We had a new player, Fran, only playing for a couple of weeks. With her C and G7 chords, she could immediately play "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

This was the way I learned chords on the piano. I'd look for easy songs with 2 or 3 chords and mess with them. Each time I could play a new song, it was joyous. If there was a song I liked and it had an unfamiliar chord, I'd try to learn it, thus building up the number of chords I knew. It's a satisfying way to go about it, especially for a middle-aged man with no patience. It's how I'm learning the ukulele.

Arlene returned for her second jam and promises to practice one we did the last time -- "Ruby Tuesday". To Fran and Arlene: stick with it! Keep coming back. The Club is a non-threatening bunch and not especially judgmental (unless you're wearing white after Labor Day.)

Jen came in with a used (but perfect) concert uke to replace her malfunctioning instrument. Ever the bargain shopper, she got a $200 KPK all-solid acacia ukulele for $125 from the Ukulele Underground user forum marketplace. It has a nice feel and sound.

We had eleven players, and the night's theme was Colors of Music. Here's what we played:

1. Black Velvet Band (Irish Rovers) - This was a holdover from Irish night.

2. Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins) - Most of us know this as an Elvis song. It was easy and sounded fine.

3. 99 Red Balloons (Nena) - Very simple chords (G Am C D7), never varying. If we were serious-minded we'd learn the lyrics in German. Ken should assign this as homework.

4. Blue Moon (Marcels) - This is a Rodgers and Hart song from 1934, but I know the 1961 doo-wop hit, a much faster version. We did a mix of the two styles.

5. Brown-Eyed Girl (Van Morrison) - This was Nathan's pick and really fun group song.

6. Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond) - A nice, easy one for the ukulele. (Vin's pick.) I broke my kazoo on this song, perhaps humming too hard. Let this be a lesson to all us frenzied ukesters to curb our enthusiasm.

7. True Colors (Cyndi Lauper) - No one but Ken seemed to know the verses, but we all joined in on the chorus.

8. True Love (P!nk) - This was Nathan's handout but since this song is somewhat recent, all the non-Millennial Gen's were in the dark. Ken and Jen attempted to sing it while Nathan played but really didn't know how the song went. Suzala was aghast that some of lyrics were a bit risque.

9. Red Rubber Ball (Cyrkle) - We rushed through this (Suzala's pick), a fabulous AM radio hit from 1966, written by Paul Simon.

10. Whiter Shade of Pale (Procul Harum) - In my opinion, this was the hit of the evening. If we only had a church organ to go along with our ukuleles for the immediately recognizable introduction. It wasn't the easiest to play, though there weren't any crazy chords. It's a gem from 1967 psychedelic England and deserves another attempt at our next session.

Friday, Sept. 26 will be Part Two of our Colors theme since we had so much material and an abbreviated jam.

-- Dan.