2022 was a historic year

This year will be ... ?

Happy New Year everyone!

Our Christmas was interesting, what with COVID and all. I seem to be mostly OK. Still need a late-morning or early-afternoon nap, but at least I’m no longer contagious and feel pretty well. I plan to see you Thursday night unless I get a last-minute positive test or some such nonsense.

Let’s recap

In 2022, we played every regular jam, including open mics in March, June, September, and December.

We played Pelagic most (all?) months. I’m too lazy to look it up.

We hosted Raleigh’s only Make Music Day event at Pelagic on the Summer Solstice. (Exciting news about MMD2023 forthcoming!)

We hosted David “Ukester Brown” Remiger for a workshop and concert that everyone enjoyed and gained knowledge from.

We helped run a ukulele jam at the IBMA World of Bluegrass Festival downtown with our pals Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer.

We played gigs at Woodland Terrace senior living community (twice) and TLC Bond Park (twice); the first one at Bond Park landed on WRAL-TV’s Tar Heel Traveler.

We tried several times to play at local night markets and finally succeeded (because the weather cooperated), in September, in Garner.

We joined our friends from the other uke clubs in the NC Ukulele Collective and played at the NC Whirligig Festival in Wilson and the Old North State Food Hall in Selma.

What did I miss?

Onward, 2023? Not so fast, perhaps

Our dance card was full last year. Maybe too full. We had so many invitations to play at outside events that it seemed as if many of our jams were little more than rehearsals. That’s not what we’re meant to be. As David says, the Raleigh Uke Jam is supposed to be a safe place where people can come and play the ukulele and enjoy each other’s company. Something about “no judgment at the jam.” I accept the responsibility for taking on these extra sessions, as rewarding as they may be. Psychically, anyway.

So, I suggest we dial it back a bit over the next few months, at least. We’ll still jam at the church on the first and third Thursday of the month (with open mics on months with five Thursdays!), and at Pelagic the final Tuesday. We’ll welcome our commitment to play a lunch date for memory care caregivers “The New Hope Keenagers,” a social group for adults ages 55 and older, Tuesday, Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day) at New Hope Baptist Church on Louisburg Road in Raleigh. More details to come.

We also have a date to play at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 15, at the East Wake Regional Library in Knightdale. Again, more about that date to come.

Other than that, I’d like to chill, slightly. We have open invitations to return to Woodland Terrace, to make up the date we missed at Waltonwood Lake Boone, and play just about every day at TLC Bond Park. There’s a whole host of Night Markets on tap this year. Do y’all want to do any of them as a group? Let’s discuss.

If we get other offers to play outside our usual spots, we certainly can consider them. I don’t want to discourage outside opportunities. But I’d like to be more selective. Let’s stick to our knitting, as a boss long ago said.

Do you really want to play other gigs?

Go for it! Many of you already are. That’s fantastic. They don’t need the Official Raleigh Uke Jam seal of approval, which doesn’t exist. Just do it.

If you’d like, I can add a page to our website that lists other opportunities. Dates, locations, contact information, etc. Those who want to jump in can do so. If there’s no interest, that’s OK, too.

2023 should be another fun year for us. Our 10th Anniversary, in case you haven’t heard. Let’s have fun and do what we do. And maybe more, too.

Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Rick

P.S. Bonnie has made this a standard at open mics, as she should have. Enjoy! Pass the Pepto.