Ultimate Tribute to Davy Jones...

At first, when I got to work on Wednesday, February 29th, the "leap year" day, I was super excited because I had just managed to win two tickets to the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion concert at the Greek Theater on June 1st! It's not easy to be caller number 103 on the radio, especially when you're in bad traffic and you just randomly push a button and hope that a cop doesn't catch you messing with your cell phone and give you a ticket. What really blew me away was the I won as the radio station began playing John Lennon's, "Imagine" on the radio. It almost seemed surreal when Don Blue said I won!

So yes, I was flying high when I got to work that morning and even shared the good news with all my friends on Facebook. But then the news came...the sad news..

Davy Jones has passed away. THE Davy Jones from the Monkees, THE Davy Jones who was the original Artful Dodger in the Broadway hit Oliver! back in the 1960's...THE Davy Jones whom I had seen perform with Peter and Micky just last July -- the Monkees concert at the Saratoga Winery. And what a fabulous show it was. What girl didn't have a crush on Davy Jones, even the die-hard Beatles fans like me (who knew the Beatles ruled but still watched The Monkees on TV).

Suddenly I went from being excited to sadness as a whole bunch of us remembered Davy Jones on Facebook...and beyond. What could I possibly do to pay tribute to the great Davy Jones? What could all of us do?

Then it hit me -- so I contacted my good friend Steve and told him we just HAD to lead the song "Daydream Believer" at the Second Monday night ukulele jam. He agreed of course. And I knew it would work out with Steve helping out because he's a mega ukulele player who can play anything on ANY instrument! 

Annette, Bob and the gang play another song earlier in the evening...

I let our fearless leader Dave F. know that I was going to bring in like 50 copies of Daydream Believer to share with everyone and that we would lead the song -- perhaps right before the break or right after. Dave said "okay" but said he had his reservations. Why? Because he thought the song would be too hard for many people at Dana St. Roasting who go every month to play -- it was not a three chord song and it was in the key of G. I talked him into it -- "It's for Davy Jones!" I emailed back. "We must do it."

And so at the UCSV Dana St. Roasting Second Monday night jam, we all paid tribute to Davy Jones in the most stellar way EVER!!!

Check out The Ultimate Tribute to Davy Jones!!! (<---click here!)

This is what the Ukulele Club of Silicon Valley as well as the ukulele spirit is ALL about!

AFTER NOTE: on November 11, 2012, I saw the remaining three Monkees, Peter, Micky and Mike Nesmith, perform at the Flint Center. They said they couldn't decide who should do "Daydream Believer" because it was Davy's song...in the end, they "gave" the song to the all of us, the audience...I like to think that on March 12, 2012, we all did the same thing...we all sang and played Daydream Believer together...

Ukuleles, Music and the Return of a Wayward Soul!

Albert and Steve my FABULOUS music playin' friends!

The Amigos are BACK! me with Steve and Albert at the South Bay Acoustic jam in Campbell (March 3, 2012)

It had been almost a year since I'd seen my friend Steve Lussie -- the three of us, me, Steve and Albert were virtually unseparable at the Reno Ukulele Festival in 2011. I drove up there by myself from the bay area in my little Honda Civic Coupe and literally got stuck in the snow in the Sierra Nevadas! I had to turn around in Colfax due to shut down roads and spend the night at my Dad's in Placerville and I was a whole day late for the Reno Ukulele Festival -- missing most of the workshops for Saturday and the big Friday night show.

STUCK IN THE SNOW -- HEADING FOR RENO UKULELE FESTIVAL 2011!!!!

Me and Dad (I was supposed to already be in Reno at the Uke Festival in 2011!)

I was so sad when I finally arrived, and I must have looked down trodden because my friend Albert immediately took me under his wing -- and took my picture with Jim Deville and Daniel Ho! Then he introduced me to his new buddy Steve. We got stuck in a rain storm

Me with Jim DeVille -- who gets excited about songs with only 2 or 3 chords!

me with Daniel Ho -- thanks Albert! :) I already felt better even though I missed the workshops that day!

As it turned out, another major snow storm hit and EVERYONE (or almost everyone except those who left early) was pretty much stranded at Johnny Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, Nevada. So what did we do? We all walked around with ukuleles and jammed -- we jammed in the swimming pool area, we jammed in empty rooms we found, we jammed at the restaurant where we ate most of our meals, we jammed at the Starbucks and out in the lobby...! it was ukulele craziness with Albert and Steve and the gang! and I will never forget it!

Me and my new-found Ukulele Playing friend (aka Truck Driver) Steve!

So, we finally parted ways and went back to our regular lives, whatever that would be. I heard from Steve sporadically on Facebook throughout the year. Steve had asked me about Burning Uke 9 at Plasket Creek Park in Big Sur and I gave him all the necessary info -- and had even hoped perhaps I'd see him there in September 2011. Albert made it, but no Steve...didn't hear from him again for several months until he reappeared in the SF Bay Area at the beginning of March 2012! I first saw Steve and Albert -- the three of us amigos (and AMIGA, hehee!) together once again at the South Bay Acoustic jam in Campbell! Steve and I attended the San Francisco Ukulele Rebellion meeting the next day -- I hadn't been in ages and forgot how much I loved that jam and group of people. Because I had just moved over to Union City, I found myself close to the BART station which made it easy to get to the jam. this past year, we've had many interesting ukulele and music adventures...and I'm grateful for that....

Ukulele Club of Silicon Valley Anniversary!

Today we celebrated the second anniversary of the Ukulele Club of Silicon Valley -- my FAVORITE uke group ever -- and also the first one I encountered...stumbling upon these fabulous people literally changed my life in July 2010 and things would never be the same again. It began when my friend Mike gave me a ukulele...a baritone ukulele which he tuned like a tenor uke with special strings so that I could learn ukulele chords. At first I wasn't happy. I knew guitar chords, but I did not know ukulele chords, and, I argued, I am not a real musician. But I downloaded chords and figured out a few things. A couple of months later, when I happened to be at Dana St. Roasting, my long-time FAVORITE coffee shop, I saw a sign that said, "Ukulele Singalong Jam, Second Monday Night!" Wow, in all the years I'd been going to this coffee shop, I'd never seen a sign like that and what perfect timing. So I figured I'd bring my ukulele which was new to me...and play along with a few folks. Never in a million years did I expect to see well over 75 people crammed into my favorite coffee shop brandishing ukuleles! Is this for real, I thought? People stood outside with ukuleles...peered in through open windows on that warm July night -- and the place was packed. A big friendly guy named Dave passed out ukuleles to people walking by. "Do you need a loaner uke?" he shouted and just randomly handed someone a colorful ukulele.

I managed to squeeze into a spot next to a couple of uke playing chicks. They had printed out song sheets and said I could look on with them. This I was familiar with from all the guitar classes -- and I used to play folk guitar a lot back in the day in San Francisco. But this -- all these people playing ukuleles together and singing, over 75 of them -- brought me back to the days of growing up in San Francisco where music was all around and everywhere -- where it wasn't unusual to find people sitting around with guitars...everything singing and playing music together. This is what life is supposed to be about. We played for over two hours. Dave taught a beginning workshop where everyone learned four chords in 30 minutes and I was instantly HOOKED! I started helping out and I never miss the second Monday night gatherings at Dana St. Roasting where month after month, year after year, at least 75 people convene to play music together.

I didn't realize at the time that the whole ukulele "culture" had gone nuts -- that the Santa Cruz Ukulele Club was probably the largest group of ukulele players in the United States and that 100 people jam on the beach every Saturday morn rain or shine in Santa Cruz. I wanted to be there and I did show up... all this from finding the Ukulele Club of Silicon Valley. Now I play everywhere from Sacramento to San Francisco and Santa Cruz and beyond...

Today we celebrated the second anniversary of the Ukulele Club of Silicon Valley -- I was off work because of Martin Luther King day. I normally don't make it to the Monday morning jams Dave holds at his house because of work...but no way would I miss this special event! I love these people -- and all of our lives are forever altered...

Ukulele Playing into 2012!

Stu and the Gang leading the monthly Uke Jam on Jan. 7, 2012!!!

Just when I thought I'd been through enough changes in my life and things have really settled down, just when I feel that I've found my "home" at the Linden Arms Apartments in Sunnyvale, a trip to Sacramento to visit my son and his little family reminds me that nothing in life ever remains the same -- that change is inevitable. On Saturday, January 7th, 2012, I found my happy place with Stu Herreid and the fabulous Uke University gang near Sacramento -- whom I'd grown fond of. I had found them a year earlier because I found myself visiting Sacramento and the area often and my grandson arrived in July 2011 -- he was born in Sacramento. My whole family had spent Christmas there as well.

They also use the Santa Cruz Ukulele songbooks, the ones I was very familiar with and everyone was so warm and inviting.

In August 2011, we had an impromptu Beatles ukulele jam at Fair Oaks Park where the Uke University gang had a picnic the month before. 

So it seemed fitting to begin the year with the Sacramento Uke folks...they were about to embark on big changes too because a couple of months after this, Stu opened "The Strum Shop" in Roseville! I moved out of the Linden Arms Apts. in Sunnyvale and to the house on the hill in Union City with my son, my grandson Baby Jeremiah and Mama Jen -- and life was to change for all of us in major ways.

But on this day all we could think about was jamming and having fun -- strumming our ukuleles and singing our hearts out! I remember having lunch with Stu and his family -- his wife and daughter Dani and Gary -- and then there was a workshop with "The Dominator" that afternoon...and awesome day.

It was my first ukulele jam of 2012!!!