The Amazing Ukulele Christmas Day Adventure!

Rebecca and me on ukes and some other merry folk at the VA Hospital, Christmas Day!

I almost didn’t wake up on time to get to the VA Hospital Christmas morning. The alarm had been set for 7:00 a.m. but of course I turned it off and went back to sleep! Luckily, Albert called me sounding all bright and cheerful like he always does – hey, is the address to this place 3801 Miranda Avenue? Huh? Ohhh, I don’t know – let me check. You didn’t just wake up did you? Why yes, as a matter of fact – oh  no! What time is it? So I felt like that Run Run Rudolph song dashing around, quickly getting dressed and making sure I have what I need – ukulele. Check. Songbooks, check. Scarf and Santa hat. Check. Then I at least got to see Baby J open up a couple of his gifts before dashing out the door and driving like a maniac to the VA Hospital. The GPS didn’t like the address – but thankfully I figured out where the place was on my own, and hardly anyone is on the road on Christmas morning – I mean, it is DESERTED!

  

But what a huge difference when I finally arrived to the VA Hospital and parked in the front which I wasn’t supposed to do – me and a few others had to hike through the entire hospital to get to the auditorium where almost 200 people had gathered to sing Christmas songs in the wards for the Vets and some of their families! WOW! It was hectic and crazy in there – a few people with instruments including a whole gang of my ukulele playing friends –150 festive singers, 13 ukulele players, a handful of guitar players, at least three fiddle players, one dulcimer, one amazing trumpet player (really she was awesome!), one snare drum and a partridge in a pear tree! I found Albert, June and her husband, Rebecca, Mark, John, Vickie Sugako and Hofer who came with Rebecca and Mark – and Linda Grace and other people I recognized as well. We practiced some songs in the auditorium including Silent  Night which Linda belted out and I sang harmony… I was the chick with the Santa hat and tie-dye shirt – no time for me to search for anything that looked holiday-festive – but I figured the Santa hat was enough. :) June had put together special songbooks for the ukulele players and we had to abandon all those cool intros because there were way too many people to try to pull that off – we were lucky to just start playing when the song began!

 

Gail Grant, our fearless leader, next to Albert and I see Sugako behind me and there's June and Mickey too!

It was chaotic and insane as we tromped through the wards of the hospital – me with my music stand which thankfully Rebecca’s friend Hofer had fixed – and songbook. No time to memorize those songs and who can remember all the verses to those traditional Christmas songs anyway? The only songs I knew by heart on ukulele were Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad oh yeah and of course This Land Is Your Land, which we played many times throughout the day. The ukuleles really shined when we played This Land Is Your Land, Here Comes Santa Claus and Feliz Navidad!  It didn’t matter whether we were together or not or that the ukulele players sometimes got separated – or that sometimes people on one end of the hallway started the song before people on the other end – countless volunteers coming through with lit-up shopping carts filled with gifts for all the vets in the hospital – the nursing staff who sang along with us and danced to some of the songs, the elderly woman patient who sat next to me in a wheelchair and sang along. And, there is no way that I will ever forget entering some of the rooms where the patients were – the ones who wanted us to – and singing.

One younger VA patient couldn’t speak because of major surgery to neck and face – but he wanted us in there to sing and he had a clipboard he could write with. So a group of us went in while a larger group stood outside. He didn’t have any special requests, so I’d call out songs to the main group outside the room, looking over to him to see if he approved. He’d nod or shake his head – Okay, he wants Jingle Bells! I shouted and whole group sang Jingle Bells. This happened for several songs. Nope, he doesn’t want Drummer Boy, not this time – let’s do Santa Claus is coming to town or Silver Bells. Another patient wanted us to sing and play White Christmas and was very excited about three of us in his room who strummed ukuleles!  I even got to go into the “quiet area” where only 15 people were allowed… wondering how we could possibly be that quiet…but it worked out beautifully. 

John and one of the awesome volunteers! Thank heavens for him...and for all the volunteers!

I will never forget the experience – was it chaotic and insane? Oh yeah! And of course wonderfully unorganized in spite of everyone’s efforts. But you can bet I will be there again next Christmas. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And they also sing three other times throughout the year. Sometimes I think that’s when the patients would love it even more – when people come in and sing for them just because.

And hanging with all my wonderful friends really made it a perfect Christmas Day. It was a wonderful day that lasted until 2:00pm in the afternoon. Yes, we walked at least two miles and then I lost my car in the VA Hospital Parking lot – it took me riding around with my friend Albert over 30 minutes to find it – seriously! I was in such a rush I had no idea where I’d parked.  Thank heavens my car really had not been stolen as I suspected. Then, me, Albert and Lori went to the “Passage to India” restaurant in Mountain View – a favorite of hers – and had a wonderful buffet Indian food late lunch for Christmas! It was different than past years…but I got to hang with Baby J on Christmas Eve and Christmas night and read this book I got him called “Christmas in California” which he really dug – and he was excited that Santa had arrived and I remembered that this is a magical time for him… We sang some Christmas songs together. Next year he’ll be ready for the VA Hospital sing-along for sure! I’ll see the rest of my family this weekend and when my Dad called me to wish me a merry Christmas, he sounded like “Dad” again which made me very happy, and I realized our family is precious…but we don’t have to wait til the holidays to see them or for those precious moments in time…

I did miss being surrounded by my wonderfully crazy family!!

    

Happy Holidays to one and all!

Love, Mary Lane & the Gang (also known in some circles as Melody)

  

RIP Thomas Long (Jen’s Dad, Baby J’s Grandpa) Aug. 2013…

passed away of lung cancer at the VA Hospital in Nashville, TN.

The Great 2013 "Ukulele" Christmas Adventure!

About a month ago, I somehow stumbled upon this huge event at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. For the past 40 years, a group of people have met there on Christmas morning to sing Christmas carols (and a few patriotic songs) to the Vet patients in the hospital. Everyone invited – Gail Grant, who has led this endeavor for a few years now, said they were looking for people who could play instruments – any instrument! So I thought – okay, I know a lot of ukulele players, not to mention my very first job was at the VA Hospital in San Francisco where I worked throughout my high school years and beyond. I was always incredibly impressed with all those patients and the people who worked at the hospital – worked on the wards, in the Pharmacy and EKG Departments. Also, for many years, I was a “military dependent” and I still remember bringing Christmas in with a whole group of lonely GIs who’d walk over to our apartment from the barracks where they lived on Christmas Eve night to hang out and we’d sing Christmas songs. Let's sing another one, or sing it again, they'd say -- even though I was dead tired, we'd sing songs like "I'll be home for Christmas" and so many others over and over again...I knew they didn't want to go back to the barracks. And all of us were thousands of miles from our family and friends back home...

So I let a bunch of ukulele players know and suddenly there’s a whole group who want to go, including June who had gone last year as well. Gail Grant was thrilled to have a group of ukulele players to add to the merry group.

    

And the Holiday season began with a lovely holiday party with the Santa Cruz Ukulele Club and Marty Carlson in Scotts Valley at their annual party – where my little grandson, Baby Jeremiah, made his debut by singing Jingle Bells into the mike in its entirety (in key too!) – with Nancy Algeria and me playing and singing along with him on ukes in the key of C!

The festive fun continued when a merry little group of us from the San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion played ukuleles and sang down at Pier 7 – Mark and I playing that riff he showed me for Happy Christmas which was a big hit for the bystanders who came by, grabbed kazoos (Mark had obtained 100 Kazoos and was giving them away to people!) – it was a beautiful sunny day down at the piers. Although we were a small group, we rocked!

    Then, I went with Baby J and Jeremy and Jen to this special neighborhood in Alameda called "Christmas Tree Lane." We were supposed to meet a "meet-up walking group" for the walk; however, we missed them by about 15 minutes. But we managed to find the neighborhood on our own...and even found parking not too far away. Afterwards, we had dinner at a lovely restaurant called the Ark in downtown Alameda.

fun at Bronco Billy's -- Holiday Uke Jam on Dec. 21st!!!! Margaret made scarves for us to wear at the VA!

 Our Fremont Ukulele Group Bronco Billy’s special Holiday Jam was over-the-top cool – with over 50 people showing up! Diane and I were both surprised because when we walked into Bronco Billy’s to set up, there were only two people there – a very nice couple who had never been to any jams before and had a wonderful time! We had planned a small, intimate group setting where we’d all just sit in a circle – and then the people kept coming in with ukuleles. Good thing I had brought enough song packets and sent out pdfs! We were both so touched and amazed and had such a wonderful time. Unfortunately, Baby J was sick with an ear infection and was only able to attend for a short time, but at least he was there to pass out some candy canes. Baby J got to see Santa this year…

   

Then I got my Christmas San Francisco fix yet again right before Christmas –A simple two word text and the sudden desire to be with my fabulous uke people in San Francisco did the trick! Thirty minutes before uke rebellion began I drove like run Rudolph run to San Francisco amazingly sailing in With no bad traffic and even finding a parking spot! I arrived armed with holiday uke packets from our very successful holiday jam the night before! It was a beautiful warm sunny day in San Francisco! And the Oakside cafe was filled with uke players all those I know and love! After doing songs from daily ukulele which included puff the magic dragon and other 60s faves we revisited some Beatles songs I missed. Then I passed out packets and we played a bunch of holiday songs including Happy Xmas! The vibes were good and spirits high! Then a visitor named Suzy introduced herself and showed us some cool stuff her uke group does in Corvallis Oregon! Wait a sec! I once lived in Corvallis with my kids when they were young...and I had spent a couple of days at my long time friend Colleen’s house last August! She knows Colleen! And she's part if an awesome uke group up there! How fun is that? It was so beautiful in San Francisco that I could not bear to leave, so me and Dean walked up to Alamo Square Park with ukuleles to catch the last of the sun and watch the sun set. My San Francisco Christmas fix happened.

   

Suzy Doyle (from Corvallis, OR) with me and Dean

We ran into Christina who was taking photos up at the park and a breathtaking San Francisco sunset…

Dean and I practicing the Paul McCartney song, "Ram On" which happens to be "next" in the Daily Ukulele Leap Year edition book. Dean is like the Daily Ukulele book GURU!!! We do a set umber of pages at our meetings..and he gets to work practicing those songs RIGHT AWAY!! He says it's amazing how much you learn when you practice the songs! :) Hey, what a concept! He even had me pull the song up via youtube on my iPhone so we could hear it! I didn't even realize that it's a song Paul plays on his ukulele and I can't find it in my VAST Beatles song collection either. I have to admit that I've learned MANY songs I'd never even think of from those books! 

I worked all day Christmas Eve and then managed to get into Safeway right before it closed on Christmas Eve night. Home with some of my family on Christmas Eve night – including Baby J who was super excited about Christmas. It was a very lovely, low-key evening with the “stockings” hung with card and Baby J excited about Santa and his reindeer…

Baby J and sleepy Santa!!!

Baby J ready to see Santa! Listening to Beatles songs on his Daddy's iPhone! Yep you know I've done my job when the Dad must download Beatles songs to phone!

Havin' some serious fun on Christmas Eve night!!!

Do I really have to wear this???!!!

AND THE BIGGEST PRESENT AT ALL COMES LATER!!!!

From Ukes on the Loose 2013 in Healdsburg, CA

Sue, Dave, me, Margaret, John and Albert

GUESS WHAT? WE’RE GOING TO HAWAII!!!

Thanks to Albert who reserved a timeshare for six in Kauai next August!

San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion - Battery Crosby

The San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion Gang at Battery Crosby!

This morning Margaret and I set out to San Francisco to meet some of our ukulele playing friends at Battery Crosby -- located above Baker's Beach



Mother's Day at Battery Crosby

I almost forgot it was Mother’s Day until the bouncy, young girl gripped my soul, smiling and dancing as I sang and played that Beatles song on my 8-string ukulele.

I made the trek to San Francisco via BART and bus as I’d done almost every Sunday with my ukulele, backpack and even a Hawaiian maraca my son had gotten me for Mom’s Day. I had made plans to meet up with various grown children later in the day – but meanwhile I was on a mission to play my ukulele with the San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion folks. We played ukuleles at a coffee shop every other Sunday for a couple of hours and on the other Sundays we met at various locations around San Francisco – at Golden Gate Park, out near the beach and this time Battery Crosby. I’d never been to Battery Crosby, so I met Dean at his flat in the upper Haight and we rode past Baker’s Beach and up the hill and parked. Then we walked down a short path with the entire Golden Gate stretched out before us – bits of fog rolling in past the Golden Gate Bridge and the brown rolling Marin Headlands across the Bay – Baker’s beach stretched out to the left of us. I knew that beach well – I used to walk down there with my dog daily as a teenager.

The trails to the batteries and the bluffs, cement structures built before World War II to defend the west coast, have recently been added. We were aware of the ocean just on the other side of the wall, but we had our own little amphitheatre and all we needed were ukuleles. This makeshift amphitheatre was built with the intention of housing artillery and defending the west coast – yet we had transformed it into a beautiful, peaceful place by playing our ukuleles.

We played and sang for at least a couple of hours. A family with the bouncy little girl stood above looking down and applauded every time we finished a song. The rest of our gang had wandered off to check out the beautiful view from way up on the bluff above us, but I’d stayed behind to sing a couple more songs – just for that little girl who loved the music so much.

“Play another!” the young girl said. My friends had all left, but how could I resist. Of course I had to.

So I strummed my ukulele and started with the intro to the Beatles song, “She Loves You.” Even my little grandson loves that song, often running around the house singing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” I figured this little girl and her little brother would dig it. The beginning riff of the song sounded eternally beautiful as it echoed throughout the makeshift cement battery.

“She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah!” I sang, switched from the E minor chord to the A 7, “She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” I could hear her tiny voice echo me as I sang.  She looked down with those big eyes of hers, swayed to the music and smiled as she sang along.

And suddenly, I couldn’t sing anymore, the words simply would not come out I remembered.

I fell in love with my life one Sunday in February.  The year was 1964, and I was not quite seven years old when the Beatles arrived right into our flat on Second Avenue in San Francisco.

I remember my Mom getting all excited about the Ed Sullivan Show - something about the Beatles?  All of us kids, me, my little brother Michael and little sister Jennifer, sat in our pajamas in the wood paneled den of the old Victorian railroad flat we lived in, watching the big screen black and white TV and waiting.

"Kids, what you're going to see is history." said my Mom excitedly, "Nothing will ever be the same after tonight."  She paced back and forth, sat down and then got up again.

And, it never was the same again.

For that night the Beatles arrived right there in our den on Second Avenue in San Francisco – four guys with weird bowl haircuts (at least that's what they looked like to us) played music that would change the world. 

As they started to play, my mother, beautiful and so young looking and dramatic, like an overgrown kid, gasped and yelled and clapped.  "Oh, look kids....  It's THEM....  IT'S THE BEATLES.....  AAAAHHHH....

They had arrived.

I was fascinated, and found myself tapping and swaying to the music right along with my Mom, getting caught up in the spell of the Beatles, John, Paul, George and Ringo.  And before it was over, my mother and I held each other and swayed to the music, singing, practically yelling, "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah..." over and over again while my brother and sister stared at us, their mouths wide open in wonder.

I don't remember having anything in common with my Mother until that night.  We were hooked.  By the time I was seven, I knew every Beatles song by heart.  We screamed whenever the Beatles showed up on TV.  We screamed when the Beatles were mentioned on the radio.  We sang along with all the Beatles songs and listened to Beatles records over and over again.  We woke up with the Beatles and slept with the Beatles.  I kissed my Beatles dolls that sat on my dresser, each of them, every night. 

Mom passed away 15 years ago, after John Lennon and before George.  I surround myself with the Beatles to this day, passing their music down to my kids and my grandson, their pictures intermingled with family photos wherever I am, their music always close by, and whenever I play or hear a Beatles song, I fall in love with my life all over again.

Some of my ukulele rebellion friends sang for me, their voices echoing from above as I strummed the chords on my ukulele choked up, unable to sing, feeling the salty cool air against my face as I remembered.

THE LETTER 2013!

The Ukulele Spirit Transcends Generations

Most of us here know that the ukulele scene is here to stay. I truly believe in my heart that it is. Just like the Beatles transcend generations. They're wildly popular among the younger set which both amazes and thrills me.

But yesterday there were these proud "Grandma" moments that will forever remain in my heart when my little grandson Baby Jeremiah took the stage. I believe that by next year at this time he'll also be playing the ukulele...I REALLY believe it. if you could all see how delighted he is whenever I get the ukulele out -- he's loved listening to people play the ukulele since he was a tiny baby -- in fact, I remember when my son and I watched him as a baby and the ONLY thing that would keep him from screaming was when I played and sang the Hukilau song on the Ukulele -- for some reason he just loved that 'huki huki huki" part and he would suddenly be quiet. then it was all about the Beatles and she loves you yeah, yeah yeah. I had to play it for him over and over again until he got it. NOW I understand why he kept yelling, "Play she loves you again!" he wanted to get it, really get it...

ANYWAY, my faith is renewed in knowing that our wonderful ukulele jams and sing-alongs will also transcend generations as we pass the spirit down to our kids and our grandkids... we won't allow them to forget how wonderful it is and magical -- and how all of us can get together and play and sing... Like the San Francisco Folk Music Group which has prevailed for over 50 years and still goes on...the songs passed down through the generations.... the younger crowd will find their own music, but they'll also embrace ours -- and make it part of theirs.

I didn't realize what an impact this all had until yesterday afternoon at Marty's annual Christmas Ukulele party -- and how this entire time Baby Jeremiah has been listening, truly listening... all I did was sing Jingle Bells to him a few times until he could sing a long...

who knew he would hit the stage with it? I didn't either!!! Seriously, I had no idea that would happen yesterday. these are moments to be treasured forever. I'm glad a couple of people got a bit of it on video -- we didn't even have a chance to get the camera out. and here it is, that epic, completely spontaneous unexpected performance...it's only a minute long, just a snippet of time...check it out:

Baby Jeremiah steals the show!

See you tonight at Dana St. -- I'll be there!