What a great turnout we had for this jam all about Summer songs! We were honored to be in the company of our lighthearted and eager fellow uke members such as Olivia (a true Hawaiian hula dancer who greeted everyone with a sweet "Aloha"), Tim, Eric, Betty, Frank, Suzanne, John, Susanne, Dan & Jeannie, Anne, PJ, Ken, WendySue, Rochelle & Arty, Larry, Jack, Ting, Arlene, Louise & Jesse, and finally Bill, who walked in carrying a large black suitcase which had everyone guessing its contents.

First, we listened to Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" uke duet played by Will and Ali on YouTube. Then, we got to hear from our devoted club members who attended the Ashoken Uke Fest on Memorial Day weekend. Louise, Dan, Larry & Jack had a great time jamming all night long, and some even fearlessly got up on stage in front of a large crowd of people to perform. Dan performed "You're Sixteen" and Louise courageously played a song written by Jake Shimabukuro. Larry spoke to one of the instructors, Heidi Swedberg, who is infamously known as Susan who played George Costanza's fiance on Seinfeld! She was warm, friendly and accepting as most people were at Ashoken. It was a grand time had by all!

Now for the songs of the night:

1. IN THE SUMMERTIME by Mungo Jerry (Jen)

This was my request, and I was afraid it wouldn't go well until I heard a loud booming sound coming from, you guessed it, Bill's big black suitcase! He played the percussion, Boom Ba Boom Ba, and made it a hit! What a great start for the night, and he even pulled out some chocolate chip cookies for the group to share. What else was in that suitcase, Bill? A rabbit? A white dove? I could see us as subway musicians playing at Penn Station or Grand Central with a crowd of people feeling the beat as they hurry on by.

2. SUNNY AFTERNOON by the Kinks (Ken)

What a nice song to play with a riff sounding like "These Boots are Made for Walking." There's also a walkdown from Dm7 to Dm6 which sounds great. Good chord sheet by San Jose Uke Club.

3. ITSY BITSY YELLOW POLKA-DOT BIKINI (Betty)

Dan led us through the song and we all did the Cha-Cha-Cha at the end together! I now have an earworm from the line, "2,3,4 Tell the people what she wore.."

4. GOOD DAY SUNSHINE by the Beatles (Arlene)

This song had fast changing chords and a strange ending: G7, G#7, A7. Always a good choice, thanks, Arlene!

5. IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME 1920's (Arlene)

We played a slow version in waltz time and it was so much fun we played it twice.

6. A SUMMER SONG by Chad & Jeremy (Arlene)

Once Arlene started singing, I knew the song. It has a four chord progression: [C] [Em7] [F] [G7] and pretty lyrics. Nice melody!

7. SUMMERTIME BLUES by Eddie Cochran (Arlene)

We attempted to play this at one of our previous jams and it was a bit all over the place. We played it slow and it was much better than last time.

8. THOSE LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER (Arlene)

Arlene led us through this song with tenacity and skill. I like the lyrics, "Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies then lock the house up now you’re set." Those were the days, I remember family trips to the beach, and enjoying "soda, pretzels and beer."

9. SHAMBALA by Three Dog Night (Susanne)

The only song I know from Three Dog Night is "Jeramiah Had a Bullfrog." What a delightful song this was! Dan took it away, and we all sang the OOO Yeah yeah. Bill said we sounded like "Werewolves in London." Thanks, Bill.

10. SUMMER BREEZE by Seals and Crofts (PJ)

Ahh, this was the refreshing sound of summer, especially the chorus, "Blowin through the jasmine in my mind." Nice pick, PJ!

11. SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDERS by John Denver (Susanne)

Beautiful song! I can remember being home sick when I was a kid and watching PBS teaching this song in sign language.

12. SUMMER NIGHTS (Dan) from the musical Grease

Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, its best-known version was recorded by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. We got the chord sheet from a Netherlands uke club and we learned a little Dutch. (Zwart means black, Mannen means men, Rood means red and Vrouwen means women). We all respectively

played and sang our parts and it was lots of fun! We must do this one again in the future. We got so carried away with this song that we overlooked Ken's pick "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer. We'll have to play that next session.

13. YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE (Vin)

Vin, we missed you! This was a nice and easy song to play. Nice chord sheet, Vin, thanks. Hope to see you at next jam.

14. SUMMERTIME (Jack)

This song was composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. We had time to spare so Jack suggested Lena Horne's version of this song. It was played well. Great suggestion, Jack!

15. KODACHROME by Paul Simon (Louise)

"They give us the greens of summer...Mama don't take my Kodachrome away!" Genius! We should do another Simon and Garfunkel night. Nice one, Louise!

16. PEACEFUL EASY FEELING by the Eagles (Me)

Not quite a summer song, but I love the first verse and the chorus. We played it well.

Next jam session is Hawaiian songs so as Ken said, get your grass skirts, coconuts and Hawaiian shirts ready! See you all in 2 weeks!

Cheers,

-- Jen.