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.

Everyone seemed to enjoy our April meeting–we had a crowd of nearly 40 people (one of the biggest groups we’ve had yet). As always, there were several new people, which is always great to see. The big hit of the evening was our new song–“Secret Agent Man.” (Some in the group thought that Bob had called it “Secret Asian Man”; um, no.) Although about 45 years old, this song sounds cool as ever, and seemed beloved even by those who weren’t born yet when it hit the charts. Great with us.

Otherwise, we sneaked into the meeting some of the rehearsal that a group of us who are performing at the Austin Family Music Fest at Pioneer Farm on Saturday, April 21, need to memorize. But they were a bunch of our usual songs–“On the Road Again,” “Eight Days a Week,” “Flamin’ Ukulele in the Sky,” etc., etc. We hope you’ll come see us!

We are going to be selling AUS T-shirts at our next meeting, by the way, as a fund-raiser for the group. Watch for the logo soon, so you can see what you’ll be getting, and they’ll cost $20 each. Watch this space.

We also had a great bunch of solo numbers this time by the Cherrywood Road duo, singing an original song, a mermaid song from Jeanette, another mermaid song from Jack, and songs by Ian (“Imagine”) and Tim (“Chattanooga Choo Choo”). A fine time was had by all. Be sure to be with us at our next meeting, at a Place Not Yet Determined, on Thursday, May 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. See you then!

A group of us gathered last Wednesday evening to rehearse for the Family Music Fest on Saturday, April 21. We recorded a version of “You are my Sunshine,” which will be part of a CD given to each family that attends the Fest. But our AUS blog folks can hear it now at:

http://www.box.com/s/7d6d2ea4fe9bdc8ddbe2

That’s Bob singing the solo vocal, by the way. And many thanks to Bill Jones for handling the recording. Leave a comment–what did you think?

Yes, here it is–that baby boomer’s delight, “Secret Agent Man.” Just start strumming and you’re on a great trip back to the mid-sixties. We’ll be singing this one (yeah, just one new song this time) at the April meeting, which is at our usual gathering spot, the Central Market North Community Room. See you there between 7 & 8:30 p.m., on Thursday, April 12!

And here it is, performed by the man who made it a hit–Johnny Rivers:

Wow!

We have about 20 AUS folks interested in participating in the family festival. Thanks! Preparations for the performance are well under way, so we’re not looking for additional participants. We appreciate all the interest.

If you’re on our mailing list, you may have gotten an email from Jen about participating in the Austin Ukulele Society’s performance at the 6th annual Austin Family Music Festival, at Pioneer Farms in North Austin, on Saturday, April 21st, 2012, hosted by the Biscuit Brothers (if you have kids or work in education you will have heard of them). Warning: it will involve rehearsals.

But if you did not hear about it, and you’re interested in participating, please email austinukes@gmail.com and let us know you’d like to be in!