Yearly Archives: 2011

Our July meeting wrap-up

If you were at this past Tuesday’s meeting, we hope you enjoyed it. Quite a few new folks were there–hooray! If you weren’t there, we hope we’ll see you again soon.

Here’s how Bob described our get-together on July 12 at Central Market:

Thanks to everyone who came to our July meeting Tuesday night. Despite the blistering heat outside there was plenty of cool music in the room — and we had a lot of fun. A special shout out to the first-timers who joined us — hope to see you again!

The Austin Ukulele Society reached a milestone this week: David Salazar, who we met at this week’s meeting, was the 100th person to “like” us on FaceBook. Thanks David, and welcome!

Reserve the date on your calendar and spread the word: our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, August 9th, at 7:00pm. [Note: It’s now Thursday, August 11th.] 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.

And for those who can’t wait until next month for a ukulele event, come to “Sweetpea’s Ukulele Night” at Skinny’s Ballroom next Wednesday, July 20, from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Skinny’s (http://skinnysballroom.com/) is located downtown at 115 San Jacinto. This month’s theme: Elvis!

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

Cheers,

Bob G.

Pine Beetles coming July 9th

Here’s an upcoming uke event… Our own Bob Guz will be playing with the Pine Beetles next Saturday, July 9, 6:30 to 8:30 (these times are changed from the earlier version of this post). He sez: “We’ll be playing old-time music, American and Celtic folk, country, and Tin Pan Alley with guitars, banjo, concertina and, on every song, ukulele.”
The venue is:
Patsy’s Cowgirl Cafe
5001 East Ben White Boulevard in South Austin

Next meeting is July 12

Hey, folks… if you haven’t fled northward during Austin’s 100-degree-plus (and rainless) summer, remember that the next meeting will happen Tuesday, July 12, 7 – 8:30 p.m. at Central Market North’s Community Room (the usual place).

We’ll be playing “Hey Jude,” which has been on our list of songs for a few months, but we haven’t gotten to yet. Our other song for July is “Singing in the Rain,” the old Gene Kelly classic, in an interesting arrangement in which the chords we play change every two beats. Take a look and try it out. Both are in our Ukulele Music Library.

June 14 meeting was lots of fun… but aren’t they all?

Bob sent along this message about the June 14 meeting at Central Market North’s Community Room, attended by (we think) 23 people:

Thanks to everyone who came to our June meeting Tuesday night and made it so much fun. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the room! A special welcome to the first-timers who joined us — hope to see you again!

Hats off to those who played and sang (and low-yodeled) a solo number, and to Walter for his dizzying kazoo solo break on “Runaway.” Thanks for sharing!

Mark the date and spread the word: our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, July 12th, at 7:00pm. We’ll be sending out a reminder and posting on our blog and FB page. And please send in suggestions for our sing-along — we’re building a great repertoire.

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

If you missed this one, will we see you at the July 12 meeting? We hope!

Are ukuleles too popular?

Steven Sproat, a uke player who’s well-known in the UK, says that, um, maybe the uke’s become too popular for its own good. Nobody likes to be part of a fad, right? Let’s quote him from this June 3 BBC story:

“On about one in every seven TV adverts there will be a ukulele part. It’s on documentary programmes. It’s been taken up in education – it’s a rival now to the recorder [as a first instrument to be taught in schools] – it’s being used by celebrities. There are ukulele clubs springing up in every town.”

Hey, things could be way worse. We remember the ’90s, when almost no one played the uke at all, and if you said you played the ukulele, folks would look aside and roll their eyes.

Join us Tuesday night, June 14, at Central Market

Yes, it’s time on Tuesday evening, June 14, for our monthly meeting at Central Market North, 40th & Lamar, between 7 and 8:30 p.m. in the Community Room, which is located to the right as soon as you enter through the Produce Dept door. We have some new songs for you this time: the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” Del Shannon’s “Runaway,” and the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon.” Oh, and about this last number–if you get a chance, download it and take a look at (and try out) the wonderful descending intro chord progression that Bob has developed. If you’re familiar with the song, we think you’ll agree that it’ll be lots of fun to play as a group.

Remember that all the songs we perform at meetings will be posted permanently (or as permanently as things are ever posted on a blog) in our Ukulele Music Library. We plan to have the projector on the premises, but just in case, it never hurts to bring along the songs on paper.

See you Tuesday!

“Striking a chord” on the Boston Herald site

Here’s a quick story on the Boston Herald site about the most recent phase of the uke resurgence, prompted (it appears) by the new Eddie Vedder ukulele album. It includes a video interview with MA ukulele player Michael J. Epstein, who plays in a couple of Boston-area uke groups, including Neutral Uke Hotel.

Take a look. Plus we’re not sure how long it’ll be up, but here’s a chance to listen to Vedder’s “Ukulele Songs” in its entirety at the NPR Music site.

Oops, oops… one more. Here’s a guy who built a working ukulele out of Lego bricks. For some reason, he tuned it a deeper and slightly flabbier C-F-A-D instead of G-C-E-A (listen to the bit of Puff the Magic Dragon he shares), but hey, it’s still pretty impressive.

Hooray! New outdoor meeting June 7

Our own Jen has been so kind as to arrange for another outdoor meeting for us with one of our members in South Austin for Tuesday, June 7. She sez:

We were all disappointed to have to cancel tonight’s meeting due to a scheduling conflict at the Triangle Park.

Susan, one of our members, was kind enough to offer up her large backyard as a strumming venue for us, before the next Central Market (6/14) meeting.

Here are some notes from our kind hostess:

You are welcome to BYO beverages/food/snacks. If you’d like us to do so, we’ll fill a cooler with ice. We have a few extra chairs, but probably not enough for everyone, so to ensure a place to sit, bring your own portable chair.

As we’ll be outside, there will not be a projector. Please bring printed song sheets. And don’t forget some insect repellent!

When: Tuesday, June 7th: 7:00pm – 8:30pm

What: Strum-along to “Three Little Birds” “Ring of Fire” “Stand By Me” “Eight Days a Week” “On the Road Again” “(All I Have to Do Is) Dream” “Don’t Fence Me In” “All of Me” “What a Wonderful World” (Louis Armstrong, Iz, etc) and “Wonderful World” (Sam Cooke) Please let me know if you need any of the above song sheets emailed to you – you can find them all here at Our Ukulele Music Library.

See you there, we hope!