We tried our our new home for our May 10 meeting–a big room just off the gym at the Memorial United Methodist Church on Berkman Drive in east Austin. Everyone who was there–and it looked as if there were about 30 of us–seemed to feel that it was a pretty good spot for a meeting. After cramming ourselves into the Community Room at Central Market North for our first 16 months as a group, at last we had some room to spread out.

Bob had prepared three new songs for us. The first was the Jimmy Buffett classic “Margaritaville” (which, we learned, was reputedly written in Austin), and Bob taught many of us who aren’t pickers how to pick out the introduction on our two middle strings. We also performed a medley of two Buddy Holly songs–“Everyday” and “Rave On.”

And then came the solo performances. We thank Steven, Tim, Gary, Ian, Jack, and (yours truly) Walter for entertaining us with a widely-blended mishmash of music–everything from rock to clawhammer. All of the audience–even when they don’t perform themselves–make the performances friendly and special. We encourage everyone to try it at least once.

Jen brought in our big box of AUS-logo fundraising T-shirts, and sold many of them. Our supply is rapidly disappearing, so if you want one, now is the time to drop us a line at austinukes@gmail.com (and the shirts, in whatever size you request, are $20 each). They’re really comfy and classy.

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled, once again, at the Memorial United Methodist Church, 6100 Berkman Dr., for Thursday, June 14, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. Hope to see you then.

We have a great new logo (see above, if you’re looking at our regular blog page), but haven’t quite figured out how to make it fit correctly yet. It’s coming soon (we may need to redesign our page)… but isn’t it cool?

Oh, and don’t forget our upcoming meeting on Thursday, May 10, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Memorial United Methodist Church, at 6100 Berkman Drive (Austin, TX 78723). See you there!

As announced earlier, the AUS is moving to a new location–we will no longer meet at Central Market. We will meet Thursday, May 10, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Memorial United Methodist Church, at 6100 Berkman Drive (Austin, TX 78723) – it’s just southeast of where I-35 and US-290 connect, and a few blocks east of Cameron Rd.  Google will give you good directions from any part of town.

When you arrive, please pull into the ‘enter only’ parking lot on the north side of the church – you can park in any spot not designated for staff.  Park just beyond the covered driveway near the front entrance of the church.  Please try to arrive a few minutes before 7 if you can.

We’re all looking forward to playing some new tunes on the ukulele – in fact, we have three new tunes for the month of May!  One of them is the beloved Margaritaville from 1976 by Jimmy Buffet.

The other two tunes are co-written by a Texan with a museum dedicated to him in Lubbock – Buddy Holly.  We know we sound great doing oldies, so why not add a couple more?  The dual-song medley Everyday – Rave On is attached, in the same PDF document.

As usual, we’ll play some songs from our repertoire and also have an ‘open mic’ section near the end for those of you looking for a warm audience.

If you’ve requested to buy a t-shirt, please bring $20 (per shirt) and we’ll get you squared away!

Yes! We now have AUS T-shirts for sale. Here’s Jen’s message about them:
“As some of you know, Lyda – Bob’s wife (who you may know as our projector operator extraordinaire) – is a fantastic graphic designer. We are grateful for the beautiful logo she designed for the Austin Ukulele Society. Our logo is now the profile picture on our Facebook page, if you haven’t seen it yet.

“We had some t-shirts printed with the logo, in time for our performance at the Austin Family Music Festival. Pictured here is a zoomed-in shot of the logo as it appears on the t-shirt.

“Of course, we’d like each and every one of you to purchase and proudly wear an Austin Ukulele Society t-shirt.

“Here’s the deal: We printed extra shirts, both in unisex and women’s cut styles – they cost $20 each. We’ll bring our inventory to the May 10th meeting and sell you a shirt (while supplies last!); so please pre-order one via email – this will help us manage current inventory and expectations for the future re-order of shirts! I’ll ask you for your patience as our stock is limited. However, if you request a shirt in a size we’ve run out of, I’ll be sure to add you to the list of shirts we’ll reprint. I have a feeling we’ll be making a re-order in time for the June meeting.

“Drop a note to austinukes@gmail.com with size and style (unisex or women’s cut) and I’ll either reserve a shirt for you or add you to the list for our second order. I’ll respond either way, so you know when to expect your shirt.

“Thanks and see you all on the 10th!”

Our next meeting is May 10, but we wanted to give you as much notice as possible about our new location! As many of you know, our group of wonderful ukulele players has outgrown the Community Room space at Central Market.

We’ve done our best to find a central location, with free use of a bigger room (thank you, Shelley, for your help!). We’ll meet at Memorial United Methodist Church, at 6100 Berkman Drive (Austin, TX 78723) – it’s a few blocks east of Cameron Rd., just southeast of where I-35 and US-290 connect. Google Maps will give you good directions from any part of town.

Meeting time is the same: 7:00pm – 8:30pm

When you arrive, please pull into the ‘enter only’ parking lot on the north side of the church – you can park in any spot not designated for staff. I would recommend parking just past the covered driveway near the front entrance of the church. I (Jen) will be available to guide you to the room, which is adjacent to the gym.

Please feel free to bring a non-alcoholic beverage for yourself; there is ice available in the kitchen (which is in the back of our big new strumming room). We’ll be in touch sometime next week with information about the song(s) for the May meeting, and of course, reminders about the meeting date and location. –Jen

We had a great time at the Austin Family Music Fest at the Pioneer Farm in North Austin on Saturday the 21st.

You can find these pictures and more here. We played a ten-song set, which went very well–the audience really enjoyed us. If you’ve been to any of our meetings, you would recognize the songs–like “On the Road Again,” and “Flamin’ Ukulele in the Sky”.

And here is the four-part video of our performance, courtesy of Bill…
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

And here are two more videos from Trina, of two individual songs. Here’s “On the Road Again”:

And here’s “Runaway”:

It’s fun to play outdoors.