Ralph Shaw, our Illustrious Leader, writes:
My purpose in starting this uke-log of the meetings and activities of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle is to give those people who are unable to be at the a meetings a chance to get a flavour of what they missed. I can tell you now that not all the information will be entirely accurate. As I sit down to update this uke-log in the days after any given meeting I will be sure to have forgotten some key moments and one or two worthy performances and I hope that feelings won’t be hurt. I will do my best but if you notice any omissions or major inaccuracies please feel free to email them to Wendy Cutler so that corrections can be made.
Note from Wendy: Ralph has been keeping this blog since the very first meeting in September, 2000. The full set of previous years’ entries is available in the
Blog Archives.
Starting in February, 2017, these postings are being made by Tom Saunders or the evening’s leader.
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – December 17, 2019
Tom here. Well, December at the Vancouver Ukulele Circle turned out to be a very warm, joyful, holly, jolly uke fest. From my perspective, I saw a lot of smiles and heard a loud, heavenly choir of voices and nylon strings. Lots of festive sweaters and red hats with fuzzy white trim. The songs kept us on our toes, as the mostly simple chords flew by faster than a speeding reindeer. Even though the book didn’t have chord boxes, it helped that the tunes were very familiar to most of us, so we all kind of knew where we were going. Did I mention how good you all sounded?!
I had lots help from my song-leading elves – Craig, Boaz, Candy, Ed, Joan, Allan, and Jerry, who got us through around twenty holiday classics, with complete confidence and musical gusto. Once again, I would urge you try leading the group with a song yourself. All you need is to be able to play a song steadily from start to finish. You’ll have the band to back up your song, and a supportive group of ukers on the floor, who will be concentrating more on following along in the songbook than watching you. Make it your goal for 2020 – lead one song!
Performance Time was a wonderful feast of flavours for us to enjoy. Joan started off by playing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” that swung along gently, with a confident jazzy vocal from her. Edwin then sang sweetly and soloed on “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” whose lyrics were written in 1863 by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with the music written in the 1950’s by Johnny Marks, who wrote “Rudolph, Holly Jolly Christmas, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” etc.) Ed (not Edwin) then played a non-Christmas song, Irving Berlin’s 1914, “Play a Simple Melody.” I urged him to fib and say that it was actually called, “Play a Christmas Melody.” He did a very good job on it, and I guess I have to give him a few extra points for the fact that Irving Berlin also wrote “White Christmas.” Gayle then played a song tied for being the oldest song of the night (we’ll get to that later) – a traditional English carol for New Year’s Day, called “The Old Year Now Away Is Fled,” written in 1642. Up next, our house band percussionist, Jerry, traded his drums for a uke (though he kept a stomp-pad on the floor to maintain a bass drum sound) and sang a very sweet song, “Favourite Christmas Song” by Andrew Allen. Jerry was accompanied by Leone on uke, and by Gayle playing a xylophone app on her tablet. They had obviously put some time into practicing it and it showed in the final results.
Now – in spite of the goodwill of the season, I gave Boaz a good-natured ribbing for his choice of a holiday performance tune – that old Christmas classic, “Desperado” by the Eagles. Boaz claimed that it qualified by virtue of the line, “Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time...” I subsequently “helped him out” on one of the choruses by adding sleighbells… Ron, our house band’s bass player then played the OTHER oldest song of the night, also written in 1642, “Huron Carol,” Canada’s oldest Christmas carol. Ron trusted me to hit a bell every forty-five seconds or so, which showcased my multi-instrumentalist talents. Carol and Heather, with assistance from Melody, then played one of Performance Time’s most upbeat and rollicking numbers – the Barenaked Ladies’ medley of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings,” that had added backup from the audience, who played along with song sheets provided by the trio. After that, Melody then played a sweet, soulful version of “River,” Joni Mitchell’s 1971 ode to missing her cold, snowy Canadian winters. Up next, Marguie gave us possibly the newest (and one of the funnest) tunes of the night – a song written with Marion Stroet, called, “J’aime Noël”, which translates to “I Love Christmas.” It was sung in French and had images that faced the audience to help them sing along (though I couldn’t see them to figure out what exactly was going on!) Marguie told me afterwards that the song was about a child’s love of Christmas, family, friends, gifts, beautiful hats, turkey, and candy canes – doesn’t that about sum it all up? Craig finished things off with a haunting, operatic melody from Sting, called, “Cold Song” from his 2009 album, “If on a Winter’s Night.” Tomi accompanied Craig on violin, adding much dramatic musical effect. And so ended Performance Time – obviously, a lot of thought and preparation was put into the performances by all involved, and it was deservedly well-received by all of us in attendance.
So – we’ve reached the end of another year. Looking ahead, 2020 will give us the 20th anniversary next September of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle – started by our founding uker, Ralph Shaw back in…oh, I’ll let you do the math… It is quite an accomplishment for a little old uke circle – one of the longest-running and surviving uke circles in North America. I hope you will be with us in the new year to carry on the efforts set forth by our early plunking pioneers.
Before I go, we have to give thanks to the Rogue Folk Club members for hosting our evenings and providing food, beverages, sound, heating and and access to the wonderful St James Hall. Thanks to group organizers, Kathryn, Wendy, and those who set up and tear down the tables and chairs. A nod to all of our wonderful song leaders, and finally to our amazing house band – Ron, Jerry and Leone for filling out our sound for you to play along with.
Next month (January) Craig will be hosting the uke circle and is promising a unique, soulful evening of Motown tunes for you!
Until then, have a warm, happy, joyous time, hopefully surrounded by food, family, friends, loved ones – and maybe even a new ukulele (or two!!!)
Best of the Season to you all,
Tom
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – November 19, 2019
Hello Everyone,
Heather & Carol here with the lowdown on the highlights of the Nov 19 Van-Uke-Circle:
We didn’t sing in the rain, but played some lovely simple melodies…
As a matter of fact, our first song was Irving Berlin’s Play a Simple Melody—only 105 years young, and still insanely catchy and a properly great way to start an evening of fun and merriment. We insisted that we were all going to be friends, and indeed, our second song was The White Stripes’ We’re Going to be Friends. Many songs followed. We managed 6 Mil-mos (Millennium moments), 2 Can-cons (Canadian content), several Classics, 2 new TAB-riffs, a couple of Blues, a two-chord wonder, and several A-O’s (assorted others).
Special thanks to those who helped lead: Melody on vocals, Katie on fiddle, Craig on occasional bass & whistle, Geoff on Budapest, Jen on ‘oogachuggahs’, Ed on personality, and of course our amazing rhythm duo of Ron & Jerry.
A few thoughts & trivia: If you are wondering why your kids know Hooked on a Feeling, it’s because it was featured on Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Strangest Dream is by Canadian Ed McCurdy. This song of peace grew out of the years after WW2 and has been covered countless times. Ron’s story of being in the US in the early 70s, and seeing the endless lines of young men being sent off to Vietnam was a reminder that aren’t we lucky to live where we do?
Another evening highlight—Come on Eileen, led by Craig, was insanely fun.
And what a treat it was to watch the audience doing the Y-M-C-A. Just like at the roller rink.
A big shout out to the world-famous Kitsaleles. Ok, maybe more ‘neighbourhood’-famous. But they are particularly popular at Blenheim Lodge for those lodgers who actually stay awake to hear us! The Kitsaleles have been meeting for 8 years, originally on D-tuned ukes, a remnant left from the tuning used in the Canadian school system of the 80s. Happily, we joined the C-tuned uke movement and the world is our toaster 🙂 They skillfully led a section of our 2-chord wonder, Play a Simple Melody, now played as a 3-part partner song with the crowd divided into groups. Boisterous singing, and we all ended at the correct time. Job well done.
Performance Time started with Rob and Amanda singing a lovely version of Nobody Knows Me at All by the Weepies. Boaz followed with Neil Diamond’s Love on the Rocks—complete with great Boaz skills—very excellent. Erica delighted us with Across the Great Divide, by Kate Wolf. BTW—Erica, a Kitsalele alumni, has progressed from absolute beginner to very competent solo- open-mic-singer—well done YOU, Erica! Ed entertained us with the Worried Life Blues and we worried no more. Geoff’s rendition of Yoshimi by the Flaming Lips was fab—I saw people lip- synching with enthusiasm all the way through! And Ron gave us another classic unknown, but unknown no longer—Let the Mystery Be, by Iris DeMent. I for one, will be adding this to my cache.
Grateful Dead’s Ripple, with harmonies and fiddle, was simple and moving. And isn’t it fun being able to say that you play the Grateful Dead on a uke? And finally, Home was our last song of the evening, because, well, we were going Home.
It’s an amazing experience to be part of such a fun team of people, and to be part of such a warm and inclusive environment. Huge thanks go out to Carol’s daughter Kai, who transcribed the songs into 16 font format for the screen, what a job that is. Thanks also to: backup team- extraordinaire Ron & Jerry for learning 20+ new songs—no mean feat, to Christian for sound expertise, Kathryn and Wendy, and the Rogue Folk club volunteers.
Tom—Back to you.
Strummingly yours, Heather & Carol
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – October 15, 2019
Hello Strummers:
Well, I think we had a howlingly good time during October’s Spookulele Night at the Vancouver Ukulele Circle! Lots of guys and ghouls, dressed in costumes from A to Zombie that brought an already fun night of ukulele playing up a further notch in uke enjoyment. We got into the evening with the Halloween national anthem, “Monster Mash,” and I couldn’t have chosen a better trio of backup singers, with Joan, Chris and Craig hitting their marks like bats flying into a dirty window. They were a graveyard smash!
Following along on the haunted theme of the evening, we learned how to cycle through three chords (basically D, C & G) over and over again to ‘Awoooooo’ along to Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London.” Joan led Radiohead’s “Creep,” which may or may not have been about the seven-foot creepy monster playing next to her. Edwin warned of the bad moon rising (good for werewolves – bad for the rest of us…) Ed sang the haunting melody to “Lullaby of the Leaves,” which aren’t normally scary, unless they’re wet Vancouver leaves that you slip on. And Craig possibly covered two October bases in one song, with a nod to both Thanksgiving and Halloween by playing “Zombie” by the Cranberries. (That’s a cranberry sauce joke – sorry…)
Performance Time started off with Joan and Allan playing Dobie Gray’s 1973 soul classic, “Drift Away,” and the audience was happily enlisted to sing and clap along with them. Ed then played an appropriate-for-the-theme-of-the-night song – “People Are Strange” by the Doors. I will resist from saying that it was also appropriate that Ed was playing it! Rob and Amanda then did a really lovely version of “Four Days of Rain” by the Flying Burrito Brothers from their self-titled 1971 country rock album. Up next was Boaz, who sang Billy Joel’s 1977 love ballad, “She’s Always a Woman.” Why would he choose such a tender song for Halloween? He said it was because the lyrics included the lyrics, “cut, bleed, wound, and even kill.” Boaz hears things the rest of us don’t, especially in such a pretty song! Craig finished off Performance Time with assistance from Tomi on bass, and Jerry on the drums. They rocked out with a song by the White Stripes called, “Seven Nation Army,” which I’ve learned (thanks to Wikipedia) has become a huge sports anthem, and its title originated from writer Jack White’s mispronunciation of Salvation Army as a child. The things you learn here…
The night wouldn’t have gone anywhere near as well as it did without our usual cast of wonderful characters – the folks from the Rogue Folk Club for hosting and feeding us, Christian and Peter at the soundboard, Kathryn and Wendy behind the scenes, all of the various song leaders – Joan, Chris, Rob, Amanda, Craig, Boaz, Edwin, and Ed. And the two guys that I forgot to mention last night: our indispensable band – Ron on bass (he of Trump and Klingon hair) and Jerry on percussion. And of course to everyone else, out on the floor who came out play along and make every uke night a fun, special occasion! I salute you all!!!
Next month (November 19) Uke Night will be hosted by Carol and Heather, and I would imagine that they are already working on an evening of material to challenge and tickle your uke tastebuds. I will be back for December’s Yulekelele night of seasonal favourites that I’ll tell you about next month.
Until then, stay warm & dry and keep on strummin’ and plunkin’!
Cheers,
Tom
Thanks to Boaz Joseph, Ed Dorosh and Wendy Cutler for these photos.
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – September 17, 2019
Well, my ukumaniacs (this is a reference to Hulk Hogan, by the way), 80s’ Night was as gnarly as Jeff Spicoli’s hangover. I’m not sure what that means.
And the Vancouver Ukulele Circle has reached 19 years. It can finally drink (legally).
Many thanks to all of you who came and indulged the theme of 80s’ Night. I know that some regulars stayed away and some who came were unfamiliar with most of the songs but came anyway. I tried to choose the songs carefully, finding ones that just evoke a little something, are catchy, and have varying levels of difficulty. And, of course, I wasn’t alone up there. Carol, Heather and Melody (can they be called something? Can they come up with a band name?) led a few 80s’ nuggets which they were keen on: Nena’s “99 Red Balloons”—that German anthem of Cold War hysterics—and “This is the Day” by The The (recently included in the show Sex Education), a song I’d never heard and which Jerry really liked.
Candy was unable to make it at the last minute, so The Trio (placeholder) also sang “Material Girl” by Madonna. This is my favourite Madonna song and I eventually figured out that it was the bass line that hooked me, so I asked Tomi to lock it down.
What distinguishes 80s’ songs? The Yamaha DX7 was released in 1983—the first digital synthesizer. Wikipedia: “[its influence] swept through popular music” and “…its preset sounds became staples of 1980s pop music.” Music Television, or MTV, started broadcasting in the summer of 1981. Videos became the thing. In the Reagan era and the bull market, excess and decadence also became the thing. A little event called Live Aid on July 13, 1985, organized by Bob Geldof (who once wrote music reviews for the Georgia Straight) with the intent of raising money for a famine in Ethiopia, brought a certain amount of social conscience to the pop world. There followed a kind of back-to-basics, black and white aesthetic in the later 80s (for me, exemplified by U2’s Joshua Tree album, or Tracy Chapman’s song “Fast Car” ) before dance jams and grunge hit hard.
Carol and I led “Take On Me” by A-Ha, which is the reason I decided to try an 80s’ night. I saw this little clip online which explained how it was a mediocre pop tune from this Norwegian band no one had heard of, UNTIL a producer got a hold of it, made the song a little more funky and made a video using rotoscope animation. The video got picked up in North America and went into heavy rotation on MTV. Today, almost 35 years later, it is heading toward ONE BILLION hits on Youtube.
I was glad to see Joan take a crack at leading. She got us expertly through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” (which BARELY meets the criteria of an 80s song, by the way) with that pre-eminently catchy chorus, and U2’s hymn-like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Allan wanted to take on “In the Air Tonight,” a song Phil Collins’ wrote about his divorce. His love of the tune was palpable and with that great drum break by Jerry, it was a highlight of the night for me.
Geoff, who continues to run a uke night called Viva la Ukelucion, came up and joined me on a few songs, including “Red Red Wine,” “I Melt With You” (thanks for that suggestion, Adrienne) and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” adding touches that I either didn’t know or couldn’t do while singing.
Performance Time consisted of only three: Geoff did a sweet and local 80s’ song: “Day By Day” by Doug and the Slugs; Johnny did an early Rolling Stones song called “Out of Time”; and finally Boaz gave us something on what he calls “Plucky” (a banjo-like uke): an amalgam of made-up bits and pieces, which was a musical meditation and even somewhat antidotal to the strident longings of all those 80s’ pop tunes. He called it: “In the Still of the Moonshine.”
I regret we didn’t get to two of the 80s’ songs. Somewhere down the crazy river we’ll see them again.
Before you go, there are two other events to take note of:
1. Jen of the Cutie Circle invited us all to an event in Coquitlam:
“The City of Coquitlam will be hosting a free outdoor ukulele concert, open jam, hula dance, and public ukulele lessons with complimentary picnic lunch and refreshments on Saturday, September 21, to celebrate the grand re-opening of Brookmere Park at 565 Austin Avenue in Coquitlam. That’s right! There will be free food, music and lots of ukulele players! We are still pinching ourselves!
To RSVP for the free lunch and refreshments, please go to this link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/497079014187368/
We will be performing on stage (including fellow ukulele players from all Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley)!”
2. My friend Ron Den Daas is organizing an event called World River’s Day aimed at:
…protecting salmon habitat in the urban interface by combining salmon-focused habitat restoration and an education-based community art project aimed at encouraging the protection of vital wildlife corridors that are critical to future generations of all salmon—critical for environmental sustainability going forward.
It is an unveiling of a community art project and newly restored salmon habitat on Lynn Creek in North Vancouver.
There was a song created for this project. It was composed by Delores Parker for ukulele and goes to the tune of the Beatles ”Octopus’s Garden.” I was wondering if your ukulele circle members would be interested in attending this event and playing this specially-created song? This event is aiming to get press and it would be great to have a big group playing the salmon song to celebrate this exciting community project aimed at protecting salmon.
The time and date is Sunday, September 29th, at 12:30. The site is accessed via Inter River Park on the west side of Lillooet Road that runs toward Capilano University off of the Trans Canada Highway by the Second Narrows Bridge.
Ron’s email is [email protected].
—
This uke circle has been going since September, 2000, when founder Ralph Shaw and his friend Virginia Ise collected eight people in the Common Room of his co-op and had them go through songs. He said no one wanted to perform in those early days. It is a testament to his long work, and that of people like Kathryn at the door, Wendy behind the scenes, leader Tom, bassist Ron, and drummer Jerry, and the Rogue Folk club and everyone who has been involved over the years in one way or another that this little unpretentious instrument has found its people for these past 19 years.
Spookulele is up next, on the third Tuesday of the month as usual, which will be October 15th. Tom Saunders will be your host. He is terrifying when in costume.
A bientot mes amis!
Craig
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – August 20, 2019
Though it was August at the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, it didn’t feel as scorching hot as I recall August uke sessions of the past being, which was a good thing, because a good crowd showed up to generate enough strumming power on their own. And they brought their full-power singing voices, which always sound so good ringing out in St James Hall.
I had a lot of help from the group members leading songs. I always encourage you to consider getting up and leading a song from the book. As long as you can sing and play something relatively smoothly from start to finish (I’d suggest something simple to start off with) you will be supported, and carried along by a roomful of fellow strummers, and our wonderful rhythm section of Ron and Jerry on bass and drums. Just send me an email and I will get your selection in our week-before group email, so people can practice them ahead of time. If I’m not hosting the following month, I will pass along your request to whoever is. This month we had a number of leaders, including Boaz, Ed, Jerry, Candy, Craig, Rob, Rosemary, and Amanda. But – we could also use YOU to get the room singing and strumming along!
Performance Time started off with the ‘Burstin’ with Broadway’ group of seven, shaking things up with Queen’s 1980 rocker, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” They then brought a bit of warm Hawaii to the room with the ballad, “Beautiful Kauai.” Johnny returned after a few months away, singing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s, 1969 forlorn tale of “Lodi,” which was the b-side to “Bad Moon Rising,” don’t you know… Our favourite drummer Jerry abandoned his drum kit for a ukulele, and with a little help from his friends, Leone, Sylvia, and Gayle (playing a wind-powered melodica) played a beautiful song called “Blues on the Ukulele,” by ukulele master Jim Beloff. You could tell that they put time into this as a group to make it sound as smooth as it did. Next up, Ed played a sentimental song for our recently departed member, Tom Hoskins, with his bluesy version of “Sentimental Journey.” Candy then sang a sweet version of Bruno Mars’ 2010, pop song, “Just the Way You Are.” Our bass-player, Ron paid tribute to Peter Fonda’s passing by playing a cheeky tune from the soundtrack of Fonda’s movie, Easy Rider, “Don’t Bogart Me.” (Humphrey Bogart was known for his dramatic, cigarette-smoking, which didn’t include him passing it along to his friends…) Up next, Sylvia led a familiar group of Jerry, Leone and Gayle with a powerful version of Swedish pop duo, Roxette’s 1991 song, “Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave.)” Once again, you could hear the time, care and attention that they put into it. Boaz then brought his banjo uke to play a very old and short song from the 1800’s called “Hangman,” which he said that he found in the archives of the Smothers Brothers. Led Zepellin also did a version of it, (though it didn’t come to as abrupt a finish as Boaz’s version did!) He also sang Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 version of Paul Anka’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” – originally a hit by Buddy Holly. Up next was not Stephanie – it was Joan, but we got to the bottom of how I came to mistake her name as Stephanie! Steph–sorry, Joan did a very sweet, lilting version of “Falling Slowly,” originally composed and performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová on the soundtrack of the 2007 Irish musical romance film “Once,” Rob, Rosemary and Amanda then did a nice job of playing a very fun little summer tune from Loudon Wainwright III, called “The Swimming Song.” I sang Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” and Carol and Heather finished things off with Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet’s ode to happy hour, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” That song came embarrassingly close to me completely forgetting to have it played, which would have been a shame after Carol and Heather so thoughtfully prepared song sheets for the whole room!
I have to apologise for packing the second half of the night with so many more Performance Time numbers than the eight we have been used to doing. Don’t get me wrong – the performances were great as usual, but having thirteen or fourteen Performance Time songs left no time for playing more book songs, which I know many of you come there to do – so, mea culpa!
Our Two-Chord-Wonder-Song-of-the-Month was a song that I blamed for the downfall of modern Country music – Billy Ray Cyrus’ 1992 ubiquitous, “Achy Breaky Heart,” but the crowd were good sports and we played it with gusto. Having earlier guessed what song I was going to do, I wrangled Boaz into harmonizing on its Icky (sic) Breaky chorus. We played it using Bb and F, should you choose to revisit it for whatever reason!
Our usual thanks goes out to the Rouge Folk Club for hosting the evening, and to Christian and Peter for handling the soundboard. I saw Kathryn singlehandedly manhandling all the tables and chairs ahead of time, before sitting down to greet everyone at the front door. And as always, our house-band, Ron and Jerry. And finally, to everyone (including you…) who shows up to make magic happen with four little nylon strings! I will be back in October, but next month, Craig will be hosting the September meeting of the Vancouver Ukulele Circle, for our NINETEENTH ANNIVERSARY – can you believe that?!
So until next month – happy plunking!!!
Cheers,
Tom
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – July 16, 2019
Dear Strummers,
It was a warm summer night outside and through St. James Hall, from up on the stage to the porch, where I waited in vain for a breeze. I missed you, Tom, with your desk fan.
Despite the languid temperature — and a respite from these pesky July-uary showers — you and your ukes showed up in great numbers. All the tables filled, and people were still finding spots as we played our opening numbers.
Six hands went up when I asked if anyone was there for the first time, including surprise guests Marion and Monika, two “ukulele-playing ladies from Berlin,” visiting from Germany.
Thanks to everyone who made it happen: Steve Edge and the volunteers of the Rogue Folk Club, sound techs Christian and Peter, Jerry on drums and Ron on bass, and Kathryn and Wendy for their coordination and steady piloting. To the performers and song leaders, in varying degrees of sweet nervousness and jocular bravado: Boaz, Candy, Chris, Craig, Ed, Edwin, Jerry, Tomi, MoMaS Berlin, and Burstin’ with Broadway. And to Erin B, who looked at me seriously and said: “I’m here to rock and scroll.”
We may have tossed tradition a bit, in a good way. I’d like to think we planted seeds for new opening and closing songs. Boaz, Chris, and Tomi joined me with two new openers: the theme to Sesame Street, by Joe Raposo and the traditional “Keep on the Sunny Side”. Through the night we mixed book songs and projector songs. We worked on Eb to Ab. We did some country, blues, a few jazz standards, the obligatory Beatles, and we got into a serious 80s space with Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend,” “Safety Dance” by Men without Hats, and “We Built This City,” by Starship. For all the times I’ve been advised to steer clear of the 80s, I heard a lot of confident, nostalgic singing along. Just saying.
Performance time was choreographic! Burstin’ with Broadway played and danced their way through “Greased Lightnin'”, from the Grease Soundtrack, and there were 8 of them on stage. Ed, Chris, William, Graeme, Vivien, Linda and Claudette got the spoken lines, the solos, the high responses, and layered harmony. It was a raucous treat, and followed their 2-chord epic earlier in the night. BWB’s enthusiasm and commitment are contagious.
Then Candy came up and showed us what she’s learning now, fingerpicking the lines through the traditional “Oh Susanna”. She even sang us a few lines of it in Chinese, which was delightful. She promises more of that next month. Ed the Bluesman played “Don’t Throw it Away” by Keb Mo. He has this gift for lifting us with sad songs. Ron played “The Last Farewell,” by Ronald Webster and Roger Whittaker. He heard it at a farmers market, riveted by lyrics the crowd picked up. It didn’t take long, and the Van Ukes audience was singing along too: “For you are beautiful, and I have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell.”
Craig did the Gary Jules cover of “Mad World” by Tears for Fears. Lovely and bleak, disappearing into the lyrics. In a neat piece of serendipity, Marion and Monika (MoMaS Berlin) had two songs for our 2 available performance spots. First they did a folk tune that is beloved in Germany, and then the “Lion Sleeps Tonight,” by the Tokens. We sang the wim-o-wey choruses with them, adding harmony. They were adept, warm, and charmed us. Last, Boaz played something that looked like a ukulele, but which several of you pointed out, had 6 strings. He played “Big Love,” Lindsay Buckingham’s 90s version, which he says is connected to being twice kicked out of Fleetwood Mac.
To end the night, you played and sang and kazooed and rattled with us to “Summer Nights,” also from the Grease Soundtrack. Our finale was a resounding “Tell me more, tell me more, tell me moooooooore!”
July at Van Ukes was a sweaty summer in the city: teenaged and heartfelt and expansive. Can August top that? Stay tuned.
Thank you to everyone who came out. Until we meet again: fall in love with more songs and take good care of each other.
Jennifer
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – June 18, 2019
Hey Ukers:
Well, I thought we had a lot of fun last night – I know I did. Everyone seemed to be singing with more “gusto” and uke-tastic enthusiasm than usual. Maybe it was because of a somewhat larger crowd, but I could hear you all quite well from the stage, which isn’t always easy, with monitor speakers aimed at me. Never be afraid to sing out – it could be the one time every month when your voice makes a large group of people sound even better! You never watch the national anthem being sung in a stadium, and say to yourself, “I think that guy in Section 87, Row 14, Seat 8 is a little flat…” The more the better!
Lots of great help on song-leading, including Boaz, Craig, Chris, Geoff, Heather and Rob. There was also a wonderfully joyous group of singers, led into battle by Louise, who chose the uke circle to celebrate her milestone birthday, and lead the room with full-throttle sha-la-la-la’s on “Brown Eyed Girl.” As always, I encourage those who haven’t done it to consider leading the group with a song. All you need to do is to confidently sing and play a song from the book from start to finish – I’d suggest starting off with something simple and easy for you to sing & play. If you’d feel better singing with a friend or two, (or eight, if you’re Louise) that’s fine, too. And don’t forget that you will have the band to confidently help you through it. You will find it exciting and empowering. At least think about it, and send me a request via email at least two weeks before the next circle, so we can put your selection in the week-before email that goes out to everyone. Then people can practice your song, and you’ll sound even MORE wonderful leading it!
Performance Time started off with Rob, Rosemary and Amanda singing “I’m Alright” by Kim Richey. I wasn’t familiar with this one, but its easy chorus had the rest of the room joining in to affirm that they were indeed alright. Next up, Chris delivered a great, confident version of Dolly Parton’s bittersweet plea to Jolene not to take her man. Edwin then played the only bilingual song of the night – “Quizas Quizas Quizas,” also known as “Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps” – AND he played a solo that got the attention and applause of the audience. Craig then gave an intriguing performance, playing solo, in a syncopated style on a bass ukulele – which could be a first. He played a song written by Tom Waits, called, “Way Down in the Hole,” which was used as the theme song for HBO’s “The Wire.” Boaz was up next, playing Neil Young’s floor-sweeper, “Harvest Moon,” which he did in tribute to the recent full moon. Ron, Ed and I performed a song by the Kingston Trio, called “Greenback Dollar,” which was fun to play as the verses and choruses went back and forth from a hush to a holler. Ron played a Kingston Trio 4-string tenor guitar for authenticity! Allan and Stephanie then finished off Performance Time with a wonderful version of David Bowie’s classic, “Space Oddity,” which was released July 11, 1969 – five days before Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 lifted off for the moon. All in all, it was another very enjoyable and varied Performance Time by all of the performers. Is it perhaps time to start working on your next performance tune? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…
This month’s Two-Chord-Wonder Song was “Dreams” – written by Stevie Nicks, and performed by Fleetwood Mac. We played it using Bb and C. I said I’d show you the original key, but in my rush to keep the show moving, I didn’t… The original version is F and G. Remember that these tunes are all easily moved to whatever key makes you (and your voice and uke) happy!
Big thanks to our band – Ron on bass, and Jerry on drums and percussion. They provide a very solid and energizing backup for all of us to strum along with. And to all the Rogue Folk Club volunteers who help us make it through the night. And finally, a salute to Susan and Marlene, who show up early every month and put out the chairs and tables, so that the rest of us may plunk in comfort!
Jennifer will be leading you all for the July uke circle, so until next month – happy plunking!!!
Cheers,
Tom
UPCOMING EVENT…
St. James Hall has a big event coming up on Tuesday, July 9th at 8pm. Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer will be doing a show for the Rogue Folk Club and the Pacific Bluegrass & Old Time Music Society. Cathy & Marcy are two-time Grammy winners, and lauded world-wide as about as talented and entertaining a pair as you could find on a stage. They are ukulele players, and incorporate quite a lot of numbers with the instrument into their show. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string-banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and many other instruments. Their versatility defies a brief description, but perhaps “well-rounded Americana” does it best. Tickets are a very reasonable $24 ($20 for Rogue members) and available online at www.roguefolk.bc.ca, or at Highlife or Tapestry Music, or call the Rogue Ticket Hotline at (604) 736-3022.
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – May 21, 2019
Ukesters,
First off, thanks to Tomi and Jennifer and you all for serenading me with a Happy Birthday to mark an event which unfortunately seems to be bludgeoning me with increasing frequency these days.
One thing I wanted to get everyone doing last night was that offbeat strum for I Shot the Sheriff, The Tide is High and the chorus of Those Were the Days (“…hit your uke and dampen the strings, then pull your index finger upward across the strings while making the chord….hit-chord, hit-chord…”). It’s a different way to play chords and it works for reggae, as well as the Russian roots of Those Were the Days.
I hope the waltz beat for Chim Chim Cheree worked out for you: I always liked that song. I think I enjoyed Heart of Glass most of all last night. Let’s not talk about (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman.
Thanks to Jen of the Cutie Circle for sharing her enthusiasm for Bizarre Love Triangle—as well as congratulations for being able to provide free tickets for the We Heart Ukulele Festival on Sunday, June 9 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam (near the LaFarge Lake/Douglas Skytrain station). The event will include the likes of Manitoba Hal, Jim D’Ville, our friend Eduardo Garcia, and the wonderful Guido Heistek. Sounds like a good time.
Candy has been teaching kids and so chose a song last night that she’s been doing with them that reminded me fondly of Mrs. Spice, my grade one teacher: Down By the Bay, which I can’t remember ever doing at Vanukes. Her other choice, Stand By Me, was already on my list, so we decided to do it in both keys which are in the book: C and G: two keys to suit two ranges. Kudos to Boaz for having a crack at the bass line and Jerry, as ever, for adding that key percussion detail.
Ed led us through a medley of Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue and Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone. It takes someone like Ed to conscientiously take us through something in the book I don’t know, would never touch, and make it come to life. And he also led us through Folsom Prison Blues.
There were fewer than the normal number of song leaders, but let me tell you: the more the merrier. Only so many people are completely comfortable doing it—and that certainly isn’t me every time—and so with more people coming on stage to take a crack at leading, it takes some pressure off the people who are up there. I ain’t to proud to beg.
Performance time included a John Cage-like exploration of silence and technical noises with brief musical interludes before we finally got round to playing White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane—Jennifer singing the lead, Boaz adding lead uke colour, Jerry adding a military tattoo and me bassing. It was an epic in two minutes.
Boaz wrote his first song. He hasn’t been playing ukulele for that long, really, but he tends to write instrumentals if he writes anything at all. His new song, “Tacoma,” is a wistful composition about a Vancouverite desperate to move to some Gulf Island to escape this craziness. Surely he could write again? He had help in performance from Tomi on fiddle, Jerry on percussion, and me on bass and vox. Here is a “studio” version, without the percussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkX8brLNJMg
Ed performed the lovely 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) by Paul Simon and Candy performed the 1988 Bobby McFerrin hit Don’t Worry, Be Happy and had us all singing the (in)famous melody. Am I happier? Did that work?
Edwin did a slightly haunting version of Besame Mucho (“Kiss Me Much”), a song written by Consuelo Velazquez in 1940, which the Beatles recorded in early 1962 for a audition demo reel. The Beatles were rejected by Decca, who told them that guitar groups were on the way out. The house band helped Edwin out. I love it when Edwin does a song—such grace and evocation.
Jim and Paul did Jambalaya—a two chord song which, I imagine, we all didn’t know that we know SO WELL: “Well goodbye Joe, we gotta go…” This had us all grooving. Can I still say grooving? That word is probably just a few years older than I am.
A nice May night and some fun tunes! Next month Tom will be back so let him know if you’d like to lead anything (please!) or perform something.
Keep playing your songs. That can be a metaphor.
Craig
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – April 16, 2019
Well, it was nice to be back at St James Hall and see all the bright, happy ukers once again. After much back-and-forth discussion between myself and the much more informed participants out on the floor, we learned that there are now three new washrooms located on the next floor down. They used to be spread out in different locations across the various floors. That long discussion was all we had time for, so everyone put their ukes away and shuffled off into the evening drizzle.
Actually, come to think of it, there was more stuff happening. We had large assortment of song-leaders, including Craig, Candy, Ed, Allan, Gayle, Carol, Heather, Jennifer, Melody and Edwin. I always try to encourage those who haven’t done it to consider leading the group with a song. All you need to do is to confidently sing and play a song from the book from start to finish – I’d suggest starting off with something simple and easy for you to sing & play. If you’d feel better singing with a friend or two, that’s fine, too. And don’t forget that you will have the band to confidently help you through it. You will find it exciting and empowering. At least think about it…
Performance Time started off with Rosemary’s debut performance, assisted by father and daughter duo, Rob and Amanda, playing one of my favourite John Prine songs, “Angel From Montgomery,” and they did a very nice job of it, too. I predict more great things from this group! Wendy was up next, wearing what was instantly recognizable as an Easter bonnet. So, of course she performed Irving Berlin’s “Easter Bonnet,” (with song sheets for the crowd) as a joyful promotion for the upcoming Easter Parade – (all of the info that you’ll need about it is included down at the bottom of this page.) Next up, Corinne played some very tasty lead-uke parts on Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” on a drizzly night in Kitsilano. Candy played her little red uke that she uses to teach kids with (hence the various “stickers of honour” on it…) as she gave a nice rendition of Vance Joy’s “Riptide.” Following that, our illustrious bass-player Ron got up, and after I finished flailing and adjusting his mic and music stands, (and gluing down his flyaway hairs,) he actually gave the most heart-tugging performance of the evening, with a beautiful tribute to the Notre Dame blaze, singing, “I Love Paris.” Dave then led the group with a song from the book – the 1923 Bessie Smith blues standard, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” Up next, Boaz celebrated and commemorated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (yes, you read that correctly…) by singing Tom Lehrer’s mouthful of a song, titled, “The Elements.” Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev would have been very proud or baffled by it. Boaz then switched to bass and led a melodica-playing Gayle and I in a version of the Paul Simon-penned, “Red Rubber Ball” from 1966, (which, by the way, was written 97 years after the establishment of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.) Gayle, with a little help from her friends, Leone and Jerry, finished things up with an appropriately sweet song called “Sweet Pea” by Amos Lee. All in all, it was a very enjoyable Performance Time!
This month’s Two-Chord-Wonder Song was “Ooh La La” by the Faces (an early Brit-rock band, featuring Rod Stewart and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood.) We played it using Bb and Cm7, though the original version is D and Em. Remember that these tunes are all easily moved to whatever key makes you (and your voice and uke) happy!
Big thanks to our band – Ron on bass, Jerry on drums and percussion, and Leone on uke. They provide a very solid and energizing backup for all of us to strum along with. And to Craig for scrolling the Projector Songs, and to all the Rogue Folk Club volunteers who help us make it through the night. And finally, a salute to Susan and Marlene, who show up early every month and put out the chairs and tables, so that the rest of us may plunk in comfort!
Craig will be leading you all for the May uke circle, so until next month – happy plunking!!!
Cheers,
Tom
WENDY’S EASTER PARADE INFO:
Tree Talks and Walks Easter Parade, in Oakridge/South Cambie
- April 21, 2019, Sunday, 1:30 pm to 3:30 – This is Easter Sunday
- Meet on the west side of Cambie at 45th, at the street just outside the Oakridge Shopping Centre, where the ‘Ukon’ cherries should still be in bloom.
- Presented by Wendy Cutler, Cherry Scout Co-ordinator. Wendy has been scouting and documenting the tree locations in these neighbourhoods since the festival began, and she has led several sakura tours.
This walk begins with the singing of Easter Parade, accompanied by ukuleles and you! You may wear your Easter Bonnet for the occasion, and you may play your ukulele. The singing begins at 1:25 sharp (but in tune). This is usually a long walk, but it stays near 41st Avenue and you may leave at any time.
+*+
Wendy
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – March 19, 2019
Hello Everyone, Carol and Heather have mostly recovered and are here with the lowdown:
We were definitely not singing in the rain last Tuesday night—What a balmy day-before-the-first-day-of-Spring evening to have so many people join together for an evening of joyous music making! There was a veritable cornucopia of musical fun—a bit of Canadian, a couple of Hawaiian, a few Celtic songs, and a smattering of everything else, ain’t the ukulele great?
There were a lot of songs to plow through but we made it (mostly!). We were ably led through the book songs by outstanding singers who shared their talents with us: Jennifer, Ed, Melody, and Craig, and were backed by Ron (bass) & Jerry(perc), and fiddlers Katie and Tomi. We covered the old favourites Hey Good Lookin’, Blue Moon, Save the Last Dance for Me, Bad Moon Rising, Walking After Midnight, and Sunny Afternoon. Melody also lead a new-ish song: You and I.
Our two-chord song, Pay Me My $ Down would have made Bruce Springsteen proud (google his version, in Ireland, so you can relive ours). For the Canadian set, we went off-mic, and the room filled with Four Strong Winds—lovely! Then Carol’s daughter Kai and her friend Charlotte lead us in a raucous version of their school (?) song: Home For a Rest and it was fab! That is some school.
Carol & Jen breezed through Hukilau and Little Grass Shack, and we almost felt like we were in Hawaii—the room and the vibes were very warm. ABBA’s Mamma Mia, featuring Craig on vocal synth (?) was a blast! Our Millennium Moment was Bruno Mars’s I think I Want to Marry You. Isn’t he fun! But a big highlight of the evening was Jennifer’s Eye of the Tiger—backed by Jerry and Ron—which was particularly WILD!
Performance time was a treat as usual:
Edwin’s groovin’ to Sway had us groovin’ too. Rob James and friends including his talented daughter, wowed us with a harmonic rendering of City of New Orleans. Joan’s lovely vocals on Radiohead’s Fake Plastick Trees certainly didn’t wear us out—we only wanted more! Ron sang Let’s Sing Together which we were doing a LOT of, along with arm swaying. Ed did a rockin’ version of Green Door, and Ming’s poignant version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow was very nicely done. Then Boaz closed with Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Alone Again Naturally—although not alone, as there happened to be 100+ uke friends in the room at the time.
It was still March, so we sang a few Celtic-ish tunes. U2’s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, with Jennifer leading, worked just great on the little uke, with an impromptu choir singing back-up. Dirty Old Town was very pleasant, but another huge highlight of the night was Craig leading Mull of Kintyre with Tomi and Katie on fiddles. It was simply stunning. Finally, the rousing stomps of The Wild Rover ended the night on an energetic note, and truly captured an evening of merriment .
I think I may have used the word “fun” too many times above, but what can I say—it was a very fun night!! It certainly gave Carol and me a huge appreciation for the amount of behind-the-scenes-work and the collaborative efforts of SO many people. Thank you especially to Jerry (perc), and Ron (bass), and our two fiddle players Katie and Tomi who kept things motoring along. Thank you also to all who helped us, including Christian the sound guy, Kathryn and Wendy, the Rogue folk volunteers (and also Tom!)—they who keep this event happening each month.
We are really really happy to hand the reins back to Tom next month, Tuesday April 16, Yay!
And by the way, for those who asked, check out:
–the documentary of Doc Pomus, the brilliant song writer who wrote Save the Last Dance for Me and many more. It is called AKA Doc Pomus.
–Hugh Laurie’s piano blues, especially You Don’t Know My Mind and St James Infirmary.
Keep on uke-ing and see you next month!
Heather and Carol
Thanks to Boaz Joseph for these photos.
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – February 19, 2019
(This post was written by Jennifer Conroy)
It was a quarter to five this afternoon — two hours before showtime — when Boaz emailed with the news. Tom had been on his way in from White Rock, driving in the snow, when he narrowly avoided a crash with two other cars. He collided with a “roundabout/barrier/grassy thing” and while not injured (thankfully), was not going to make it in to lead the uke circle.
I was at home with wet hair, marking papers, and then suddenly flying into action, printing out the setlist and projector songs, racing to St. James to help lead. But I knew I wasn’t going to be alone: lots of us came together to deliver Tom’s program, and lots of you showed up with your energy and music to fill the room, despite this relentless weather.
Ahead of everything, I have to thank Boaz, Jerry, Sylvia, Gayle, Ed, Leone, Heather and Carol, Erin, and Christian the sound guy, along with Wendy and Kathryn, for making it happen tonight. We all pitched in, we learned songs at the last minute, and we backed each other up in new and impromptu ways.
About 6 hands went up when I asked if anyone was there for the first time, including a UBC student from Uganda. I didn’t get your name, student, but please come back! Someone else had given him a ukulele, and he was thoroughly pleased to be in a room full of people making music together.
We played songs about rain and snow, about love and fire, and a kind of hush all over the world. We did covers of Joni Mitchell, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, and one of my Canadian music crushes: Joel Plaskett, thanks to Carol and Heather, who also came up with a two-Chord wonder on the spot. Corinne came up to play a solo on Rainy Night in Georgia, and we did With a Little Help From my Friends, which was kind of perfect, considering.
We had a first time performer, who bravely started our solo section. His name is Rob, and he played a song called Willin,’ by Little Feat, which was covered by Linda Ronstadt on her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel. Rob did a great job, and got a standing ovation. Ed came up with the blues number Walk On. What is it about blues songs being so satisfying? Next we had two numbers from our super-group. Tomi, Sylvia, Leone, and Gayle joined Jerry, and the group did a sweet and mesmerizing version of Friday, I’m in Love, by the Cure. Then Sylvia, Leone and Jerry re-assembled to back up Gayle on an original song called Moonlight at Boundary Bay. Lovely and haunting, inspired by the ocean view, the light of the moon, and not being able to sleep. Last, the prodigiously talented and always-practicing Boaz played a favourite: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, by Richard Thompson. Which I would just like to cheekily point out, is about a red-haired girl.
Finally, we sang Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight, to serenade everyone home to bed, on snowless streets. But the table of people at stage left wanted more. They sang our old closer Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, and then Hallelujah, with Sylvia joining them with harmonies. Like a proper jam, when nobody wants the music to end.
So thank you everyone for coming out and playing, and lending us your voices and uke playing tonight. Please come back in March; it’ll be Tuesday the 19th again. Heather and Carol will be leading and plans are underway for another fun night of ukulele merriment.
See you again soon,
Jennifer
Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting – January 15, 2019
(This post was written by Craig Stewart)
Dear Strummers,
In these crispy days of January, in the absence of the holiday madness, we tend to—don’t we?—plan some new things, look at some new beginnings and settle in to new schedules. A little bit of appraisal and adjustment. It feels hopeful. And summer is closer.
I did insist we do two summer songs at our January uke circle: “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams and “Summertime.” It must be said that Bryan Adams was nine years old in the summer of 1969, standing on his girlfriend’s mama’s porch, playing in a band, and working down at the drive-in. Was there ever a drive-in theatre in North Vancouver? Did he have to get driven to the one in Langley? [Terry and Erica emailed me to say that there was indeed a drive-in theatre in North Vancouver: the Lions Drive-In, near Pemberton, south of Marine Drive, which operated from 1958 to 1973. Bryan could probably walk from his other job washing dishes at the Tomahawk restaurant.]
Apparently there are 25,000 recordings of “Summertime” by George Gershwin, this jazz standard written 85 years ago for Porgy and Bess. I have a version in which it is played very slowly. It feels so sweltering: too hot and humid to move, waiting for the coolness of evening, sitting outside under the oak trees. We played it like that. And, actually, YOU played it like that—on the second run-through I did nothing at all.
Candy took us through Sea of Love (also pretty summer-y), written by Philip Baptiste, a bellboy in Lake Charles, Louisiana, who had help from record producer George Khoury. Wikipedia tells me that Baptiste only ever got $6,800 in proceeds from this song, his only hit. Candy also took us through “Hotel California,” The Eagles’ biggest hit, about “a journey from innocence to experience,” according to one of the songwriters, Don Henley.
Rob sold me on “Mr. Bojangles” with the way he led it. The songwriter, Jerry Jeff Walker, found himself in a New Orleans Jail in 1965 after being drunk in public, and met a homeless man who called himself Mr. Bojangles. They chatted, and after the man told a story about his dog that brought everyone down, the man did a tap dance to cheer everyone back up.
As for projector songs, my classic rock roots show. “Instant Karma” was a hit for John Lennon when he was still officially a Beatle, and I confess that I love it and its message. After doing his “Happy Xmas” song, he realized he had to sweeten his message with a little honey—his next effort in this realm was “Imagine.” That man. His “old estranged fiancé,” as John referred to Paul McCartney once, wrote an unlikely hit single in 1977 with bagpipes, which broke the UK sales record set by “She Loves You” called “Mull of Kintyre.” Tomi came on stage to play the bagpipe part on her fiddle, which was great.
Our two Millennial Moment songs (written in the past 20 or so years—hey, by the way, did you know that our sound person, Christian, was born in 1994?) were chosen and led by Carol and Heather. They were “Come Fly Away” by Jeremy Fisher, which is actually played on a ukulele, and “1234” by Canadian Leslie Feist. The latter song used only finger snaps at one point. Both songs were eminently catchy, to my mind.
Ed took us through “Yellow Bird” and “Eight Days a Week.” Ron had suggested doing “Hello Dolly,” written by Jerry Herman and made famous by Louis Armstrong and covered by Carol Channing, who had passed away that morning at age 97. So Ed stepped up and he and Ron led us all through that, doing both a Carole Channing take as well as a Louis Armstrong “mouth trumpet” take.
As for Performance Time, we were delighted to see two first-timers. Zara was first up on stage and played her own song, called “No Turning Back,” a lovely and wistful rumination sung with her evocative and unique voice. Leslie was up next, doing a song by Regina Spektor (who deserves looking up) with a great catchy beat—“Folding Chair.” Both of them gave first-timers a great name; I heard a number of positive comments afterwards.
Ron, as everyone knows, performs a service. He will often do songs by those we should remember. Last night, Ron memorialized a man by the name of Paul Colwell, who led a touring group in the 1960s called “Up With People.” Ron played sax in the band between July, 1967 (Sgt. Pepper had just been released, and the Detroit riot was happening) and August, 1968 (Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. had both recently been assassinated), along with Glenn Close, throughout the United States. The song he played, from that time, was called “What Color is God’s Skin?”
Bonita introduced the song that she and Boaz wrote and performed, “Oil on the Bay,” about the oil spill in English Bay back in the spring of 2015. Bonita was then in a wooden boat-building club (Oarlock & Sail) next to the Maritime Museum. Two guys in the club saw the spill and reported it, and then:
“It took four and a half hours after recreational sailors called in the precise location of the spill for the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, which is responsible for cleaning up spills, to arrive to deploy booms around the Marathassa. By the time the booms were secured the next morning, much of the 2,800 litres of bunker fuel had escaped” (Globe and Mail, October 7, 2018).
The Harper Government had de-commissioned the nearby Canadian Coast Guard station prior to the spill. Bonita said the two guys were all over the news, “especially because of the frustration they felt as they waited hours for a response and just watched helplessly as the oil slick spread.”
I then sang a song about a more innocent boat: “Sloop John B,” a Bahamian folk song from Nassau that is at least 100 years old, famously covered by the Kingston Trio and then The Beach Boys.
There’s nothing like singing in a group.
A bientot, mes amis! Till next time!
Craig
