Seasons of the Ukulele

A weekly song challenge for ukulele players - all welcome. Find out more here

Seasonistas International Open Mic

CanadaJim

I can't seem to get in. Is Brian still hosting?

Scribe

Hello Friends,**
INVITATION FROM BRIAN FERGUS OF UkeFOOTE**

Come join UkeFoote on Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM PDT. On a journey to a galaxy far away, UkeFoote will play Songs from Outer Space in their final Sunday Summer night show of 2025. Songs of The Rolling Stones, Rush, Pink Floyd and the Carpenters will be featured.

PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER START TIME OF 6:00 PM PDT!

LOCATION: 6305 SE 46th Avenue, enter on Tolman Avenue

BRING: Folding chair, jacket/sweater (?)

THIS CONCERT WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED ON ZOOM.

ZOOM CALL IN NUMBER: 622 972 7495

PASSCODE: woodstock (no capitals, all lower case letters)

A poster for this concert could not be attached. Donations are appreciated.

Brian and Borfus look forward to seeing you.

Cheers!

Charldene

Scribe

Hello Ukulele Friends,

Thank you for your outstanding talented performances and conversation at Saturday's Open Mic. Brian, thank you for hosting!

ILA Press will host the Open Mic on Saturday October 11, 2025 at the usual time. Zoom Identification Number: 623 009 0567

No Passcode is required for this Zoom meeting.

Saturday's theme question: What encounters have you had with wild animals?

As always, the question has no parameters or definitions. It's a way to share our stories, facilitate discussion, thoughts and opinions. There is no right or wrong answer.

Here is the list of Saturday's Open Mic performances. If you have any corrections, please let Charldene know. Links by the original performers of some songs may be included. Please do not feel slighted if a link isn't provided with your song. Feel free to circulate a link to your favorite performer.

1. ILA: "Pink Pony Club", Chappell Roan

2. Wendy: Mashup of "Dancing Queen" by Abba and "Dance With Me" by Orleans

3. Lisa: "My Purple Dragon Fly Guitar", original

4. Andy: "Mother Nature's Son", Beatles

5. Jim Y: "Sittin' in Hock", Brock Zeman

6. Brian F: "Golden Hours", Brian Eno. You may want to check out Brian Eno's new book, "What Art Does an Unfinished Theory" by Brian Eno and Bette Adriaanse. This book "is an invitation to explore this vital question. It is a chance to understand how art is made by all of us. How it creates communities, opens our worlds, and can transform us."

Audience: Jane and Charldene

My apologies for not including the interesting and wonderful animal stories that were shared. My right hand is in a splint due to a broken right pinkie. Thank you for your support and kind words. It was so great to be with everyone.

Enjoy a great week! See you at next Saturday's Open Mic for more wonderful music, conversation, laughter and fun! Thank you for making this Open Mic a special community!

Cheers!

Charldene

potmo

Ila Well I don't know what I am doing wrong unless by Pacific time you mean Hawaii time as opposed to actual pacific time because it is now 12:45 pacific time… I see that it is Brian Fergus' room but i can't connect. It says waiting for meeting to start…

UkeCan1

I'm hosting next week's Zoom! For the internationally located among us, at least.

If you're in the US and it's safe to do so, please go protest for those of us who can't participate there. If you aren't, please come join us on Zoom.

If you are coming to the Zoom open mic - all are welcome, new folks encouraged! - the info in Ila's opening post is correct, repeated here for easy finding:

Wendy will host on Saturday, October 18 at 12:30 Pacific time at Zoom Number 857 8802 3452 with passcode 1973.

PS:

(I'm disappointed my city of Brisbane, Australia doesn't seem to be doing anything for No Kings Day (maybe because we do indeed have a king? 😕) - but for me the open mic is on Sunday the 19th anyway, so I would do both if we had one!)

CanadaJim

Jane et al,
After our talk about overalls, here are photos of me and of my kids, both taken in 1979.

janedugan

Cute as can be, Jim (your kids are just out of this world adorable!)

UkeCan1

We had a fabulous international No Kings Day Zoom open mic today, with four delightful friends participating from four time zones in four countries on three continents - Joko in Myanmar, Jim Y in Canada, Jane in the US, and me, Wendy in Australia.

Our question of the day was to share about protests we've participated in - from Vietnam to two Gulf wars to women's rights and more … to an Aussie anti-vax rally I walked into accidentally.

We played these songs:

Jim Y: "Green, Green Rocky Road" - Dave Van Ronk

Joko: "Drag Queen Blues" - Richard Digance

Wendy: "Vote 'Em Out" - Willie Nelson

I look forward to hearing next week what you all got up to today while we were there with you in spirit!

Happy No Kings Day, everyone!

Joko

Oh you guys with your "Fall back" DST nonsense! International Open Mic now starts at 3:00 AM, Myanmar time… !

CanadaJim

Inspired by Marc Hinchey's Gord Lightfoot song:

Gord Lightfoot and Terry Whelan - The Two Tones circa 1962

Gord Lightfoot and some fellow performers at a 1964 Mariposa workshop.
This festival was in Maple Leaf Stadium in Toronto. I took this on a Kodak Brownie.
How many other performers can you identify?

Ian Tyson with his slope shoulder Gibson 12-string. I read that this was the first 12 string that Gordon ever played and soon after he became a 12-string player. Ian either had his stolen or lost it soon after and stuck to the 6-string after that.

CanadaJim

The photo below was taken at the 1964 Mariposa Folk Festival and appeared in the Toronto Telegram newspaper with the caption, "Four young men, one with a guitar". These were some highschool friends who attended the festival. I'm the guy with the Buddy Holly glasses. The guy in the middle now owns a string of chiropractic clinics in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

The Two Tones - Gordon Lightfoot & Terry Whelan

potmo

CanadaJim Did your quartet have a name?

potmo

CanadaJim As a young whippersnapper, I prefer this spin on the tune…

CanadaJim

potmo This was not a quartet, in fact, Dennis, the guy in the middle, was not a musician.

potmo

CanadaJim Did your trio have a name?

UkeCan1

@potmo YouTube just decided to show me this - it's fascinating:

potmo

That is very kewl. I wish I spoke this guy's language. I hope some day to get a grip on some of this music theory stuff. At least I hope I can look at my fret board and know what keys are what. I can do it with a piano but when I look at the uke (or guitar) it is just some strings and frets and i have to stop and think about what the note is, rather than just knowing. I also wish I understood all that scale stuff.
I don't really even know how to figure out what key I am in, unless it is your basic chords showing up everywhere. But one day maybe I will get a grip on these things. Luckily this old dog is capable of learning new tricks. I am just a slow learner.
Didn't mean to share my self-inventory there, but this guy always blows me away with how little I understand about music theory. He is very fun to watch though, even as he speaks greek to me. He pops up in my auto play too sometimes.

DelGriff

Time permitting I’m hoping to join in this week 🤞🏼. Be warned - the song I’m planning to perform is very funny, but full of f-bombs! Hope to see you all later! :-)

CanadaJim

DelGriff

"Folk"? - A 4-letter word that starts with "F". ends with "K" and if you use it, your songs won't get played on the radio.

Scribe

Hello Ukulele Friends,

Thank you for your outstanding talented performances and really fun conversation at Saturday's Open Mic. Brian, thank you for hosting!

ILA Press will host the Open Mic on Saturday December 6, 2025 at 20:30 London/BST, 12:30 PM PST. Zoom Identification Number: 623 009 0567

No Passcode is required for these Zoom meetings.

Please check the Seasonistas Flarum site to confirm the host and Zoom number.

Saturday's theme question: Have you ever returned a dish at a restaurant? (Sorry, but responses are not provided.)

As always, the question has no parameters or definitions. It's a way to share our stories, facilitate discussion, thoughts and opinions. There is no right or wrong answer.

1. ILA: "Bye Bye Love", Everly Brothers

2. Jim P: "Let It Ride", Backman Turner Overdrive

3. Wendy: "White Christmas", Irving Berlin

4. Joko: Pastische medley of "Your Song" by Elton John, "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis, and two other songs. All lyrics were sung to the melody of "Your Song"

5. Del: "Horse Outside" by The Rubberbandits. (This Irish band's song went to #2 on the charts during the Christmas holidays.)

6. Charldene: "E Ku'u Morning Dew", music by Eddie Kamae, lyrics by Larry Kimura

7. Jim Y: "'Cordin' to Me" by Stephen Hogg (local Ontario musician)

8. Lisa: "Grandma's Apron", original Christmas song

9. Michael: Sorry but I didn't get his song title and artist/songwriter

10. Brian: "Something" by George Harrison and the Beatles. Ths song commemorates the anniversary of George Harrison's passing on November 29, 2001. RIP, George, for this and your other incredibly beautiful love songs.

Thanks for joining us, Jane!

Everyone, enjoy a great week! See you at next Saturday's Open Mic for more wonderful music, conversation, laughter and fun! Each of you is important...please don't forget this! Thank you for making this Open Mic a special community!

Cheers!

Charldene

Saturday, November 15, 2025, Brian Fergus, Host

Theme Question: Do you believe in life on other planets? Sorry, but responses are not provided in this email.

1. Wendy: "Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue", lyrics by Allan Sherman

2. Jim Y: "Wonderful World", Herb Alpert and Lou Adler, Sam Cook

3. Marc: "Sundown", Gordon Lightfoot, 1974

4. David: "One Piece at a Time", Wayne Kemp

5. Charldene: "La Campanella" (The Little Bell), Third Movement of Violin concerto No. 2, Niccolo Paganini, arranged by Jeff Peterson

6. Lisa: "Going Home for Christmas", original work

7. Brian: "Baby, You Can Drive My Car", Beatles, 1966

Jane, thank you for joining us.

Saturday, November 1, 2025, Brian Fergus, Host

Theme Question: Name a scary book, movie or song. Sorry, but responses are not provided.

1. Jim P: "Higher Ground", Stevie Wonder

2. Wendy: "Monsters In Your Head", performed by Cousin Itt

3. Charldene: "Moondance", Van Morrison

4. ILA: "Aloha O'e", Queen Liliuokalani

5. Joko: "Love On the Rocks", Neil Diamond

6. Brian: "Here Comes the Sun", Beatles from their Abbey Road album

Jane, thank you for joining us.

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