Morristown Uke Jam

Here's a link to the songbook: [TBD - NOT READY YET] This month we'll be meeting on May 1st... "May Day". So... we MAY have a jam. MIGHT even have fun. COULD be lots of music there; PERHAPS there will be! I'm guessing MAYBE this will be our most INDECISIVE theme yet! So bring all of your UNCERTAINTIES with you, and COME OUT AND PLAY! We’ll follow our usual agenda, with a playalong to the new MAY SONGBOOK (linked above) followed by a round-robin style jam. Bring a song to play for us or lead us in playing with you, your choice. We promise to be a generous and encouraging audience. Bonus points for following the “May” theme, but as always YOU call the shots when you’re up. Any song you want to bring will be highly celebrated. Have fun prepping or DON’T prep at all, but COME OUT AND PLAY!!! I encourage you to arrive hungry and thirsty and to generously patronize the Creamery, which has a full menu of food and drink. I’ll arrive at least 30 minutes early to have dinner and to assist anyone who’d like some help on the songs for the night. Tentative MAY SONGBOOK songs: - El Condor Pasa (IF I COULD - Simon & Garfunkel) - IF You COULD Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot) - Maggie MAY (Rod Stewart) - MAY It Be (Enya - from "The Fellowship Of The Ring"] - MAYBE (Ingrid Michaelson) - MAYBE Baby (Buddy Holly) - MIGHT As Well Dance (Jason Mraz) - PERHAPS Love (John Denver) - You MAY Be Right (Billy Joel) - You MIGHT Think (The Cars)[WARNING: Until the songbook is published there will be some uncertainty about the song list. Changes MAY occur!]

Here’s a traditional MUJ event... that is pretty untraditional. The first weekend of May is approaching (as it does most years), so it must be time for us to celebrate Somethin’ de Mayo! For those of us gringos that can't count to cinco in Spanish, the event is roughly translated "Something with mayo". Cinco de Mayo (the Mexican-American holiday) is of course on Sunday; so what exactly is Somethin’ de Mayo? It’s a chance for me to celebrate the fact that I once lived in (New) Mexico; and I love the sound of Latin music (even if I don't understand the words); and gosh, do I also like to eat and drink. So bring your favorite uke, your fanciest sombrero and extra copies of songs that either have a few SPANISH words in them, or are somehow FOOD-related. (Songs about SPANISH FOOD will of course win the day. And NO, of course I WASN'T kidding about the sombrero!) CULTURAL APPROPRIATION DISCLAIMERS: • Will we be enjoying the food, drink and music of a culture we weren’t born to? YES. And we’ll definitely be doing it inauthentically. And with a great deal of appreciation for the creative folks who invented it. • If you’re actually Mexican; or at least you took Spanish in school; will we be open to learning the real stuff? YES! Yes, yes, and again strongly YES!!! Anything you bring (especially Spanish songs) will be highly celebrated! • For the rest of you, if you bring a song sheet for “I can si clearly now” and tell us that’s all the Spanish you know, we’ll just play along. And of course you can opt out of the Spanish route and bring food or drink songs as well. SO HOW DO WE DO THIS? • Start by coming to my house. Yup, Casa Marco, in Denville; last house on the left before you drive into the river. PLEASE TAKE NOTE: I'm trying to be a good neighbor regarding the cars; feel free to pack my driveway if you'll be staying awhile, but if you need to park on the road please stretch out a bit and try to avoid blocking my next-door-neighbor's house or driveways. (Thanks!) • The plan is music, chat, music, food, music, drinks, music, maybe fall in the river, more music. • At about 4 pm I’ll have a dinner of chicken tortilla soup, empanadas and sangria. • NO OBLIGATIONS - just come if you can. But if you’d like to contribute eatables or drinkables, I’d encourage any of the following: - Snacks of any kind - Drinks of any kind - Desserts of any kind - Bonus points if you (even remotely) follow the Mexican / Spanish theme • Feel free to come an hour or two early. (Really, do.) But be warned: I’m likely to make you work in the kitchen. Or play music. Or maybe play music in the kitchen while I work there. THINGS TO BRING: - ukulele - friend (must be willing to sing or clap; ukulele experience a bonus) - sombrero if you have one - music to share for playalongs or to play for us (Spanish, Spanglish, food or drinking songs) - media devices (tablets) to access my wifi, so that everybody with a tablet has access to our entire library of songs - music stand; or possibly a desk-music stand (the kind you might use in the Creamery), since we'll probably end up outside and I have some deck tables we could play at - eatables or drinkables to share (if you want) That’s it! Now COME OUT AND PLAY!!!

Here's a link to the songbook: [TBD - NOT READY YET] Okay, this is gonna be a GOOD month. I promise - the songs will be GREAT, the music will be WONDERFUL, the people will be HIGH CLASS and even the weather will be FINE. We’ll follow our usual agenda, with a playalong to the new GOOD SONGBOOK (linked above) followed by a round-robin style jam. Bring a song to play for us or lead us in playing with you, your choice. We promise to be a generous and encouraging audience. Bonus points for following the “Good” theme, but as always YOU call the shots when you’re up. Any song you want to bring will be highly celebrated. Have fun prepping or DON’T prep at all, but COME OUT AND PLAY!!! I encourage you to arrive hungry and thirsty and to generously patronize the Creamery, which has a full menu of food and drink. I’ll arrive at least 30 minutes early to have dinner and to assist anyone who’d like some help on the songs for the night. Tentative GOOD SONGBOOK songs: - Feeling GOOD (Nina Simone, Michael Buble) - FINE By Me (Andy Grammer) - GOOD Lovin' (The Young Rascals) - GOOD To Be Alive (Hallelujah - Andy Grammer) - HIGH CLASS (Eric Paslay) - I Got You (I feel GOOD - James Brown) - I'm Into Something GOOD (Herman's Hermits) - It's A GREAT Day To Be Alive (Travis Tritt) - What A WONDERFUL World (Louis Armstrong) - Wouldn't It Be NICE (The Beach Boys) [WARNING: Until the songbook is published there will be some uncertainty about the song list. GOOD changes could be made!]

Here's a link to the songbook: [TBD - NOT READY YET] It's gonna be BAD. I figure I should warn you, it's really NO GOOD. With all the EVIL this month there's bound to be TROUBLE. We’ll follow our usual agenda, with a playalong to the new BAD SONGBOOK (linked above) followed by a round-robin style jam. Bring a song to play for us or lead us in playing with you, your choice. We promise to be a generous and encouraging audience. Bonus points for following the “Bad” theme, but as always YOU call the shots when you’re up. Any song you want to bring will be highly celebrated. Have fun prepping or DON’T prep at all, but COME OUT AND PLAY!!! I encourage you to arrive hungry and thirsty and to generously patronize the Creamery, which has a full menu of food and drink. I’ll arrive at least 30 minutes early to have dinner and to assist anyone who’d like some help on the songs for the night. Tentative BAD SONGBOOK songs: - BAD Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor - Robert Palmer) - BAD Habit (Danielle Ate The Sandwich) - BADlands (Bruce Springsteen) - Big BAD World (Plain White T's) - CRUEL To Be Kind (Nick Lowe) - EVIL Ways (Santana) - RUDE (MAGIC!) - TROUBLE (Pink) - You Give Love A BAD Name (Bon Jovi) - You're NO GOOD (Linda Ronstadt) [WARNING: Until the songbook is published there will be some uncertainty about the song list. All I'm really promising is that the songs will be BAD!]