H. (sandy@satellitebookkeeping.com) for location and payment information. Space is limited, and registrations are first come/first served, so don’t delay!

Our next meeting is coming next Tuesday, Oct 11–as usual, it’ll be at Central Market North’s Community Room from 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Our song this time will be the ukulele anthem by Austin’s own Pops Bayless: Flamin’ Ukulele in the Sky! It’s on the blog’s Ukulele Music Library in PDF format. Plus we’ll sing-&-strum lots of our old favorites.

More about the meeting coming soon (as we figure it out). See you there!

We had a big group of people–33 by our count–who attended the Sept 13 monthly meeting of AUS at the Central Market North Community Room. It’s been great to see people coming to join us for the first time; we hope you enjoyed it and will come back.

The group had a great time singing and strumming a lot of our old favorites, from Three Little Birds to On the Road Again, and we debuted the Willie Nelson/Patsy Cline song Crazy as our newest number. (Chords-&-lyrics sheets for all our songs are kept in the Ukulele Music Library.) Plus we had great performances from plenty of our regular attendees. In short, a great time was had by all. And there’s more ukulele stuff coming up in Austin:

• Sunday, September 18, Ukulele Workshops at Fiddler’s Green with Jessica Graves. Check their website for contact information: http://www.fiddlersgreenmusicshop.com/

• Sweetpea’s Ukulele Night at Skinny’s Ballroom next Wednesday, September 21, at 7:00pm. Skinny’s (http://skinnysballroom.com/) is located downtown at 115 San Jacinto with parking right across the street.

• Ukulele Soiree at the Swan Dive on Saturday, September 24. The Swan Dive is located at 615 Red River. Check out their website: http://www.swandiveaustin.com/

Our next meeting will be held once again at the Central Market North Community Room, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11.

See you then, and watch for an announcement about our newest song.

Jen sez: We’re looking forward to next week’s meeting and hope you are, too!  We’re meeting on TUESDAY, September 13th, at 7pm, in our regular spot: the Community Room at Central Market (4001 N. Lamar Blvd).

Bob, Walter, and I discussed it, and we’d like next week’s meeting to give us a chance to practice many of the songs we’ve worked on over the past months but rarely get time to run through.  Some of you may not have even had the chance to play them with the group, if you’ve only been coming to our play-a-longs for a month or two. This meeting will give you a chance to try out any that you missed.

As usual, we’ll warm up with “Three Little Birds” and maybe another familiar-to-us tune or two.  We will play one new song to add to our repertoire – Willie Nelson’s “Crazy” – (you may know it as a Patsy Cline song) and then we’ll spend time playing as many of the 16 other songs we’ve enjoyed together as we can.  We’ll still break from our songbook towards the end of our meeting to give you a warm and friendly ‘open mic’ audience if you’d be kind enough to play/sing us a tune of your choice!

All songs in the AUS repertoire can be found in our Ukulele Music Library; that includes Willie Nelson’s “Crazy” (which is not to be confused with the Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” we sang last meeting–both are great songs, but you’ll never mistake one for the other).

Are we crazy for playing the ukulele? Possibly.

Bob is bringing a projector, but feel free to print copies of any/all songs in case you don’t have a good view of the projector. See you there!

Wow, what a crowd at our great August meeting at Central Market. We’re wondering whether we should have more meetings on Thursdays. (What do you think? Leave us a comment if you have an opinion on the subject.)

Anyway, here’s Bob’s report, which you may have received already by email:

Thanks to everyone who came to our August meeting Tuesday night. By Jen’s quick headcount, 35 players were strumming away – our biggest turnout since we started meeting back in January! A very warm welcome to the many first-timers who joined us — we hope to see you again soon!

Special kudos to everyone who played a solo for the group. Every song was a gem.

A reminder that you can find downloadable PDF versions of all our song sheets on our blog, http://austinukulelesociety.wordpress.com/. Click on the “Ukulele Music Library” link. We mail out copies of any new songs we’re going to play, but you can always check the Library for the complete set.

Reserve the date on your calendar and spread the word: our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, September 13th, at 7:00pm. We’ll be sending out reminders and posting on our blog and FB page. Please send in suggestions for our sing-along — we’re building a great repertoire.

For those who can’t wait until next month, come to “Sweetpea’s Ukulele Night” at Skinny’s Ballroom next Wednesday, August 17th, from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Skinny’s (http://skinnysballroom.com/) is located downtown at 115 San Jacinto. This month’s theme: the British Invasion, with guest hosts Bill “Monster” Jones and Kathy Murray!

As always, it’s a pleasure to play with you all.

Don’t forget–if you have any ideas for songs to sing at the meeting, please let us know. See you in September, folks!

Remember, we’ll be meeting again at Central Market North’s Community Room on Thursday, August 11th, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Two new songs will be featured–one is the oldie (way oldie: we’re talking 1928 here) My Blue Heaven, suggested by one of our members. But we’ll also have a relative newie–Crazy, the 2006 Gnarls Barkley hit. Download ’em here, or come get ’em, plus all our other featured songs, in our Ukulele Music Library.

See you on the 11th.

Jen sez: “As most of you know, the AUS usually meets on the second Tuesday of the month –and we’ll continue to do so, in the future.

“For August, though, there is a one-time date change – we’ll meet on Thursday, August 11th – same time, same place (7:00pm – 8:30pm, Central Market’s Community Room – 4001 N. Lamar).”

So… if you haven’t been able to attend AUS meetings because Tuesdays don’t work for you (but Thursdays do), here’s your chance! Come and join us. More info coming soon about the meeting.