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Ralph's Blog

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.

And another note from Wendy: Hansol Kim has been documenting the events in photos. Many of the photos on the page are his, but not all of his are shown here. You can find all the ones he's posted in Hansol's Vancouver Ukulele Circle collection on flickr.

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday December 20, 2011

The seasonal phrase, “joyful throng” was invented for a night like
tonight. So many nice people all in one room together. A wonderful and
wide separation of ages from the very young to the very, uhm,
not-quite-so-young. One of the kids managed to knit a scarf during the
evening. She started it at 7:30 and by a quarter to ten Peter was
wearing the waist length blue scarf while he and Magda led us singing
“Baby it’s Cold Outside.”

As usual we had the Christmas/Ukulele quiz where we learned that
vertical stripes actually make you look fatter than horizontal stripes
and it’s the artificial ingredients that cause hyperactivity in
children, not the sugar, as most people believe. We also had some
anagrams of famous Christmas songs: A Galactic Monsoon Untwists and
Marshiest witch to name two. Did you know that Christmas didn’t become
an official holiday in Scotland until 1967?!!

Happy door prize winners took home: a copy of Tom and Cynthia’s new
Children’s book: I Want to Go to the Moon, a copy of my new book The
Ukulele Entertainer, an electronic tuner from Ruby’s Ukes and a ukulele
starter kit which included: pitch pipe, chord chart, uke-circle book,
Ralph Shaw DVD and a Mahalo ukulele donated by Prussin Music. [Btw.
Prussin Music have said if you go there with your Vancouver Uke Circle
Songbook they’ll give you 10% off any ukulele related item. Thanks to
Peter Dunn for arranging that.]

Christmas performance time included: Pam Holley's Hawaiian group, the
Haole Holly-Berries: Pam, Annemarie, Yoshimi, Marjorie, Wendy and Gary.
Stanley Matthews led Six White Boomers - wonderful to hear all the kids
singing along. Carrie and Jesse performed the most touching rendition of
O Holy Night I have ever heard. Carrie played uke and Jesse is a
youngster with a talent for harmonica. Her notes were simple and melodic
but oh so beautiful. Rare indeed. Harmonica is not the most accessible
instrument so I guess I have a soft spot for kids who manage to coax
music from one.

Daphne and Andy sang a jazzy Santa Baby. Ron Usher played a 1920's
Christmas gospel song. I've written down several things about it,
including that The Sojourners played, it but I don't have the title -
sorry!

Carol and kids gave us an awesome and energetic Rudolf. Ed (he of
ukulele Blues) entertained us with Blue Christmas. Jeff sang All I Want
for Christmas and Paul did yet another version of Rudolf where the
red-nosed one gets his comeuppance on all those others who didn't let
him join in their games.

Jimmy Jackman arrived to sing John Lennon's Merry Christmas War is Over.
Christmas is a time of mixed emotions for many people and Jimmy let his
feelings out in this one. Well done Jimmy for both baring his humanity
and managing to carry on - a real trouper.

Then it was my turn to sing a little ditty that I wrote to the tune of
Silver Bells but was actually about the Vancouver bike lanes. Tom (one
of the people, like myself, with a new book to sell) finished off the
evening with a song to remind people to BUY A BOOK this Christmas and
also managed to sneak in a visit to Christmas Island while he was up
onstage.

I truly hope you have a restful holiday and a very happy 2012. By making
music you will continue to make your part of the world a better place to
be in.

You are my hero.
Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca   

It was remiss of me not to mention that in the opening pages of her new book "I Want to Go to the Moon" Cynthia Nugent dedicates it to me. I guess without the ukulele circle she'd have never met Tom and the book wouldn't have happened. It's a great honour. Thank you Cynthia.

Ralph

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday November 15, 2011

If certain interpretations of the Mayan calendar are correct and the world does indeed end on December 12, 2012 then one year from tonight will be the last uke circle ever!!! So we're planning now for the apocalyptic final uke show. Start thinking up ideas.

If the energy in Our Town was anything to go by, it could well be us, the fusion powered uke-lear powered machines that we are that end up igniting the earth causing it to spin off its axis in a mighty fireball of high frequency strummulation.

I'm not kidding. If you weren't there tonight you will have missed the fastest and maddest version of Amazing Grace, done at warp factor eleven, ever heard this side of False Creek. And there were lots of other great performances tonight too. Interestingly it seemed to be the first timers who provided some of the most professional pieces we've ever heard at uke circle. Matt started things off with a short and very sweet song: A Pretty Girl is Like. Peter and Magda together sang Baby It's Cold Outside - a song that necessitates two voices and they did it superbly considering their ears were covered with woolly bonnets and they both wore scarves and mitts. Ken (one of our first-time ringers) delivered a fine song called Rock Out.

Hey Uke!! (aka. Sarah, Ed, Paul, Peter and Anne) sang All I Want is You. Bill (another incredible first timer) played a baritone eight string ukulele (no not a mandolin) and had us joining in on a wonderful ditty about sipping cider through a straw with his girl. The Mai Tai Club (aka. David and Laya - another first time star) sang a song that started off as a nice love song and ended up just a little bit crude and rude. It was called Kucf You (I scrambled the letters in case there are children reading.) Ross, with his rumbly baritone did a hilarious song called Ukulele Crime. It's a cautionary tale about what too much ukulele in the wrong time and place can lead to.

Boaz, who is getting better than ever by the way, sang Tom Lehrer's (I think) Masochism Tango. Spare a thought for poor Boaz. He told me tonight that he suffers from a rare disorder. He says it's a temporary left hand paralysis that only occurs on the third Tuesday of every month. How unusual!! Jill sang an original song called I Love My Job, all about the trials of being a web designer. (Note to self: Never type an email to Jill using the font: Comic Sans.) Ed brought out the blues once again and sang Bring it on Home. Geoff did the Tragically Hip's Bobcaygeon (it's a town on the lochs between two of the Great Lakes - that's all I know.) To finish off performance time Tom and Russ did The Door's: Love Her Madly and it ROCKED!!! Thanks to everyone - you all Rocked!!!

Hey, it was also fun to have Quentin join us on piano tonight. I admit I was slightly skeptical about the idea but his playing was honky-tonkalicious.

Next month is the Christmas party where we'll have Seasonal songs, the annual quiz and wonderful prizes. As I type Wendy is already boarding a plane to Hawaii to discover fabulous items of tiki-kitsch to give to the lucky winners.

Stay warm, keep strumming.

Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday October 18, 2011

Before I get started on this I want to let you know that I am back to writing my newsletters. This is a free email that comes to you about twice a month bringing tips on playing ukulele and performing. It costs you nothing and is easy to unsubscribe if you don't like it. But you have to sign up. If you want to sign up then go here: http://www.ralphshaw.ca/Free_Newsletter

Halloween will soon be upon us and thanks to those who put a bit of tremble into their tremolo tonight. We sang the Monster Mash plus a few other necrotic nocturnes. By the way, here's a tip for those of you who have been finding uke circle to be somewhat overcrowded: show up at break time (around 8:30pm). It's curious that Our Town is full to bursting for the first half but by the time performance time gets going there are usually some spare seats.

Once Pam and Gary had got things going with a song called Nana Kuli (Hawaiian, pretty obviously) we then had two lots of blues; first a song about being on the delta played by Blind Finger Jackman (that's a 3-barrelled blues name I just made up for him) and then Hank Snow's "I Almost Lost My Mind" played by Dirty River Ed (another made up name).

It will not have escaped anyone's notice that B.F.Jackman performed using a guitar. I just want to be very clear that what we have is a "ukulele circle". So that means no guitars, no souzaphones, no oboes, clarinets, harps or bagpipes etc. - unless those other instruments are being played to provide accompaniment for a ukulele player. There are many other open mic nights around the city for all those other instruments. I hope this doesn't sound mean but we have to draw a line somewhere.

Joanna sang us a cool original song called Moon Rock. Simon sang the Morecambe and Wise fave "Bring Me Sunshine." You'd know the song if you'd lived in England in the 1970's. Matt sang what is possibly the only song that uses "ukulele" as a verb, it was called "Ukulele Me". Jeff gave us Hallelujah, and even stopped in the middle at the part where he expected us to cheer. Which we did. Eventually.

Peter sang Skull Crusher Mountain, a tale of HorROR that was funny too. Then, while Johnson set up his video camera, Ben sang a song called Scream and Run Away based on the Lemony Snicket stories. And finally Johnson finished it all off with a lovely instrumental called Spanish Romance. This, he filmed as a gift for his friend who has her birthday on November 1st. And what a surprise it was. We met Johnson last year when he filmed us as a video project for high school. Since then he has taken up ukulele and is quickly turning out to be a surprisingly good player.

[edited 2011oct19] And an addendum from Ralph in an email:
I forgot to mention Paul whose performance of When the Night Feels my Song was one of the particularly lovely performances of Tuesday evening - sorry Paul!

Who knows what surprises we'll have in store for you next month. See you then!

Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday September 20, 2011

September 20, 2011 is the 11th anniversary of the ukulele circle.
Tomorrow (the 21st) is my 20th wedding anniversary. No flowers, please
just send money (hee hee.) And, speaking of celebrations... yesterday
was Peter Dunn's birthday. Unfortunately Peter had a slight disagreement
with his employment. He sustained an injury which prevents him from
working for a while but which also prevented him being present to hear
his birthday song. Jill wrote a song for the occasion which we sang
complete with ukulele flash mob. Peter, we hope you enjoy the video of
the song and all of us at Uke Circle wish you a happy birthday and a
speedy recovery.

I'm still in a daze from my participation in the Canada's Got Talent
event. I auditioned for it after lining up for over nine hours. The
audition was ninety seconds long. I never knew that sitting around could
be so tiring. I have a whole new respect for panhandlers.

Thanks to everyone tonight for joining in on my song Manikin Man. Gents
and Ladies all singing different things at the same time. It was a
musical workout and loads of fun - especially for me! Also thanks to Joe
and Gary for leading some songs.

Performance time was kicked off by Stan - Leaning on a Lamppost, Joanna
(a first timer) sang an excellent original song called Scientific Age.
Boaz kept us on the science theme by singing Tom Lehrer's The Elements,
he bravely recited all the elements of the periodic table, with music,
in ninety seconds. Hmm might have been a good audition song for me, oh
well too late now. Ben sang Ice Cream Man. Great song but I don't know
anything about it and now it's late and I'm too tired to google it to
find out more. So you google it.

The big surprise of the evening was the triumphant return of Jimmy
Jackman (formally known as the artist known as Boswell). Suddenly, there
he was - onstage and ready to perform with Ken. Jim sang and played his
shiny resophonic chrome-plated stainless steel fighting uke while Ken
did his stuff on baritone uke. The song was called Lost in a Masquerade.
Some will be pleased, or anxious, to note that Jim's kazoo seems to have
been replaced by a bird whistle that promises to be every bit as
annoying as his kazoo once was.

Gary sang Just One Look and Jeff made his stage debut with Beirut's
Sunday Smile. I finished things off with my version of Brazil. That was
my audition song for Canada's Got Talent. And the Our Town crowd was a
far far better audience than the contest judge. I don't have high hopes
of making it any further in the competition but I felt like a star
singing it for you guys.

See you in October. I have to go and hunt down some flowers or I'll be
in big trouble!

Keep strumming and singing!
Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca   
Phone 604 689 2937

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday August 16, 2011

…we strummed and we sang and we sweated and we smiled.

The third Tuesday of the month came round unbelievably fast this month.
But I’m not complaining, it was so good to see you. And... we had a few
new members this evening.

One, a fellow named Stan, actually met George Formby in South Africa
when he was only seven years old. It changed his life and he’s been a
devoted ukuleleist ever since. He brought with him the Formby uke that
he has had since he was eleven years old. He played the Formby song
"Little Ukulele."

It was a very interesting performance time. It began doubtfully with
only a handful of signups. But things hotted up when Miss Zee said she
would do a song, but only if she had a kazoo to play. I ended up lending
her mine, and while she got ready to play Gary and I sang the Hawaiian
song "Kalua." Miss Zee returned and gave us a stirring rendition of
"Hungry like the Wolf." So energetic was she, that, for a moment, I
thought she was going to swallow the kazoo-but she didn't and went on to
garner her well deserved first-timers standing ovation. Tim got the
evening going with "Girl from Ipanema", also with a Stan Getz-like use
of kazoo.

Chris came up and sang "All the Single Ladies" which he says he heard on
CBC's As It Happens. I think he's trying to raise the bar by bringing a
bit of adult culture to the uke circle. A funny way to do it though.

Boaz, whose painful crash and burn we witnessed last month, when he
valiantly failed to pull David Bowie's "Life on Mars" from out of the
fire, returned to save his face. Which he did extremely well. He
performed Tom Lehrer's "I hold Your Hand in Mine" all the way through
and was rewarded with very enthusaistic cheers.

Paul sang John Mayer's "The Heart of Life" with a beautiful picking
style he's been working on. And Tom sang "The Twelfth of Never." Whose
tune I recognize as an old English folk song I used to sing in old
England when I was young. To others it is 1950s make-out music.
Gary and I finished things off with another Hawaiian song "e Huli
Makou".

The best surprise of the evening was when Tian-Lun Jiang (a.k.a.
Johnson) arrived. Remember him? He's the high school student who videoed
us one evening for his class assignment. He has since become a ukulele
player. So far he has learned the Pink Panther theme. He played it for
us and got a standing O. You can see his school video project here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnsonTianLun#p/u/9/m9oktBOiczo

I'm heading off to perform in Reno and Sacramento but I'll see you next
month at the September 20 uke circle.

Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca   

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday July 19, 2011

And summer hasn’t even begun. Ho hum. But Our Town was kept warm with glowing hearts and numerous strumming folk; some kids, oh yeah, and a dog – the beautiful Nautilus the seeing-eye-dog. What a lovely hound he is and no mistake.

Wow! What a fun crowd tonight. You’re sounding better than ever. Beth Portman was visiting from Edmonton, AB. She sang her song ‘Without You” from her new CD see www.BethPortman.com for details. They are all original songs on the themes of love and she has a real fine prairie voice.

Another visitor was a young man called Koji. He’s here from Japan and he played us a beautiful instrumental. He also reminded us that his fellow country-people are still having a very hard time over there. He has friends who died in the disasters and he asked us to send power to the Japanese people. We did. And we continue to send his people every ounce of ukulele power that we can muster.

Performances began with Ed (Green Door). Boaz attempted David Bowie’s “Life On Mars?”. A hard song and this was his first time playing for more than one person. The song kind of fell apart for him. Many of us know the feeling. But though the presentation might have failed, he succeeded beautifully by gamely continuing without embarrassment. Thanks Boaz for showing us how its done. Joe sang a Smashing Pumpkins song called 1979 – he’s at Café Montmartre on August 5th. Tim sang Sunday Morning. Ben gave us Poisoning Pigeons in the Park – the famous Tom Lehrer song. Paul led everyone in Jason Moraz’s “I’m Yours”. Tom sang the song Gentle on my Mind and wins the prize for memorizing the most words this month. Inspired to do a David Bowie song I sang “Space Oddity” and everyone joined in on the countdown. Thanks folks, nicely done.

See y’all next time. Enjoy strumming on the beach and I hope the sun shines on you all.

Ralph
www.RalphShaw.ca

Vancouver Ukulele Circle Meeting - Tuesday June  21, 2011

Cynthia has filled in for Ralph as blog-writer this month.

Our official summer solstice uke circle of 2011 was standing room only. The room was packed and hot but there was an extremely good-humoured vibe. I noticed that some people are beginning to come prepared with their own chairs and stands. Speculation about our burgeoning size continues - Wendy wrote to tell me that 18 new people showed up and that every seat in the house was occupied by 6:45! Wouldn't it be lovely if Our Town were like the Tardis in Doctor Who – small on the outside and massive on the inside?

Peter led the singing, with excellent help from Ronin, Joe and Tom. I think it was Joe's first time leading and he did a top-notch job. Looking forward to plunking with you again, Joe. Tom teamed up with Pete and played the harmonica for the authentic Dylan experience; two songbook pages of Like a Rolling Stone gave me time to have a nice nap and wake up refreshed.

Tom wrote me later to remark on the astonishing enthusiasm for Tuesday night's rendition of Take Me Home Country Roads, "I don't think I'd heard such a loud singalong before. I'll have to play that one again." He also wrote that book sales continue to be brisk. People are just nuts about Peter's new songbook. I overheard several people saying they just love it, and find the little one adorable.

Performance time was short but thrilling. Deborah from California made a special effort to get to our uke circle. She gave us a sultry version of Mister Sandman, encouraging us to join in on the bum bum bum bell tones that introduce the song. Check out this cute video if you can't remember the bum bum bum bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMCNmUaGko She invited everyone to attend her performance the following night at the Chan centre with her uke group, UFO (Ukulele Friends Ohana).

Joe played The Bay Intruders, a tune with new lyrics that he wrote to chastise the post-hockey rioters.

Our clever but slightly demented Jill blessed us with her latest original, a song about how oatmeal is the bane of her breakfast. I jotted down a few of the more memorable similes. Oatmeal tastes like "wet iguana skin", "Stephen Harper's butt", and like "Celine Dion sings". I was astonished to learn that this zombie-obsessed ukester just graduated top of her class from BCIT's New Social Media program. I'm suffering momentary disorientation at the thought.

Jen gave a brilliant performance of the double entendre-laced thirties tune, You Put It In and I'll Take It Out – an extremely naughty song about banking. But what a voice!

Tom played The Girl From Ipanema as only he can do, including a lovely chord melody solo. It was a bossa nova with a slightly country and western feel. (Again this feeling of disorientation passes over me – must be something I heard.) He told us he learned it from Ralph's Essential Strums for the Ukulele DVD.

Ronin played his first-ever instrumental at uke circle: George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Nicely done, Ronin! I think he should have gotten a standing O for that.

It was another great ukulele evening. I've noticed that one of the benefits of the circle being so packed is that I've ended up sitting with lots of different Vanukers and getting to know them better, which has been a real treat.

Ciao from Cynthia (with extensive notes from Peter and stats from Wendy), standing in for our wandering minstrel Ralph

And an addendum from Cynthia:

I don't know how I forgot to mention the exceptional job Peter did in stepping into Ralph's big floppy shoes and organizing and leading such a wonderful evening.

It's a hard job. I know because I tried to cohost with Tom once, but instantly broke into babbling idiocy and bolted from the stage. Tom looked momentarily bemused but showbizzed on.

So thank you and well done, Peter!

cringingly, Cynthia

Comment received May 17, 2011

Martin sent along this note:

Thanks to Hansol Kim for most of the previous group of photos on this page