The June meeting of the Austin Ukulele Society was a blast! Our ever-growing, diverse group of members enjoyed strumming and singing great harmonies. We crooned like Roy Orbison, didn’t worry ’bout a thing, rocked it like a Wagon Wheel, and got back On the Road Again just before the thunderstorms and spectacular lightning became perilous. Here’s the group practicing our newest song, “You Got It.”

You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here.

As always, a warm welcome to our first-time attendees and those that shared their delightful talent with us during the Open Mic portion of the night.

Don and Steve, Pops and Randall
   
Kendra, Woody, Liam, Jack and Elizabeth
      

Looking forward to strumming and singing with you again on July 10th! 🙂

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Our May meeting was the biggest to date, with over 80 ukulele enthusiasts strumming and singing favorites like “Ring of Fire” and “On the Road Again” along with a great rendition of our new song for the month, Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”.

You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here.

The group had a fantastic time, with even more smiles and applause than usual! We’d like to give a special welcome to AUS newbies, including Mike and Linda Smith, who drove all the way from Waco! A big thanks to Andy Brooksbank, for filming a profile for the Time Warner Cable News segment “Local Wonders”.

Much appreciation for those who performed during the open mic night; solo or duet, original or cover, we are privileged to have you showcase your talent!

A big crowd!

   
Anna & Leta, Kathy & Bill, and Woody
         
Annie, Walter, Liam, Kevin, and Gary
               

Looking forward to strumming and singing with you again on June 12th! 🙂

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.

Members of the Austin Ukulele Society played at Lakeway, Texas’s annual “Made in America” dinner event, at which they raise money for their yearly charitable efforts We played for about an hour for a dinner group of approximately 250 attendees. We were a big hit! After our performance, we were treated to a barbecue dinner by the organizers.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated and made this such a fun event! 🙂

The Austin Ukulele Society’s April meeting provided a fabulous evening of favorite tunes from our repertoire like “Runaway” and “Ring if Fire” along with great harmonies on our newest song, the 1972 rock classic by Stealers Wheel, “Stuck in the Middle With You”:

You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here.

We appreciate all our returning and new members for bringing together such talent and would like to offer a special thanks to those of you who delighted us with a solo or duet number during the open mic portion of the evening. 🙂

70 happy strummers!
   
Walter, Ray, Thayer and Leta, Liam
         
Erin and Ryan, Jack, Ian, Randall
         

Looking forward to strumming and singing with you again on May 8th! 🙂

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.

The Austin Ukulele Society’s March meeting was a wonderful time for regular and new members alike. We moved out of the classroom we’ve been using for well over a year and tried out the gym for the first time. Our group has grown so much! Feedback was positive regarding the increased elbow room. We had a blast learning to strum and sing the Lumineers’ 2012 hit “Ho Hey” and enjoyed playing some of our other favorites as well. Here we are practicing “Ho Hey”:

You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here.

As always, we appreciate you for being there! A very special thanks to our gracious open mic participants – Ian, Woody, Katie, Steve, Kendall, Randall and Jacob. We look forward to seeing you all soon, and please remember, our April meeting is on the first Thursday (April 3rd). 🙂

Our happy gang in our new spacious digs
   
Ian, Woody, Jacob, and Steve
      
Randall and Katie
  

As always, we look forward to making beautiful ukulele music with you at the next meeting, Thursday, April 3! 🙂

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.

At our February 2014 meeting, we had a wonderful time practicing the romantic jazz standard “L-O-V-E” by Bert Kaempfert and Milt Gabler. Written for Nat King Cole’s last album of the same name, it has been covered by many. Enjoy!!

You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here. A hearty ukulele welcome to all the first-timers who came to the meeting! Special thanks those that shared a song during the open mic part of the evening: Joy, Jacob, Kevin, Ian, Kendall and Leta, Woody, and Jack — with special guest Maryann Price.

As always, we look forward to making beautiful ukulele music with you at the next meeting. 🙂

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.

The Austin Ukulele Society kicked off its 4th year with a bang!

Since our very first meeting in January 2011 we’ve started every one of our monthly meetings with the legendary Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” to warm up our fingers and voices, and to remind ourselves that every little thing is gonna be alright. You can download the lyrics and chords here. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for this song (what we project up on the wall for all to follow along) here. Enjoy!!

A hearty thank you to all of the wonderful ukulele players and enthusiasts who attended the first AUS meeting of 2014! We are grateful to all first-timers as well as our special guests from Charlotte, NC! Each and everyone of you contributed to the wonderful singing and strumming, and we thank those that shared a song they’re working on, during the open mic part of the evening.
  
  
  

As always, we look forward to making beautiful ukulele music with you at the next meeting. 🙂

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list.

The weekend of November 22 and 23 was something special for ukulele folks. On the evenings of Nov 21 and 22 (Thursday and Friday), the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain was in town, pulling out their combination of rock music cover songs (with a little country mixed in) and gags from their collective hat. It was a great show–everything from a Lady Gaga song to the theme from the old Beverly Hillbillies TV show. About 50 members from the Dallas Ukulele Headquarters had come down from their own city to see the show, too.

Before Friday’s show, our usual assembly of AUS members performed on a stairwell above the audience, and looking down at the audience, we saw a lot of smiles. We played some of our old favorites, like “Runaway” and “Love Potion #9.” and some newer things, too, like “Wagon Wheel.” The next morning the Austin American-Statesman ran a photo of us playing, calling us the “Ukulele Society of Austin” (USA?) and that we were a “flash mob.”

We invited the UOGB members out for a pint after the show, and three of them joined us: George (the group’s leader), Dave, and Jonty. They told us that they had to be up at 5:30 a.m. to catch a flight to Philadelphia, but they stayed and chatted for awhile.

At 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, most of the DUH members had stayed overnight, and we had an interesting singalong session, with the leader of a song switching between Mark Levine of DUH and our own Bob. (With the projector and PowerPoint slides shown by Kathy and Lyda, their respective spouses.) It was a lot of fun, and gave us a chance to sing some songs we’ve never played as a group.

We’re glad we had a chance to see the UOGB, and to get together with the DUH members, and we hope we get a chance to do it again. Oh, and here’s a picture of Bob, Jen, and me (Walter) in the lobby with a sign featuring our participation–yay, us!–in the show.

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?

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.