Watch What Happens

When ukulele players from across the Southeast gather by a lake on a beautiful spring day, good things are bound to happen. The Charleston Hotshots hosted CUKEOUT today at Lake Greenwood, SC to give uke enthusiasts a chance to meet each other and play together.

It was great to meet other players. People came from the Atlanta, Georgia area, different parts of North Carolina and of course, several towns in South Carolina. There was even a couple from Wisconsin who spend part of the year in North Carolina.

The Charleston Hotshots planned and hosted this event. And entertained us with their songs. We all want a bucket bass now! Thanks, Hotshots, for making this happen.

We got a chance to sing a few of our songs.

Seeing lots of ukuleles of all varieties was interesting. We usually only see other styles online .

We also heard so many styles of music--finger picking, blues, ragtime, jug tunes, jazz, tin pan ally, rock, etc. It was quite an education for us. Lots of ideas for the Yesterukes.

Group songs were part of the schedule. For folks that had never met before, we didn't sound too bad when we played together.

You can't have a ukulele gathering without a little Hawaiian music.

It was a gorgeous day at Lake Greenwood. A great chance to practice a little in peace. The ice cream pontoon even passed by in the afternoon.

Players came with spouses, children, pets and friends.

It was a good day for everyone. We hope CUKEOUT #2 happens in the fall. Maybe you'll join us!

Watch What Happens, recorded by Frank Sinatra, 1969

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Close To You

Togetherness we're used to. Being packed in like sardines is taking it to the next level. Our band members are in the senior adult age group, so it's common for two or three of us to be at a doctor visit, another few off traveling, and maybe someone is babysitting grandchildren. We rarely have all of our group present at a program. But for this program, 19 of our 21 members were present. 19 ukulele players take up a lot of floor space. We squeezed together as tightly as possible on a small stage. And prayed no one fell off the front!

The Yesterukes had a great time at Aldersgate United Methodist Church with the Prime Timers. They also had a huge crowd and the fellowship hall was packed. We had fun singing our old songs and having the Prime Timers sing along with us.

After the program, there was such good fellowship with the church members. One lady told a Yesteruke, "Today was truly a sentimental journey!" Another said, "I'm 90 years old (she didn't look a day over 75) and I knew ALL those songs." Someone else commented, "We really thought one of the ukulele players was going to bounce right off the stage." (Sometimes we really get into the music.)

We are fully aware that we are a senior adult group, but most of us don't feel particularly old. Sometimes, though, we are reminded of our age. Like when the pastor made this remark--the church pastor, sporting as much gray hair as some of us, introduced himself after the program. He told us that he knew many of our songs---because he had heard his father sing them! What can we say?

Close To You, recorded by Frank Sinatra, 1943

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Are You Havin' Any Fun?

No doubt about it! The Yesterukes had fun this afternoon.

Noodle McDoodle from Charleston, SC came to the upstate to teach us a few new tricks.

Learning to do things in a different way is not always easy.

But the sound of new harmonies was exciting!

And just for fun, we brought photos of ourselves from years and years ago...

...to see if we could recognize each other.

A few were easy to recognize--some people just never change--and others were much harder to identify.

This occasion was worthy of a celebration! Caramel frosting and a Hershey bar fret board on a one-of-a-kind cake that didn't last very long at break time.

Then we discovered that Mrs. Noodle could tap dance! And there was no way we were letting her go without a demonstration.

No doubt about it---the Yesterukes had a lot of fun today.

Are You Havin' Any Fun?, by Yellen & Fain, 1939

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Anything You Can Do

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? An email arrived this week, telling about the ukulele "big band" arrangements from James Hill. Perfect timing. We've got a good handle on our regular set list now, so we are ready to try something new.

A video of James Hill's "Big Band" class at the Portland Uke Fest was posted on YouTube last year and we thought it was such fun, but beyond our abilities. Five parts? No way. But this year we are ready.

One free arrangement is available to try. So we tackled it yesterday at practice. And we were pleasantly surprised that we actually could do it! Some of the Yesterukes do not read music. And others who do read music play piano but don't know where the notes are located on the ukulele fret board. So by penciling in fret numbers and using a little color coding of strings, we made this work for our group. We'll need a little polish before we play it for an audience, but think it will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Keeping it new, keeping it fresh is how we continue to have fun and gradually expand our level of playing. The rest of the phrase from Anything You Can Do, is "...I can do better." We certainly don't think we did it better than James Hill's class---but we DID it. And that's enough for us.

Anything You Can Do, by Irving Berlin, from Annie Get Your Gun, 1946

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'Swonderful!

When the third person came up after the program to ask, "Have you recorded yet? You really should", we smiled. And when one man added, "You'd sell thousands!", we were pretty sure we had hit a home run with our program.

We played a full program last night at a church where one of our players is a member. The church family turned out in force to see what his ukulele band was all about. They had heard him talk about the Yesterukes but had not heard us play. We're pretty sure we were not what they were expecting! When we say "ukulele band" most people expect a few songs like "Five Foot Two"--cute little songs accompanied by a ukulele plunk-a plunk-a. (And we do play some of those.) But the Yesterukes are so much more than that. There's rock'n roll from the 50s and 60s, complete with dancing. "Rawhide" with it's whip cracks and shouts will make you look for the cattle coming. Throw in a gospel tune or two for good measure and everyone finds something they like. Someone said afterward, "Wow! That was really a good show." And another man added, "Smooth. Just so smooth."

And the folks at First Presbyterian Church in Laurens last night were the best. They fed us well. Then they cheered us on enthusiastically. It is always such a pleasure to play where you can just feel energy coming from the audience. So it was the perfect evening. Everyone--audience and band--had a great time being together for a couple of hours. Thanks, First Presbyterian, for hosting us.

'Swonderful, by George & Ira Gershwin, 1927

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Down On The Farm

It doesn't matter if you live in the largest city, or in the smallest town or rural area. If you eat, if you have admired a beautiful flower, and if you've turned the page of a newspaper, you have benefited from agriculture. Tonight the Yesterukes were part of a dinner to honor and recognize local agricultural producers and the agriculture industry. 300 people gathered to participate as awards were given to top producers and community leaders.

We were happy to give our salute to these people who work hard for each one of us!

Down On The Farm, by Tim McGraw, 1994

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Have A Little Faith

It started with the first email last night, "Sorry I won't be there tomorrow-doctor's appointment." And then a few minutes later, another email came, "My husband is in the hospital..." This morning the phone rang and two more were unable to come. And just before time to leave, yet one more cancellation.

We have often said the Yesterukes operate on faith, because starting this whole venture has been a leap into the great unknown for us. Today we were holding on to faith that enough of us would show up to play.

The Yesterukes were booked today to play for the Eastern Piedmont District Garden Club meeting. By the time we arrived, we were down to nine players. A lady with the garden club looked at our group and asked, "Is this all you have?" (There are 21 members of the Yesteukes.) With only a minor shift in our set list, though, we were ready.

For about twenty minutes, we charmed South Carolina gardeners. Cameras flashed all across the hall. Video cameras were pulled out. People stood and moved around to get a better view and many sang along with us. They loved it. After the program, the state president for South Carolina Garden Clubs told the local president, "They were so good. That is music from our era!"

We knew we would be fine with 9 players. But we'll admit we're more comfortable with more--there is safety in numbers! We send good wishes to our sick folks. Hurry back! It's more fun when we're all together.

Have A Little Faith, The Statler Brothers, 1975