Two new people, Christine and Sally, showed up tonight. I love that. Why isn't everyone on Long Island clamoring to join our fine organization? The annual dues are only 80 cents and our treasurer is lax in collecting it. The first 15 attendees at each session get a free car wash. Where are you gonna get a deal like that? Plus there's a singalong, and we're all learning a marketable skill: how to play the ukulele. The Plainview Library is a swinging joint every other Friday. Just ask WendySue, Vin, Ken, Jen, Dave, Frank, Arlene, Larry, John, Nathan and Bill, all of whom convened hours before the first blizzard of 2016 to play songs with GIRLS NAMES in the title.

Before we got into that, we paid tribute to our fallen brethren, David Bowie and Glenn Frey. We did The Man Who Sold the World, a song Vin introduced to the group maybe a year ago. We've done it several times since. What a cool song. So interesting.

Then we did Space Oddity. We attempted Hotel California as a tip of the hat to the Eagles' Glenn Frey, but some chords were in the wrong spots and we were derailed. We went on with the evening's theme.

1. Angie, Rolling Stones, 1973 (Tom)

2. Somewhere My Love (Lara's theme) from Dr. Zhivago, Ray Conniff Singers, 1966 (Ken)

3. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Elton John, 1972 (Ken)

4. Lady Madonna, Beatles, 1968 (Arlene)

5. Hello Mary Lou, Ricky Nelson, 1961 (Arlene)

6. Annie's Song, John Denver, 1974 (Arlene)

7. Help Me Rhonda, Beach Boys, 1965 (Arlene)

8. Diana, Paul Anka, 1957 (Arlene)

9. Lily the Pink, The Scaffold, 1968 (Arlene)

10. Denise, Randy and the Rainbows, 1963 (Dan)

11. Lola, Kinks, 1970 (Ken)

12. Ob La Di Ob La Da, Beatles, 1968 (Nathan)

13. Proud Mary, CCR, 1969, (Vin)

14. Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes, Edison Lighthouse, 1970 (Dan)

15. Eleanor Rigby, Beatles, 1966 (Lisa)

16. Georgy Girl, Seekers, 1966 (Lisa)

17. Amanda, Boston, 1986 (Lisa)

18. The Girl On the Magazine Cover, Irving Berlin, 1916 (Dave)

For the Elton John song, Ken played it and I sang a verse and the chorus. No one else seemed to know it, or not well enough to play and sing it.

The two songs which went the smoothest were Hello Mary Lou and Diana. Diana was one of those C Am F G7 songs. It's hard to make a mistake.

And now a word about Eleanor Rigby. It didn't sound good. We played it like this: (Em7) All the lonely (Em6) people. Where (C) do they all come (Em) from? I remembered playing that line as (Em A C Em). Therefore, substitute (A) for (Em6) and it'll sound good. (Em6) is a mistake, I thought. Why mess with sixths and sevenths anyway? It could be much simpler. Well, I was playing a plain (Em) for the (Em6), because I didn't learn (Em6) (which turns out to be an easy chord) and was possibly daydreaming while Ken went over a chord review.

I bet many of us were playing (Em) for the (Em6), and this led to our failure. I said to Vin that the (Em6) was wrong, but he thought it was correct. This gave me pause. I went home and found out the notes for the piano chords (Em6), and to my astonishment, it was right on target. Not only is it right, but it's subtle and beautiful. Leave it to McCartney, clever bloke that he is.

I still think (A) is a reasonable substitute for the (Em6) in this case, but I'm determined to start playing it the right way from now on.

For the next session, it's going to be BOYS NAMES. (Larry petitioned for folk songs, and so did John. We oughta do that soon.) The best title I ever heard with a boy's name in it is a little-known instrumental by Pink Floyd called "Careful With That Axe, Eugene".

-- Dan.