Fun in the sun in Wilson!
Just in time to get ready for the holidays
Fifty (count ‘em) ukers gathered in front of the Wilson County Courthouse Saturday and played a set (plus) at the NC Whirligig Festival. The hard work of Ginger Jablonski of Wilson, Mary Hill of Fayetteville, Carolyn Borgert of New Bern, and our own Bonnie Walker made it possible to schedule rehearsals, share music files and song videos, design and distribute t-shirts, and promote the event. It was fantastic! Many many thanks to those who pulled it off. We sounded pretty good, too, as these videos (taken by Danny’s wife Terry) show, even if you ignore the leader …
We’re planning to get “the band” back together for a Christmas/Holiday set at the Old North State Food Court in Selma December 10. We won’t be able to rehearse, and we’re largely dealing with the songs in the RUJ collection, with a few additions. Other groups adding songs will record and post them (as everyone did for the Whirligig Festival) so we can get the keys and arrangements straight. Check with me for more info.
As always, stay tuned!
No Bond Park … yet
Our outdoor performance at TLC Bond Park, scheduled for November 15, is canceled. It’ll be too cold to play outside and there’s not a proper and safe indoor setting to do it. Hope for warmer weather early in the new year!
The next jam is November 17, 7 p.m., at the church. See below for details.
Holly Jolly arrangements
Speaking of Christmas and holiday tunes, we will try to replicate, no, outdo last year’s video performance for the Total Life Centers. It’ll happen at our regular December 1 jam. At our normal meeting place in the church. Dress festively. Bring your jingles. We’ll perform and record our set that night for posting to YouTube and sharing with the known universe.
David is working on a proper Christmas-y setting (aka props), which could wind up being a Zoom backdrop. Be prepared for some extra takes and false starts. It’ll be fun and get us in the seasonal spirits.
Start thinking about this right away. We’ll do a little rehearsing on the 17th. If you want to add or replace songs from the list in the RUJ Dropbox “christmas songs 2021” folder, please let us know that night or before. If we have volunteers to do a few smaller ensemble numbers (as we did last year), bring them on!
And the rest …
We’re jamming at Pelagic Tuesday, November 28, 7 p.m. Almost certainly indoors. We’ll get the holiday season started right.
Monday, December 19, we’re bringing Season’s Greetings to the Woodland Terrace assisted living community in Cary, 2 to 4 p.m. We’ll do our holiday set twice, once each at different parts of the property.
Tuesday, December 20, we’re back at it, spreading good tidings at Waltonwood Lake Boone community (inside the I-440 Beltline near the main Rex Hospital campus) from 2-3 p.m.
Closing out the year
December winds up with two fun events:
Our regular monthly gig at Pelagic, Tuesday, December 27, 7 p.m.
An OPEN MIC! Thursday, December 29, 7 p.m. I’ll circulate signup information for that. Perhaps someone will consider bringing decorations and fizzy stuff.
They’re red hot, you say?
In some Gulf states and all along the U.S.-Mexican border, tamales are a Christmas delicacy. So let’s hear what the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain thinks about them.
Salesman Rick