Author Archives: Austin Ukulele Society

AUS T-shirt Headquarters

We wanted to add a page you can use to get information about our lineup of AUS T-shirts and how to order them. Please take a look, and we hope you’ll order at least one shirt. All feature the artwork of Lyda Guz, and all proceeds from sales of the shirts go to support AUS and its activities. Even if you don’t live in Austin, won’t it be ultra-cool to wear one of these shirts?

Santa Claus is Coming to Town – meeting version

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Here’s Bob’s version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Presentation Format (the version we use at the monthly meeting). May you use it well over the holiday season.

Also, here’s our romping, stomping version of that song, from our YouTube channel:

Another trip to Uketania

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After our November AUS meeting came Uketania, at the Sahara Lounge at the edge of downtown Austin. Here’s Jen’s report of the evening:

“Jacob Borshard’s Beebort Records and the Austin Ukulele Society were privileged to present Return to Uketania at the Sahara Lounge, on November 14th. The ‘sequel’ to June 14th’s Voyage to Uketania left a delighted audience and full house looking very much forward to future incarnations of the Uketania series of ukulele music nights, at the eclectic and inviting Sahara Lounge.

“The theme of Return to Uketania was for various ukulele-centric artists to cover new wave and punk rock bands. Jacob Borshard started off the evening with a

great solo set of Ramones tunes. Highlights include audience participation on fist pumping the air on “Hey Ho, Let’s Go” during “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Jacob was followed shortly thereafter by our very own Bob Guz, who played fantastic ukulele-driven renditions of brilliant and varied Elvis Costello songs including “Allison” and “Radio Radio.”

“Shortly after Bob’s set, a lovely quintet of ladies known as the Missy Fits took their stage for the first time, ever, though you would never have guessed it. They played ukulele, and more, while harmonizing on beloved Misfits tunes, including a charming and deliciously impish version of “Last Caress.” Luna Tart came next and covered the Boomtown Rats; she started off the set by sharing the chilling but true story behind “I Don’t Like Mondays” and delivering a powerful version of the classic.

“Jen regrets that she generally turns into a pumpkin around pumpkin time, so she regretfully missed seeing the talented and alluring Rhonda Roberts perform a set of Talking Heads covers. Having seen Rhonda Roberts at the first Voy

age to Uketania, she highly recommends any opportunity to see her when she visits Austin, and you can look for her when you visit Houston. The Skeletors closed out the night with a terrific Violent Femmes set.

“On behalf of ukulele music players and appreciators, Viva Uketania!”

Will there be another visit to Uketania in the cards? We don’t know, but we hope so!

Santa meets the Ring of Fire

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The November meeting was a great time, with about 50 members present. We had one song, the Phil Spector version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” that we tore up pretty well. Bob, by design, always has us run through the song early in the meeting, practicing the trickier parts, and then he has us sing a final version just before the meeting’s end, in which, without fail, we always sound pretty good, because the song has had the opportunity to percolate its way to our fingertips.

We discussed the upcoming visit of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, and our part in it, which turned out pretty well. (More in the next post.)

We also recorded a new version of one of AUS’s oldest songs, “Ring of Fire,” and our version of the tune sounds pretty good. Check out the version on AUS’s YouTube channel.

Thanks to Woody, Erin, Ray, Bob, and yours truly (Walter) for participating in the Open non-mic session of our November meeting.

We all enjoyed ourselves–hey, we always enjoy ourselves at these meetings; otherwise, why come?–and look forward to our next one, which will not be at the church. It will be instead our holiday party at one of our members’ homes.

If you would like to attend, please drop a note to austinukes@gmail.com, and tell us “I’m in for the December party.” and you’ll receive the information about where and when. Do join us!

If we don’t see you there, happy strumming through the holidays.

The Austin Ukulele Society is enjoying having many members of the Dallas Ukulele Headquarters in Austin this weekend! We had a blast at the UOGB show last night, at the combo jam this morning, and we have one more exciting event tonight!

Come out and spend some time with your AUS and DUH ukulele enthusiast friends! From 7:30 – 9:30pm, we invite you to hear the wonderful ukulele driven musical talents of Bob Guz (7:30 – 8), Kathy and the Kilowatts (8:10 – 8:40) and The Love Leighs (8:50 – 9:30), at the Rattle Inn – 610 Nueces St. $10 cover, 21 and over.

The Rattle Inn has a woodsy, warm and cozy interior, and a full bar. You can bring food in with you or grab a bite at one of the many great local restaurants nearby, before or after the show. 🙂

“Ring of Fire” video

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We had a great time at the AUS meeting on Thursday night (November 14). More about the meeting, and the Uketania show at the Sahara lounge afterwards, will appear soon, but in the mean time, here’s our performance of the old Johnny Cash hit “Ring of Fire.” It burns, burns, burns…

Santa Claus comes to town… in November?

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The November AUS meeting is coming. We’ll be meeting at 7pm, on Thursday, November 14th at the Memorial United Methodist Church, as usual.

Our meeting format, as usual, will begin with some local ukulele news and our usual warm-up song – “Three

Little Birds”. Then we’ll play a few songs from our repertoire as well as a holiday song.

Here is the song sheet for “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Phil Spector arrangement as performed 40-odd years ago by the Crystals. You can check out the video below and play along (it’s in the same key – the song itself starts at about 0:40).

We’ll also spend some time on “Ring of Fire” and try to get a video recorded as well.

Feel free to get comfortable with the chord charts for any of the songs in our repertoire, all available here: at our Ukulele Music Library.

We’ll follow up our practice with some open mic time for those of you who’d like to showcase a tune you’ve been

working on. Then we’ll play a song or two together to close out the meeting.

We are excited to have available brand-new black t-shirts with the original logo redesigned in a distressed style, by the lovely Lyda Guz! They are available in a variety of sizes, both in men’s/unisex heavyweight tee and women’s v-neck style. Matt and Jen have modeled the t-shirts, both size small, in the respective styles (see attached).

We’ll have them available at the meeting, and these will be just $15 apiece. Early Hanukkah/Christmas shopping, anyone? Please bring cash or a check (checks should be made out to Jen Brown – not the Austin Ukulele Society – thanks!).

See you there Thursday! Oh, and here’s a YouTube video of our song…

…and here’s a more recent version performed (although in key of C) by the King’s College London Ukulele Society:

Will you be attending one of the UOGB concerts?

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The UOGB, of course, is the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Jen has passed along some information about the two concerts we’ll see here in Austin:

“We know many of you are planning to check out one or both of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) shows, on November 21st and November 22nd, at the McCullough Theater next to the Bass Concert Call, on UT’s campus.

“Below is some info which you may find helpful and/or exciting! Read more here, too: http://texasperformingarts.org/season/ukulele-orchestra-great-britain-austin

1) The shows are technically sold out, but the Texas Performing Arts group recently released some more seats for both shows, so if you still need tickets, grab some now!

2) Parking on campus can be complicated or expensive, especially when there are multiple events on the same night. (Chicago is playing at the Bass). There is a 50% discount for reserved parking ($6 instead of $12 on the night of the show) if you purchase the parking voucher in advance. You can do so here, before 10pm the day before your show:

http://texasperformingarts.org/season/ukulele-orchestra-great-britain-austin

3) Some members of the Austin Ukulele Society are performing just above the lobby, before the show begins, from roughly 6:15 – 6:50pm. There will be a full bar in the lobby, so come early, get your car parked, and enjoy a beverage while the AUS performs for you.

4) The UOGB will have a play-a-long with audience members, so feel free to bring a ukulele. The song will be Tom Petty’s “American Girl” in the key of A; you can get familiar with it here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/147148959/American-Girl-chords-and-lyrics-by-Tom-Petty

“Looking forward to seeing many of you at our meeting on Thursday the 14th.”

We howl “Wa-ooo” for the October meeting

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There were close to 50 people on hand for our October 10 meeting when we sang “Monster Mash.” (And here’s Bob’s special meeting version, the Monster Mash – Presentation Format.) Bob introduced the song as “sort of a rap song” because you don’t really sing it, but speak it. (How you speak it depends on how good you are at channeling Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Most of us settled for sounding ominous.)

Speaking of channels, Bob created a recording which is now on the AUS YouTube channel, but here it is so you can watch it right now:

Jen showed everyone the copy of Ukulele magazine that includes our story and a picture we had taken during the 2012 SXSW. Our group has hit the big time. You can get an online version of Issue number 3 here and read the article.

Thanks to those who performed solo during our Open Non-Mic: Woody (who tore up “Science Fiction Double Feature” from Rocky Horror) Kevin (who proved that you can play Fleetwood Mac’s music on a ukulele), Bob (who performed a great version of Elvis Costello’s “No Dancing Tonight,” and yours truly (Walter), with a fractured version of “Wooly Bully.”

Our next meeting is planned for Thursday evening, November 14, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. at the Memorial United Methodist Church, as usual. See you there.

Here’s our October 10 meeting song–“Monster Mash”

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Just for fun this month, we’re doing that Halloween classic, “Monster Mash.” It’s the old Bobby “Boris” Pickett number from the 60s that requires, as the artist’s name suggests, a Karloff-ian sensibility. The chords are pretty easy–G – Em – C -D–but there are a lot of silly words and a great opportunity to indulge in several choruses of “in-a-shoop-wha-oo.” Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Remember that as usual, we will meet on Thursday evening, October 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Memorial United Methodist Church at 6100 Berkman Drive, Austin 78723.

Below is the song for you to try out. The chords we’ll be using are the same as in the original song.