Dan must have been out looking for a protest to participate in rather than sing about it so I (Arlene) offered to fill in for him. We hope all is well and that you found something more fun to do. Tonight we welcomed 2 new strummers to the table: My friend Bonnie (who I seem to have inspired and quickly learned 5 or 6 chords in under 2 weeks) and Les. Also joining in the fun was Jim (who also brought a very nice banjolele), Tom and his brother John, Tom and his daughter Cris, Keith, Suzala, Vin, Dave (also brought his new maple banjolele as well as a jaw harp) and his father Frank, Wendysue, Ken, Jen and One and a Half Strings (Chris and Nathan). Suzala mentioned that our lease for the room is coming up for renewal.

I think we started off with a pick from Jim "For What It's Worth" by Steven Stills. Jim suggested that we play this song simply by alternating between C and F. We went on to a very nice round of Wendysue's suggestion of "If I Had A Hammer" by Pete Seeger. This version is in the style of Peter, Paul and Mary. Ken mentioned that there is another version on our club website that is more original to Pete Seeger.

Dave selected "Eve of Destruction" made famous by Barry McGuire and was led by Jim who did a fantastic job of both singing and playing. From there we stumbled badly through the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." After a bit John said "we gotta get out of this song." And so we did! From there we did a pick from Joe, The Kingston Trio's "Charlie and the MTA" which Chris informed us had many more verses than what we saw. It was a fun one.

Next we moved on to Wendysue's suggestion, "Imagine" by the Beatles. I imagine we would have been better if we stayed with it a bit more but we moved on to an idea from Dan, "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding" by Elvis Costello. The only thing funny with this was, without Dan we were lost. No one knew it. But boy did we ever have fun with Vin's choice of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." We struggled through the verses but sang the chorus with gay abandon! Vin also suggested a funny uke video featuring this song. We watched a little bit of this and then Ken proceeded to imitate this slower kinder gentler version. Somehow this then spontaneously morphed into an operatic version sung by Cris and Jen.

Moving on, Chris suggested Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and then another from Wendysue: "I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag" by Country Joe and the Fish. Only Jim and John knew that one so Wendysue danced and clapped. I saw Jen clapping too and Dave played the jaw harp. Yet another from Wendysue as well as myself, "Give Peace a Chance." Easy enough chords but was very hard to do. Let's put it to rest as I quote Jim: "John Lennon just turned over!"

And "Revolution," shaking my head, just fell apart. Next up was my choice of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing." I guess it was OK. " But my next idea was not. The Rascals' "People Got To Be Free" fell to pieces quickly. Our last attempt to 'protest' was the Young Bloods' "Get Together" provided by Wendysue. What can I say? We had a bit of trouble with the verses but we belted the heck out of the chorus. And then we gave up protesting for the evening.

Moving on to memories of more successful songs we played Blue Hawaii (I'm with Gloria on this one I love it), rocked it out with Sam The Sham's "Woolly Bully" and gave ourselves an applause after Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound." Next up was Bad Moon Rising by John Fogarty, "Carolina in the Morning", "Peggy Sue", ending on a high note with "Eight Days a Week."

Our next jam theme will be "Animals." The next 3 meeting dates are May 8, 22 and 29. Strum On! How'd I do Dan?

-- Arlene.