Getting Some Fun Out Of Life

It is only fitting that we ended our season in the very room where this crazy venture started. The Yesterukes began, not as a band, but as an 8-week "Learn To Play The Ukulele For Fun" class at Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Center. Five people completed that class but continued to play together and then to perform together. And that little band of beginners grew, picked a band name, grew, bought blue shirts, and grew some more, until we have 21 members in today's band.

We still practice weekly at Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Center even though now only one band member is a Martha Franks resident. Our band members come from across the upstate of South Carolina. And we continue to grow. This was the first performance for our newest member.

The residents and staff of Martha Franks gathered on a weekday afternoon to participate in The Big Sing! And everyone enjoyed joining voices to sing old favorites. Our program ran a little longer than we intended but we don't think anyone noticed. It was all good fun.

One resident left after the program and then wheeled her walker back in and said she just had to come back to tell us that a couple of our songs were special to her. She had worked in Atlanta as a young woman, across the street from the Ansley Hotel and often heard the band there practicing Sentimental Journey. That would have been when that song was a new hit!

Some of these residents had only heard us at the very beginning and were surprised at the sound we have now, after five years of playing.  We have worked hard to make our music snappy and to make our program entertaining. 

And after all this hard work, we are taking a summer break. There might be an occasional blog post during the summer, but look for us back here full time in the fall.

Getting Some Fun Out of Life, Billie Holiday, 1937