Someone once said that without change, there would be no butterflies.

It is with gratitude for our last nine months together and excitement for the bright future that lies ahead that we announce that our Aloha Strum kanikapila is leaving the Dana Point Yacht Club.

This coming Wednesday, September 17, will be the last night that we will hold our kanikapila at the club. We sincerely hope for a huge turnout on Wednesday to send ourselves off in style. Meanwhile, the search for a new Aloha Strum venue has already begun.

The Dana Point Yacht Club, through its Commodore, Dave Griffin and its many gracious members has been very generous in sharing its venue with us. At best, it was a break-even proposition for the yacht club and on some weeks the club actually lost money by having us there. That is because revenues from food and beverage sales to our group did not offset the yacht club’s expenses for bartenders, servers, linens, and cleaning crews. But still the yacht club stuck with us for many months. However, as demands from other companies and individuals for paid rentals of the banquet room increased, it became more and more difficult for the club to justify holding it open for us.

We should tell you that the yacht club did offer us the option of remaining in the room if we were willing to collect from our attendees a cover charge. It was a fair and reasonable offer on their part. However, we declined because collection of an attendance fee is not consistent with our philosophy, which is that playing ukulele and singing should be free. Every organization has its own culture. Ours may seem a bit hair-brained to some but it’s what works for us. We also feel that it best reflects the spirit of the lovely music that we enjoy so much.

Okay, so here is where we stand: This coming Wednesday, let’s all turn out in great force to see each other, to say good-bye to our home of the past year, and to show our appreciation for the many wonderful times we’ve had there. Going forward, we have not secured a venue yet for upcoming meetings and so we will not schedule another Aloha Strum kanikapila until we have identified our new home. We do have some ideas and we already have made initial contacts. However, we are more than open to any suggestions you may have, especially if you should happen to have an “in” with someone at a potentially suitable venue.

We aren’t going to go all maudlin on you right now and say our good-byes and thank-you’s (of which we would have many to express). That is because we do fully expect that we will all be together again soon at wonderful new location. Presumably, we will all then emerge as newly-minted butterflies, gleaming, happy, and excited to move forward to a bright, musical future.

Please - if you can make it - do come this Wednesday. Palika, Kim, John, Stella, and I would love to see you there for a happy evening of fun, music, and friendship. And, to everyone, whether you can come this Wednesday or not, please keep-up with us at meetup.com/alohastrum and on Facebook. We promise to keep you up to date at both sites with the latest developments.

Mahalo nui to all and a hui hou,

David (on behalf of the whole gang)