Here they are, folks–the songs we’ll be singing at the January meeting: You Are My Sunshine and Viva La Vida. Start strumming, and we’ll see you next week.

Happy New Year!  Hope your holidays have been wonderful.

We’re excited to be entering the Austin Ukulele Society’s second year of strum- and sing-alongs!

We’re meeting on Thursday, January 12th, at 7pm, in our regular spot: the Community Room at Central Market (4001 N. Lamar Blvd).  Central Market asked us to remind the group that alcoholic drinks are not permitted in the community room; feel free to bring some water and/or purchase a non-alcoholic beverage from the cafe or supermarket while we meet.

As usual, we’ll start out with some ukulele news and then warm up with “Three Little Birds” and maybe another familiar-to-us tune or two.  We will play two new songs to add to our repertoire and then we’ll spend time playing several of the other songs we’ve enjoyed together.  We’ll still break from our songbook towards the end of our meeting to give you a warm and friendly audience if you’d be kind enough to play/sing us a tune of your choice!

This month’s two ‘new’ AUS songs bring us both old and new with the popular standard “You Are My Sunshine” and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”.  In case you’re not familiar with the Coldplay tune, you can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE&ob=av2n  (And if you’re not familiar with “You Are My Sunshine,” you can find many versions on YouTube).

I’ll follow up next weekend or early next week with song sheets for “Viva La Vida” and “You Are My Sunshine.”

***All songs already in the AUS repertoire can be found in our Ukulele Music Library.***

Looking forward to seeing you and hearing your beautiful ukulele strumming next week!

We had a great time at our South Austin holiday party this past Thursday, Dec 8. Around 35 people attended, and everyone ate, drank, strummed, sang, and had a wonderful evening. Among the greatest of the treats (and there were many, as you can see), was Harry’s terrific haupia–Hawaiian coconut pudding served on a piece of palm leaf and garnished with pomegranate seeds (no, one didn’t eat the palm leaf).

We sang lots of holiday songs — notably “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — along with our previously featured “Blue Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”Several of us also shared non-holiday songs, too, such as the 20s Ukulele Ike hit “You’re My Weakness Now.”

Remember that in the future, we will be holding our meetings on the second Thursday of each month. That means that in January, our meeting will be held on Thursday, January 12, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Central Market North (the place we’ve met for most of the past year).

Did you know that we have now been meeting for 12 months? Our January 2012 meeting will complete the cycle, and we look forward to strumming along with you into the new year.

Our Tuesday, 11/15/11 meeting in the elegant library of the University Methodist Church near the UT campus was great fun. Thanks to everyone who came out. Hats off to Mardi Wareham for making it possible to meet up in such a comfy spot.

A very warm welcome to the first-timers who joined us — we hope to see you again soon! And special kudos to everyone who played a solo number for the group! (See pictures of some of the soloists–Mardi was one of them–see her on the right.)

Mark your calendars because our December meeting will be special. To celebrate the holiday season ukulele style, we’re having a Holiday House Party on Thursday, December 8th. We’ll have snacks and drinks, get a chance to socialize, and then jam on some holiday tunes. We will be following up soon with more details.

(A reminder that you can find downloadable PDF versions of all our song sheets on our blog (gosh, that’s where you are now). Click on the “Ukulele Music Library” link.)

Mark your calendars because our December meeting will be special. To celebrate the holiday season ukulele style, we’re having a Holiday House Party on Thursday, December 8th. We’ll have snacks and drinks, get a chance to socialize, and then jam on some holiday tunes. We will be following up soon with more details.

As always, it’s such a pleasure to play with you all. –Bob

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!