Sing For Your Supper

*September 2012 is the 5th anniversary of the Yesterukes.*

We really should think about changing the name of our blog to "EAT Along With The Yesterukes." We are not fed everywhere we go, but we do enjoy many good dinners as part of the programs where we entertain. (Our band truly is not all about food, but it is impossible to make photos and play at the same time, so our photos are almost all before and after pictures.)

We were treated to another fabulous covered dish lunch 

prepared by the members of John Knox Presbyterian Church.

If you are wearing a blue shirt, 

you get to go through the food line first.

And as many times as we say we are going to forgo dessert,

that never happens. It's just too good.

This was a fun show for everyone.

The Yesterukes received a standing ovation.

That doesn't happen very often, 

so we appreciate it when we get one.

One of the favorite parts of any gig 

is meeting people after the program.

Some folks want to try out a strum or two.

And some have a ukulele story to share.

This time we heard from someone who still has the 

Martin tenor ukulele that was a gift about 60 years ago. 

And almost always, someone wants to know 

how to book our group. 

Most of the bookings on our schedule 

come from someone who has heard us 

and tells a friend about the program.

A favorite phone call a few weeks ago was when a lady called to ask about scheduling us and said, "David (from another church) says we just HAVE to book your group! You are the favorite program at his church." So now her group is on our spring schedule. This method of booking new places has worked for us for years. When people stop asking, we'll know it's time to call it quits.

Sing For Your Supper, Rodgers & Hart, 1938--recorded by the Mamas & the Papas in 1967

Around The World In 80 Days

Just a day after our last blog which talked about ukulele groups in other places on the globe, we received the the following email from a group completely on the other side of the earth from us.  How much fun to find ukulele friends in Singapore. 

Hi there,
 
I came across your blog and seen some of your clips....very impressive. We have a thing in common as our group started out a few years ago, all seniors and all volunteers....we play at old folks home and community functions , and we jam every Thursday.
you can go to youtube under Bishan Ukelele Interest Group.....
By the way we are from Singapore......I would like to extend our invitation to you when you are in this part of the woods check us out.
 
Happy Jamming ....and have fun...
Sebastian 

Sebastian told us in a second email that there are other ukulele groups in Singapore...

"... except we are the only ones that wear uniformed Tee Shirts like yours . We've got different tees for different events....The one in green was taken on our Chinese New Year Chingay Parade similar to your Madigras and  the red ones was our performance during one of our national day events."

In this big ukulele world, we all learn from each other. Listen to them here:

Thanks, Sebastian, for taking time to share all of this with us. Please tell your members that the Yesterukes said, "Hello!"


Around The World In 80 Days, from the movie of the same title, 1956

You've Got A Friend

If you've been reading our blog all along, you know that one reason our band has continued is because of the good friendships that have grown within the group. What you might not know is that these friendships extend beyond our own band.

The ukulele community is strong world-wide. There are uke players of every age and uke players dedicated to every type of music--everything from punk to Hawaiian to jazz to country to classical. There are solo players and club players and there are bands very much like the Yesterukes. Thanks to the power of the internet, we have made friends with several of these other groups.

But one group in particular has become a "sister group" to the Yesterukes. Email friendships have grown between several of our members and members of SMUG on Prince Edward Island, Canada. It started when their director emailed questions about how our group functioned. Since then, we have swapped ideas, swapped songs and swapped encouraging words. And we discovered how much we have in common.

Last summer the director of the Yesterukes made a trip of over 1500 miles to meet SMUG (Saturday Morning Ukulele Group) in person. Of course there were many photos made and we shared those last year. But a few videos were made during our jam session that day. The camera was lost soon after that so we never got to watch what we recorded. But yesterday that camera came out from hiding, so more than a year later we got to see what fun happened that day.

We just had to share...

You've Got A Friend, James Taylor, 1971