Here they are–our songs for the November meeting on Tuesday, 11/15. One is, as promised, Blue Christmas, made famous by Elvis, and the other is Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, made famous by Brenda Lee. Both songs have been added to our Ukulele Music Library, too. Have fun with these, and see you at the meeting.
Happy November!
This month’s meeting is in eleven days from today, and here’s an extra reminder about the LOCATION CHANGE!
We’ll meet at the University United Methodist Church (UUMC), on the UT Campus, at 24th and Guadalupe (2409 Guadalupe). There is a small parking lot in front of the church’s main entrance (there is a turn into the parking lot, west side of Guadalupe, between 24th and 25th Streets). We’re meeting on TUESDAY, November 15th, at 7pm, at UUMC’s library. (Please note this is the third Tuesday of the month – not the second Tuesday).
The UUMC parking lot is available to use, free of charge, but space is limited – if the parking lot is full, please plan to park at a meter nearby – there are plenty just 1.5 blocks north, on Dean Keeton (and meters around campus are still free after 6pm).
So please mark your calendars and note the location.
We are considering learning a couple of holiday tunes, such as “Blue Christmas” and maybe “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” – keep your eyes open as we’ll try to send the song sheets out before the meeting – coming soon, we hope. If you want to look at a selection of Christmas songs, chorded out for uke, visit this British site and this American one. These won’t be the song arrangements we’ll use in our meetings, but they’re a good place to get your uke-playing in shape for the Holidays.
Due to the impending holidays, the Central Market folks told us that we won’t have access to their Community Room during November and December. So… we’ll be holding the November meeting on Nov 15 (that’s the third Tuesday in Nov, folks, instead of our usual second Tuesday) at UUMC (University United Methodist Church, at 24th and Guadalupe, i.e., at 2409 Guadalupe). There is a small parking lot in front of the church’s main entrance (there is a turn into the parking lot, west side of Guadalupe, between 24th and 25th Streets). The number of spaces in the lot are limited, but nearby meters are free after 6 p.m.
So that would be Tuesday, November 15th, at the usual time of 7 – 8:30 pm. Hokey dokey with you? We hope so. More about the meeting coming soon. And… we hope to hold a special holiday get-together/strum-along. News coming soon!
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!
Uke blues artist Del Rey brings a workshop and a house concert to Austin on Tues, Oct 18!
How much:
Blue Uke Workshop only: $15
Concert only: $15
Both (save $5): $25
The Blue Uke Workshop will cover:
• How to fingerpick melodies and accompaniment on blues repertoire suitable for the ukulele.
• An introduction to right-hand fingerpicking, including what makes a melody “blue.”
• Songs that suit the ukulele from 1920s guitar greats like Charlie Jordan and Barbecue Bob.
We’ll listen to some recordings, and learn a song in class. Bring your ukulele (standard C tuning), a notebook and a pencil. Audio recorders are OK, if unobtrusive.
To fully participate in the workshop, you’ll need to be familiar with basic chords, and be able to change chords easily while keeping time with the music.
The Concert: “Rey refers to herself as “trailer trash with a library card” and her catalog reflected that schism with a mix of classic ragtime, hillbilly and blues covers as well as her own original tunes, most marked by a winking sense of humor.” — Michael Eck, The Times Union
Del Rey’s Website: http://www.hobemianrecords.com/delrey.html
When: Tuesday, October 18
Blue Uke Workshop starts at 7:00pm
House Concert starts at 8:15pm
Where: Private residence in Bouldin Creek neighborhood, in the 78704 area. RSVP required; space limited to 20 folks. Contact Sandy@satellitebookkeeping.com for location and payment information.
All proceeds go to the artist! Payments made to Del Rey via PayPal: Go to paypal.com, click the link that says “send money” then do so, to stuff@hobemianrecords.com. All you need is an email address and a credit card.
For questions, plus more information: email sandy@satellitebookkeeping.com
We just found a message on one of the ukulele bulletin boards telling us that there’s an incredibly great PDF songbook online with lyrics and chords for over 300 rock, pop, country, etc. songs. They range from easy 3-chorders to a few quite complex numbers (check out the Bohemian Rhapsody arrangement, which will keep you busy for a while).
It was compiled by organizers of the London Uke Festival, and it’s [here; take a look.] (Well folks, it looks as if it was taken down, so we’ve eliminated the link. Sad.) Remember that if you are looking for uke-friendly arrangements of songs, there are plenty of them available–at least temporarily–on the uke websites.
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:
er 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.
The notorious uke blues artist Del Rey brings a workshop and a house concert to Austin on Tues, Oct 18! First, about the Blue Uke Workshop:
The one-hour workshop will cover
• How to fingerpick melodies and accompaniment on blues repertoire suitable for the ukulele.
• An introduction to right-hand fingerpicking, including what makes a melody “blue.”
• Songs that suit the ukulele from 1920s guitar greats like Charlie Jordan and
Barbecue Bob. Also little known ukesters Lemon Nash of Louisiana and Rabbit
Muse of Virginia who were African American ukulele players and showmen with
distinctive styles on traditional and standard jazz material.
We’ll listen to some recordings, and learn a song in class. Bring your ukulele (standard C
tuning), a notebook and a pencil. Audio recorders are OK if unobtrusive.
To fully participate in the workshop, you’ll need to be familiar with basic chords, and be
able to change chords easily while keeping time with the music.
The Concert: “Rey refers to herself as “trailer trash with a library card” and her catalog reflected that schism with a mix of classic ragtime, hillbilly and blues covers as well as her own original tunes, most marked by a winking sense of humor.” — Michael Eck, The Times
Union
When: Tuesday, October 18
Blue Uke Workshop starts at 7:00pm
House Concert starts at 8:15pm
Where: Private residence in Bouldin Creek neighborhood, in the 78704 area. RSVP required, space limited to 20. Contact sandy@satellitebookkeeping.com for location and payment information.
How much:
Workshop only: $15
Concert only: $15
Both: $25
All proceeds go to the artist! Payments made to Del Rey via PayPal: Go to paypal.com, click the link that says “send money” then do so, to stuff@hobemianrecords.com. All you need is an email address and a credit card.
For questions, plus more information: email sandy@satellitebookkeeping.com.
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!
Austin Ukulele Society (AUS) 