The Uke Jam was a big success last Thursday night. We had a great turnout again with about 18 folks. Mostly the same people as the last Jam, but a few new faces. We have a nice mix of old and young, with the younger folks always asking to play songs “from this century” which we were happy to go along with (Some of those newer songs are posted on the Blog). But of course we like to do a lot of the old classic Uke songs like Maxwell's Silver Hammer (when did the Beatles become classic Ukulele songs?).

BIG NEWS: The church has granted us permission to jam twice a month! From now on we will meet on the first and third Thursday of every Month. For November that will be the 7th and the 21^st. Also, this time we started collecting a voluntary “love offering” for the church to cover the cost of the room. This offering is completely voluntary and not a requirement to participate, but most folks put in one or two dollars, which was great.

We have started posting some songs on the Blog site, mostly trying to focus on ones that get requested a lot. The Blog also has a lot of information about events in the triangle involving the Ukulele, some great performances and workshops that are happening.

I passed out flyers for people to distribute, so we hope new people will continue to join us next time. We are trying to spread the word about the Jam, and we are going to get some t-shirts out there for the holiday season to advertise the Jam. We will be showing those off at the next meeting.

Triangle area ukulele world - Nov-Dec 2013

There is a lot going on in the Triangle Area Ukulele world over the next couple of months. 

Thanks to our good friend Marilee Annereau, master of the Ukulele and of the Durham High Strung Uke Jam, for compiling this list of events.

Here is a summary of things going on:

1.       The Aaron Keim workshop and Concert this week

2.       North Raleigh Uke Jam this Thursday

3.       Lil' Rev concert and workshop the week of Nov 18^th

4.       Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Concert & Afterparty

5.       The Eve of New Year's Eve 5th Monday open mic at Durham HS Jam 

6.       First Night (NYE) in Raleigh with Durham Ukulele Orchestra and James Hill

1.  The Aaron Keim workshop and Concert this week

Aaron Keim will be playing at the Arts Center in Carrboro this Friday  11/8/13.

He's a lovely musician well worth checking out.

If you are not familiar with his music.  Please check him out.
http://quietamericanmusic.com

He is also putting on a workshop, but the date conflicts with our next North Raleigh Uke Jam, so you have to make a tough choice.

Thanks to regular Durham High Strung jam attendee Josh, Aaron will be giving a workshop the night before, on Thursday the 7th - this Thursday!.  Here are the details:

Place: Durham NC - 5103 Revere Road - Baha'i Community Center
Time: 7pm - 9pm    Cost: $20

"Fingerstyle Ukulele- Techniques adapted from banjo and guitar are a great way to arrange music for the ukulele. Arrangements using fingerstyle techniques can make the ukulele sound like a whole "orchestra," with melody and accompaniment played at the same time! Students can expect to work on learning a picking pattern, incorporating the melody into the picking pattern and adjusting the picking pattern to suit other songs. The ability to read music or tablature will be a big help for this workshop but not a requirement. All levels welcome."

If you plan to attend, please send Josh a quick email so he can get a head count. Contact him at:

jwieties9@gmail.com

2.  North Raleigh Uke Jam this Thursday

You all know about the new Uke jam in Raleigh, our next meeting is this Thursday 11/7/13.

We will meet again in the classroom building at the Church of the Nativity, at 8849 Ray Road in North Raleigh  from 7:00 until 9:00 PM

Questions and RSVPs can be directed to NRaleigh.Uke.Jam@gmail.com 

3.  Lil' Rev concert and workshop the week of Nov 18th

I am happy to tell you that Lil' Rev, a fabulous musician and performer and ukulele teacher will be in town the week of November 18th.  He will be giving a concert at the Orange County Quilters Guild on Monday, November 18th.  Here's a link to the description of the program from Rev's web site:

http://www.lilrev.com/scraps-of-quilting-music

Time and Place Details:  Lil Rev will be here on Monday the 18^th at 7:00PM, at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill.  They would like us to let them know how many ukers are coming, so please let them know if you plan to attend, or contact Marilee to give them a head count.

Then:  On Tuesday December 19th, Lil Rev will be teaching a workshop to be held at High Strung School of Music at the corner of Broad Street and Markham Ave in Durham.  He will follow the workshop with a short uke performance.  Cost of the workshop and concert is $20.  

4.  Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Concert & Afterparty

As many of you know already, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain will be performing in Durham on Sunday, November 24th - that's the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  They are being presented by Duke Performances.  The concert is at 7pm.  And it will include an audience participation/play-along segment, so BRING YOUR UKULELES!  After the party, DP and High Strung are hosting an after party at Fullsteam Brewery, near downtown Durham.  Everyone is welcome.   The band members will be attending and they love to meet people and hang out.  

There are still some seats available for this show, which is sure to sell out:

https://tickets.duke.edu/online/default.asp?doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=FA39731E-B3A6-4D4F-8C83-76E47B8FEBCD

5.  The Eve of New Year’s Eve 5^th Monday open mic 

The Durham High Strung Uke Jam will be having their last open mic of the year on the 5th Monday in December,, 7-9 p.m., at the Sacred Grounds coffeehouse.

6.  First Night (NYE) in Raleigh with Durham Ukulele Orchestra and James Hill!!!

Great news!  There is going to be a "ukulele venue" at First Night Raleigh this year!  

The location will be the sanctuary at First Baptist Church Salisbury Street.

Opening act would be Larry Hutcherson and his on-going ukulele class, starting at 7:30.

The Durham Ukulele Orchestra will perform 2 sets, one at 8, and one at 9:30.  And then....

The headliner is going to be the great Canadian Ukulele player James Hill.

He will play a set at 8:30 and at 10:30.  

 If you have not heard James Hill, please check him out.  He is fantastic, and probably my favorite ukulele musician out there.  Well, it's hard to choose.  But he's definitely at the top of my list of people I've been dying to see live:

http://jameshillmusic.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZlnUbfyV2c