For a number of reasons–mostly because it looks as if Triangle Park will be otherwise occupied on this coming Thursday evening–we must cancel our outdoor get-together on May 26. We are sorry to be doing this.

We will, however, hold our next meeting as planned on Tuesday evening, June 14, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Central Market North.

It’s time for another Outdoor Get-Together!

What: Strum along to “Three Little Birds,” “Ring of Fire,” “Stand By Me,” “Eight Days a Week,” “On the Road Again,” “(All I Have to Do Is) Dream,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” “All of Me,” “What a Wonderful World” (Louis Armstrong, Iz, etc), and “Wonderful World” (Sam Cooke).   You’ll find them all right here, and print them out, at our Ukulele Music Library.

When: Thursday, May 26th; 7:00p-8:30p

Where: Triangle Park (south side of the park, on the grass, near the podium/stage) – it’s between Guadalupe & N. Lamar and 46th & 47th Street – please Google map “Triangle Park Austin” and zoom in – it works!

As we’ll be outside, there will not be a projector.  Please bring printed song sheets.  Bring a picnic blanket or a chair, too, if you like!  Feel free to bring snacks/drinks – and don’t forget some insect repellent!

We’ll plan to meet at the Community Room at Central Market, as usual, on the second Tuesday of June (6/14) at 7:00pm – watch for more information.

Our May 10 meeting was a hit–we had a great turnout and lots of enthusiasm. But let’s allow Bob to describe it:

Thanks to everyone who came to our May meeting Tuesday night and made it another big success. Our group sing-alongs sound better, sweeter and more confident every time we meet! A special greetings to the first-timers who joined in — we hope to see you again!

Bravo to those who played and sang a solo number. It’s a thrill to see how much ukulele talent there is in Austin. Thanks for sharing!

There are rumors circulating of yet another outdoor Austin Ukulele Society meeting sometime very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for a note from Jen about that.

Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday June 14th at 7:00pm. We’ll be sending out a reminder and posting on our blog and FB page. 

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

We’ll be announcing any upcoming meetings here, so stay tuned. We hope to convene another outdoor sing-&-play-along, but where and when are still being considered; we’ll let you know about it as soon as we do.

Our May meeting will be–as always–at Central Market North’s Community Room at 7 – 8:30 p.m., on Tuesday, May 10. We hope to see you there.

We’ll be strumming and singing two “Wonderful World”s– first Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World,” (“Don’t know much about history…”) and then Louis Armstrong’s (and Iz’s) “What a Wonderful World.” We’ll also be singing the Beatles classic “Hey Jude.”

Download ’em now and try ’em out.

Our first Evening in Triangle Park on Thursday, April 28 was a big success. It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect. But let’s have Bob tell us:

What a great night! Beautiful weather, 25 ukuleles being strummed, appreciative passers-by, and a bunch of fun songs to play. What’s not to like? We’ll definitely see if we can’t squeeze in one more outdoor meeting before it gets too hot. Thanks to everyone who came — and a special shout out to the first-timers who joined in. Welcome!

As Bob said, we hope to organize another outdoor get-together soon, so watch this space, and our Facebook page, for more information. Please don’t forget to suggest any songs you’d like to see (and hear) us sing by dropping us a line (austinukes@gmail.com) or sending us your comments.

Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, May 10th at 7:00pm at our usual spot, the Community Room at the Central Market on North Lamar. See you then!

It’s a small collection, yeah, but we now have a Ukulele Music Library, for the basic lyrics-&-chords sheets we use (and project) at our meetings. From now on, you’ll always be able to find them in one place, and we will be adding more of them as we select ’em for subsequent meetings.

On Thursday, come over to the Triangle to play some uke. Jen sez:

Friendly reminder:

What: Strum-along to “Three Little Birds” “Ring of Fire” “Stand by Me” “Eight Days a Week,” ” (All I Have to Do Is) Dream,” “On the Road Again,” and “Dont Fence Me In” – Be sure to print these out if you don’t have them!

When: Thursday, April 28th; 7:00p-8:30p

Where: Triangle Park (south side of the park, on the grass, near the podium/stage) – it’s between Guadalupe & N. Lamar and 46th & 47th Street – please ‘google map’ “Triangle Park Austin” and zoom in – it works! 🙂

As we’ll be outside, there will not be a projector. Please bring printed song sheets.  Bring a picnic blanket, too, if you like!

Bob sez, about our April meeting:

Cheers to everyone who came to our April meeting last night [Tuesday, April 12]. What a great sing-along. My fave was “On the Road Again.” We’ll definitely be doing that one again!

Special thanks to Ukulele Tim Keough for sharing his approach to mastering a very useful finger-picking pattern. For a recap, you can see his online introductory lesson on the pattern here: http://ukulelesecrets.org/2011/03/27/ukulele-secret-2-folksy-fingerstyle/. And check out the rest of his blog, Ukulele Secrets (http://ukulelesecrets.org/). There’s lots of challenging stuff to keep you practicing for hours and hours — you will dig it.

A reminder to come by Sweet Pea’s Ukulele Night at Skinny’s Ballroom, next Wednesday (April 20) at 7:00. Location info and calendar here: http://skinnysballroom.com/.

There are rumors of a bonus outdoor Austin Ukulele Society meeting sometime very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for a note from Jen about that. [See below!]

Looking forward to our next monthly meeting: Tuesday May 10th at 7:00pm. We’ll be sending out a reminder and posting on our blog and FB page. If you have song suggestions for future group play-alongs, please send them in – just reply to this message!

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

And about that second April meeting? Jen sez:

We are planning an outdoor bonus meeting, later this month.  It seemed like a great opportunity to get together while it’s still not too hot or buggy out and enjoy our self-made outdoor music! 🙂

What: Strum-along to “Three Little Birds” “Ring of Fire” “Stand By Me” “Eight Days a Week” “On the Road Again” “(All I Have to Do Is) Dream” and “Don’t Fence Me In” – if we’re going to add any more songs, we’ll send another note and the song sheet!  Please let me know if you need any of the above song sheets emailed to you, too!

When: Thursday, April 28th; 7:00p-8:30p

Where: Triangle Park (south side of the park, on the grass, near the podium/stage) – it’s between Guadalupe & N. Lamar and 45th & 46th Street – please ‘google map’ “Triangle Park Austin” and zoom in – it works!

As we’ll be outside, there will not be a projector. Please bring printed song sheets.  Bring a picnic blanket, too, if you like!

We’ll plan to meet at the Community Room at Central Market, as usual, on the second Tuesday of May (5/10) at 7:00pm and send a reminder about it as well.

If there are any questions, let us know – looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, 4/28!

See you then!

Our next AUS meeting is coming up on Tuesday, April 12, between 7 and 8:30 p.m. As usual it’ll be in the Community Room of the Central Market, 4001 N Lamar.

What will happen? Our special guest will be “Ukulele Tim” Keough, the ‘mad picker’ at many of our meetings so far, who will provide the Tip of the Month. We’ll hear a report about the Lone Star Uke Fest in Dallas on the previous week, Apr 7 – 9.

And of course, songs! Bob tells us that we’ll play “Three Little Birds” (which appears to have become our official warm-up song), the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week,” and one or more of the following: “Don’t Fence Me In” (Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, & many more), “All I Have to Do is Dream” (Everly Bros), & “On the Road Again” (if you don’t know who sings that one, you’re living in the wrong city).

Download these song sheets, and build your repertoire. Remember, if you have songs you want us to sing, let us know.

Folks–if you were at AUS’s Mardi Gras meeting at Central Market Tuesday night March 8, you all seemed to enjoy yourselves (we heard bucketfuls of positive remarks afterward). We had 25 people or thereabouts show up, so it looks as if the Austin Ukulele Society will continue strumming in the months ahead.

Bob Guz, our Fearless Meeting Leader, as well as Fearless Tipster (we learned how to execute a Fan Strum at the meeting), gave us his impressions the next day:

Lots of energy in the room last night — everyone looked like they were having a really great time.

I continue to be amazed by the level of ukulele talent and enthusiasm we have right here in Austin.

We had several professional musicians–or they fooled us with their skill–playing during our Open Mic at the end of the meeting, & all were delightful. We heard about the upcoming Maplewood School Fundraiser (see below), & the Lone Star Uke Fest, coming up in Dallas on April 7-9–and the Complete Beatles show coming on Wed & Thurs, March 16 & 17, at Jo’s on S Congress.

Bob also says:

Looking forward to our next meeting: Tuesday, April 12th, in Central Market’s community room, at 7:00pm. If you have song suggestions for future group play-alongs, please send them in – just reply to this message! If you can include a song sheet or a link to one, even better.

We’ll be in touch! It’s a pleasure to play with you all.

Cheers,

Bob G.

PS: Someone left a jacket in the meeting room Tuesday night. [Let us know] if it’s yours. Cheers!

Next meeting: Tuesday, April 12th, in Central Market’s Community Room, at 7:00pm. Same time, same place as always, just a different month. See you there.