BLOGPALOOZA: THE FINAL POST! Sal Goes to Another Ukulele Singalong!

I am so glad to be wrapping up BLOGPALOOZA!  Sal and I have several things going on in the next few days, but I'm going to try hard not to get so far behind again.  Can't take the stress!  ;)

On Tuesday, July 8th, the performing group of the Cleveland Jumping Fleas did a Ukulele Singalong at Middleburg Heights Library.  I brought Sal along, but didn't get a shot of her.  We were all so busy before the show (getting the room set up and doing a bit of last-minute practice) and after the show (taking things down and chatting with adoring fans), that I neglected to photograph poor Sal.

As for the show... The audience was great!  There were 79 people there, and most were singing along and having lots of fun.  (A couple of preteens were obviously forced to come, but other than that, the fun seemed pretty universal.)  We received many favorable comments afterwards, so were feeling pretty good.  After the weeks of practice, and the nervousness some of us suffer when performances draw near, it was a huge relief to be finished with what turned out to be a pretty darned good show!

To celebrate our awesomeness, a bunch of us went to Perkins afterwards.  We talked about how the show went and about possibilities for the future.  I decided to take a Sal photo at the restaurant, but had left my camera in the car.  At this point in the evening, I didn't have enough energy to go out and get it, so I took a photo with my phone instead.

From left to right:  Nicole, Bruce, Holly, Emily Ann and Sal, Jeff, Lisa.

Can't end a show without credits, so thanks go to...
Jeff - Musical Director (as well as uke player, singer, and harmonica soloist)
Bruce, Nicole, Holly, Lisa, Thomas, Terrianne, me - Uke players, singers, and soloists on banjolele, train whistle, and kazoo
Emily Ann - Guest Performer
Anne - PowerPoint Slide Changer
Sal - Morale Booster

Sal Goes to a Ukulele Singalong!

How can I even begin to describe last night's events?  They were the culmination of many months of effort from a small band of ukers extraordinaire!  (New readers should refer to this post from way back in October and this post from a couple of weeks ago to get an idea of the effort that went into this humble evening.)  The whole experience has reinforced my belief that people can't possibly understand and appreciate the effort that goes into any endeavor -- unless those people undertake a similar endeavor themselves.  Any group that puts together a show and performs it has done soooo much more work than anybody who has never done such a thing can imagine.  Even if the performance isn't so polished, chances are the people on stage have devoted an untold amount of time, thought, work, and devotion to that show.  (My sincere apologies to those I drove crazy for months with my incessant talk about the Singalong preparations.  You know who you are!)  And now back to the story...

So, after countless hours of behind-the-scenes effort, the big day finally arrived!   About an hour before it was time to leave work and head to Fairview, I began to experience a growing sense of anxiety.  I believe stage fright would be the appropriate term for what I was suffering.  Luckily, Sal was there to distract me from this unpleasant feeling.  I couldn't spend all my time worrying about messing up big-time in front of a room full of people.  I had to think of how to get some pictures of Sal at the program!

In the end, poor Sal didn't get the attention she so richly deserves.  Since I was getting ready to play, then playing, and then accepting the congratulations of the dazzled-by-our-boffo-show audience (this last part might be a slight exaggeration), there was little opportunity to get Sal photos.  I am happy to be able to share a picture of our merry band of Cleveland Jumping Fleas in action, however, thanks to my sister who wielded the camera and got the following shot.  (She is not pictured in this post, but she was an invaluable part of the team last night.  She was the ultimate PowerPoint slide-changer!)

What a great group of people!  I am so glad those Portuguese sailors went to Hawaii and that Al Gore invented the internet (inside joke).

Quite a few family members and friends of the performers attended the program, including this very promising young ukulele player and his mom. 

This lovely lady -- who my son's friend was lucky enough to meet and marry -- brought her musical son to the program.  This young man has been teaching himself to play the ukulele by watching videos on YouTube -- and he is already playing some chords I can't do yet!  Here he is with my awesome banjolele.  His mom is holding Sal.  So glad they came to the program!  Several other friends came, too, but I was so distracted by chatting with them that I didn't think of asking them to pose with Sal.

Sooner than you can say "is it already time to go?" it was!  We packed up our stuff, loaded our cars, and started driving caravan-style to a local pizza place (which shall remain nameless).  Some of us had not had dinner and all of us were looking forward to a chance to talk about how the program went, etc.  The pizza place was supposed to close at 10:00 p.m., but when got there (at approximately 8:55), we found that they had closed early!  Now we were standing outside in the bone-chillingly cold night air, wondering what to do.  After some discussion, we decided to follow Jeff to a restaurant he knows, which is a few miles down the road.  We all got in our cars again and drove in the same caravan-style to find that this restaurant was also closed.  By now I'm pretty sure we all were tiring of this to-and-fro.  Across the street, the lights of a Steak and Shake were visible.  Despite the fact that this was not at all what we had in mind, we hastily traveled thither.  I, while wishing that the pizza place had been open, realized that all of this adversity would make Sal's post more interesting, so it was easier to accept. 

After a bit of a delay, we were seated and began talking about the show --  what we thought went well, what we would do differently next time, etc.  I brought Sal out of her case and, as the night went on, got some fun pictures of her.  The one picture I did not get was a picture of Sal with our server.  When I asked him if I could take a picture of him with Sal for this blog, he seemed horrified.  Personnel at Steak and Shake are not permitted to pose for photos at work!  I was surprised.  This was the first time I had asked someone to pose with Sal and been refused.  Normally people are very happy to get their photo taken with this adorable instrument. I am happy to report that my Flea chums were not so reticent!

Nicole ordered the best thing of all -- a delicious shake!  Yum!  (Uh-oh!  "I drink your milkshake" just popped into my mind.  If you're not familiar with this infamous line, check out the film "There Will Be Blood."  The milkshake speech is truly memorable.)

Sal with Nicole, Jeff, Holly, Bruce, and our extremely unhealthy meals.  Sorry Lisa and Lynn.  You were sitting at the wrong end of the table and I didn't get a shot of you.  Our server said he would take a picture of our group, and then disappeared, so we don't have a photo of the whole group enjoying our post-performance repast.

I'm not saying that anybody in our group is a ham, but...  ;)

After all the notes we scribbled on our music or attached with sticky notes and/or e-mailed back and forth, here is one last post-it...

Finally we all went home.  I am currently experiencing a bit of Singalong withdrawal.  Happily, we will probably be doing this program again in other venues.  There are some Cub Scouts who would like us to perform for them, and other libraries who are hoping for a visit from the Cleveland Jumping Fleas!

Sal Misses a Great Show

Poor Sal!  After being stuck in the house for weeks and weeks, she finally had a chance to go out and see a great show, and I forgot to take her!  Why?  Because my mind is awhirl with so many other things that in the rush to leave the house, Sal was left behind.

As is true for everyone, I've got a lot going on right now -- and one of those things is the upcoming Ukulele Singalong.  (See this post for details.)  We had our last scheduled rehearsal on Tuesday night, but some of us got together at my house on Friday afternoon to work out a few remaining kinks.  We had a productive practice, and then a couple of us started to talk... and talk... and talk.  Suddenly I had a feeling of unease... What time was it?  I glanced at the clock and uh-oh!  I should have been on the road already, and I had been planning to spiff up a bit -- which was obviously not going to happen!  The conversation came to an abrupt halt and my fellow uker beat a hasty retreat.  I ran upstairs to brush my teeth and put on some shoes, then rushed back downstairs, threw on my coat, and was out the door -- totally forgetting about Sal!

Now comes the worst part of the story.  I live on a street that is a very busy cut-through at certain times of the day -- like 5:30 -- which is when I got into the car and started backing down the driveway.  When the traffic light at the corner is red, the cars are sometimes lined up past my driveway, so as I got in the car I looked.  Lots of traffic, but no cars behind me.  I backed up to the sidewalk, and stopped to make sure nobody was coming from either direction.  Nobody was, so I pulled out of the driveway.  (I think you can probably see where I'm going with this.)  CRUNCH!  Now there was a car at the end of my driveway.  A car with a messed up door.  Nobody was injured, which is great, but sigh...  I'm not going to talk about the angst I have been going through since then, as I wonder why the heck I didn't see that car, but I am quite upset about it!  Of course the police had to come... yadda yadda yadda ... so I was even later than before! 

Skip ahead to the show!  My friend, my sister, and I went to NightTown to see Carrie Rodriguez and Luke Jacobs. Wow!  Since I am attempting to play violin again (more about that here) -- and have been reminded by the sounds I make how difficult that instrument is -- I was possibly more blown-away by the fiddling than your average bear.   Ms. Rodriguez is an amazing fiddler -- as well as an amazing singer -- and Luke Jacobs was no slouch, either!  Since the venue is so small, I had a good view of his hands as he played.  He made it look so easy...  (and I still have trouble with Bb on the uke -- argh!)  The two of them were truly wonderful to listen to and watch.  Again, I must say WOW!

After the show, I briefly told Ms. Rodriguez about Travels With Sal, and that I had neglected to bring my little ukulele to the show.  (No, I didn't tell her the whole saga!)  I asked if she would pose for a photo with Sal's card, and she very kindly did so.

A wonderful musician -- and a very nice person, too! 

I also purchased a poster at the show, and asked both of the evening's fabulous performers to sign it.  In the quiet moment while Luke Jacobs was writing, I told him that I am part of a ukulele group that will be playing at a library on Tuesday night, and that after seeing his show, I didn't know how I would have the nerve to get up on a stage.  He laughed and said "you have to do it!"  (He has never heard me play -- haha!) 

Sal Attends a Rehearsal

The weather has been truly frightful, which means that Sal has been staying home.  Who wants to go out when the threat of frostbite is in the air?  Plus, I have been so busy with other things that I haven't had a free moment to plan an outing with my little uke.  Poor Sal has been sadly neglected -- and so have her loyal readers -- so last night I took her to a rehearsal.  She didn't have to travel far, though, since the rehearsal took place in my living room!

If you are wondering who is rehearsing and what are they rehearsing for, read on!  A bunch of the Cleveland Jumping Fleas (including yours truly) will be performing at the Fairview Park Library on February 11th.  We'll be playing and singing a whole bunch of songs and, we hope, inspiring audience members to take up the ukulele.  We've been working on this program for a long time. (See this post from way back in October for the backstory).  If our rehearsals are any indication, it will be a fun evening!  And the best part -- for the audience anyway -- is that they will be singing, too.  The program is a Ukulele Singalong!

This fantastic group of Fleas has put in many hours preparing for the Singalong -- and, let's face it -- having a wonderful time playing, singing, and laughing together.  We started out thinking we'd have two rehearsals, but realized that would not be enough, so we kept adding more.  By the time the Singalong date rolls around, we will have had nine practices -- six of them in January!  (No wonder I haven't had time to take Sal traveling this month!)

Customarily we practice in meeting rooms at various library branches around town, and last night we planned to meet at Fairview Library.  Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for the library staff), the library was closed because of subzero temperatures.  A flurry (or barrage, as one of our merry band calls it) of e-mails ensued, with the result that everybody came to my house to practice.  It was a pretty tight squeeze, but we had a great time -- and we didn't have to stop practicing at 8:45 p.m. in order to vacate the meeting room by closing time!  We kept going considerably after we would have been evicted from our library rehearsal space.  Lots was accomplished -- and a good time was had by all.  The evidence is before you!  Check out these pictures of the fabulous Fleas -- and Sal!

From left to right:  Holly, Nicole, Lynn and Sal, Lisa, Bruce, Jeff.

What a great looking group of ukers!