Nancy also couldn't make it, so it was up to me...but something awful happened. I lost my voice. I'm not sure where it went, but all I could do was croak. so, as I drove towards San Francisco (for once I drove, I usually take BART), I thought, what the heck am I going to do? I wasn't even sure if my friend Steve would make it to help me out on U-Bass...and well, this could be a major disaster.
I managed to find decent parking on that beautiful sunny San Francisco Day and I got to the Oakside Cafe about an hour and a half early. My voice wasn't coming back even after several cups of hot tea with lemon and honey and throat lozenges...I could barely talked. Was I EVER relieved to see Steve show up with his cool, purple fender U-Bass (I think it's called that), who also arrived early! What a relief! There was no way I'd be able to pull this one off by myself.
Steve helped me pick out some songs and we made a list so that I could call out songs from the Daily Ukulele books -- he teased me (as usual) for always choosing Beatles songs and "hippie" music! So I chose some Hawaiian songs that we knew like Sophisticated Hula and White Sandy Beach. Also, Steve had picked up one of those COOL plastic desk music holders that I'd been wanting for ages...which he found at Guitar Solo.
People trickled in with ukuleles, around 15 people -- not as many as we've had in there, but a good number of people including some regulars like Vickie and Rebecca and Don and Carol. A new guy with a banjo ukulele joined us and a couple of other newbies. and was I ever happy to see Jill who can sing...
So, I "croaked" out song names and page numbers the best I could and attempted to say, "SING LOUD!" because no way was I going to sing anything and it still worked out well! We then played from the Rebellious songbook -- the one Nancy put together with a whole bunch of songs chosen by her and others...we did several songs out of that and Steve counted us in and kept us relatively together by his steady U-bass playing... and it all worked out even though I had no voice!
And I still managed to have an adventure on Haight Street after the Ukulele Rebellion in spite of the lack of my voice! Since I brought my car, Steve put his amp for the bass and all of his stuff in the car, and we trekked down to Haight Street, first to Haight Asbhbury Music where you get to play instruments you cannot possibly afford!
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| Steve trying out guitars at Haight-Ashbury Music, San Francisco |
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| I JUST LOVE THIS "GODAN" Nylon-stringed guitar!!! it just felt right...it's so beautiful! |
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| I got super excited when I saw this "stingray" bike! this was my DREAM bike as a kid! complete with Banana seat and those handlebars!! can you believe this now goes for $800??! NO WAY!!! there were many skid marks on the sidewalk and street on the street where I grew up...2nd Ave. |
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| The Sock Store |
We then went to the "Loved to Death" store, yep that same store that's featured in that TV Show called "Oddities" which I have to admit I have not seen yet. The dude on the second level was sooo interesting and cool and I talked to him for a long time about all the stuff they carried in the store -- the various skeletons and even kits used for exorcisms and stuff like that...
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| (I did get permission to take some pics...I asked because of the signs about Photos) This is a real skeleton...doctors in college utilized these back in the day... |
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| Trippy! skeleton of a cat on the left and a rabbit on the right (I think?) |
and of course no trip to Haight Street is complete without going to the book store or the store with all the buttons!
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| oh hey, YEAH YEAH YEAH! :) |
It was a good day...! :) in spite of no voice -- but as long as I have my ukulele, all is well with the world...!
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