On The Sunny Side Of The Street

After a much needed winter break, it's time to get out the ukuleles again and tune them up. The entire South got an extra dose of "vacation days" this week with the biggest snow storm since 1988.  The snow is beginning to melt on the spots where the sun hits, but we still must be very careful when walking in shady places.  Definitely need to stay on the sunny side of the street! The above photo was made on 6th consecutive day with snow on the ground. (No ukuleles were harmed in the making of this photo.)


The Yesterukes are ready to get back in gear and start working on their spring program.  The calendar is almost filled for spring already.  It's so hard to explain to all the people who call to see if we can come play for their group "next month" that we are booking for fall and NEXT spring!


So come back soon to see what the Yesterukes are up to.  And you'll also meet more of our band members.  Some of them have taken on extra ukulele projects, too.  It will interesting and inspiring to learn what they are doing.  There will be much happening in the coming months.  






On The Sunny Side Of The Street, by Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields, 1930

A Christmas Card For You

The Yesterukes wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! 

We will be taking a break to enjoy time with our family and friends but we'll be right back here after the holidays.   See you in a couple of weeks or so.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas! (2010)

We wish you could have joined us for our Christmas lunch at The Broken Teapot.  No blue shirts, no ukuleles, no audience.  Just a time to visit, share a meal and enjoy each other's company. 

But when this many musicians gather, music happens whether you plan it or not.

And several of the talented people in our group play more than ukulele.

So this time we sang carols just for fun.

And we laughed and celebrated being together with our "ukulele family."

 Then we were seated in this wonderful old house now turned restaurant.

And everyone leisurely enjoyed this delicious meal.  No concert to play today.

 One little Yesteruke-in-training was there for her first sing-along.

A cake made just for us by the daughter of one of our members was the perfect ending for our meal.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of the Yesterukes to each of you!  

We Wish You A Merry Christmas, a 16th-century English carol

Sing We Now Of Christmas

The Yesterukes ended their performing year with a pair of Christmas programs.  Hard to believe another year has come to an end.  This was our fourth season of Christmas shows.

We entertained over 70 Hospice volunteers at their annual dinner.  This particular group of volunteers man the three Thrift Stores that help fund the Hospice program in Laurens County.

And the following day we gathered again at midday at Rolling Green Village for the Ladies Club luncheon.

They had the largest attendance of the year for this program.  This was a group that sang along with us enthusiastically.  We left this last program truly in the Christmas spirit.

We provided the entertainment for their meeting and in turn, they fed us well.  The Yesterukes seem to eat well nearly everywhere we go.  One member said she was glad to be done with the programs.  We thought she meant she was tired of our schedule--but she said she was glad not to have another four or five delicious Christmas meals while she could still fit in her clothes!

 

And we had a special guest with us for this final program.  A young man doing his high school senior project on ukuleles has one of the Yesterukes as his mentor.  He has been learning to play ukulele since school started this year.  He sat in with us for this whole program.  When it was over, he said, "It is so much more fun to play with a group than to play at home by myself."  

He has discovered the secret of the Yesterukes.  

 Sing We Now Of Christmas, Traditional

In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening

After we decided to play this holiday market, we kept an eye on the weather forecast for days.  It had been so nice and moderate for weeks.  But the weekend forecast kept looking colder and colder.  What were we thinking?  A bunch of old folks sitting outdoors in the cold for hours?   But we had agreed to play, so we bundled up, loaded our gear and set up by the fountain for a couple of hours of music.

The Hub City Thanksgiving Market turned out to be great fun.  The mood was festive.  The shoppers loved the music.  One man who stopped to listen who knew more about the songs we played than we did. He was an encyclopdia of trivia about our old songs.  And there was the college-age young woman who sat down to listen and then bought our CD so she could "listen to happy music at home." So many others gathered, all smiles, around the fountain to hear our ukuleles.

We did our best to keep warm.  We learned that you can cut the finger tips off a $1 pair of gloves and play right on.  We also discovered that the colder we got, the faster we played.  As the temperature dropped, we kept getting faster and faster--until we reached our limit.  We couldn't play any faster or stand the cold any longer!!!  It was time to call it a night and head home.  It was fun but we're glad our next gig is indoors!

In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening, Hoagy Carmichael & Johnny Mercer, 1951

It's My Party

We didn't know until we arrived that the event at Standing Springs Baptist Church was a birthday party for the men in the senior adult group.  And the Yesterukes were the special entertainment.  After a great supper, complete with cake and ice cream, we sang and played our songs from years gone, taking the audience on trip back in time.

After the program, a younger man who was attending with his father, came up to say, "You guys were good.  I mean, really good."  Seeing the slightly incredulous look on his face as he said that, the Yesterukes director responded, "Let me guess--we weren't exactly what you were expecting, were we?" (We get this a lot.)  He was funny as he continued.  "I actually kind of thought it was a joke announcement when they told us we were having a ukulele band."  But we are no joke!

And we had some fans who wanted to see us perform so badly that they decided to just come.  Our first party crashers!  Our public concerts are rare, so they just decided to come and hope it was okay.  It was fine and added to the excitement. And it delighted us that anyone wanted to see us that much.

We met so many new friends as we visited after the program.  Everyone was warm and friendly.  We felt like we had known them for a long time.  Pretty sure we'll be back here again.

It's My Party, Lesley Gore, 1963

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Here, There And Everywhere

"Did you see that lady with the gray hair?", one of the Yesterukes asked as we were packing up after the program.   We all laughed because at the places we play, nearly everyone has gray hair!  But she was commenting on one beautiful lady who looked much younger than the many years of her actual age.  We meet so many lovely people everywhere we go and Overbrook Baptist Church was no exception.


After our program we were invited to join these good folks for a wonderful lunch.  They asked that we not all sit together, but spread out among the tables so that they could get to know us better.  Southern hospitality at it's best!


They were most interested in how we started, how we operated and were eager to share their own stories about the songs we played.  "I'll be honest," one man commented.  "Some of those songs just brought tears to my eyes."  Another gentleman remarked, "That boy could really sing, couldn't he?" as a table of men talked about listening to Sixteen Tons.  We like it anytime someone calls us "boy" or "girl."  


Here, There And Everywhere, The Beatles, 1966

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