For all locals and visitors- Wednesday is the chance to get your ukulele on! This happens once a month, and is an absolute blast! if you can even sorta play come on down, or just be a spectator, which is a blast as well! the history is best explained by their blog, as follows.....
"The
other evening, while The Parrot was hosting their monthly meeting of The Green
Parrot Ukulele Association, I noticed a few folks stroll by, stop, peer
quizzically inside and remark, "Look at all those people with ukuleles.
What are all those people doing in there?"
That's
a good question and one that has been asked more than once in the year or so
since the Green Parrot formed the Green Parrot Ukulele Association and hosted
its first monthly Uke Out.
The
whole thing started innocently enough the morning I found a small vinyl gig-bag
holding an inexpensive ukulele leaning against the side of the Green Parrot
building. I first thought it was a mandolin, but when I unzipped the case
there was the uke, complete with a tiny digital tuner clipped to the headstock.
I knew a chord or two, and strumming it, I found it in perfect tune. I strummed
happily all the way to the Green Parrot Lost and Found, where it sat, unclaimed
for one week, then two.
In
the meantime my oldest son, a uke aficionado himself, planned a visit to Key West from his home in Miami and, true to form, arrived uke in
hand. Taking his cue and hoping for some sort of weekend jam session, I brought
the unclaimed uke home from the Parrot Lost and Found box.After the briefest
musical collaboration, my son said to me, "You have got to do this at the
bar."
As
the wheels started to turn I thought of two things: number one was that the
next week's scheduled entertainment was Dash Rip Rock, the New Orleans-based
country-punk band fronted by my friend Bill Davis.
Number two
was remembering a conversation I had with Bill last year. I asked him casually,
"Bill, whatcha been up to?" "Teaching ukulele," he said.
Bill was due
to play the Parrot the following Friday so I called him right away and said,
"Bill, if you could manage to get to Key
West a day early would you be interested in fronting a
Green Parrot Ukulele night?" Bill said, "Absolutely." And in a
minute we had sketched out the format for the show: Workshop for beginners,
followed by featured-artist Bill, followed hopefully by open mic and,
god-willing, an all-out, everybody-on-stage-strum-along.
The
next piece of the puzzle came when I recalled a conversation I had had years
before with Key West
multi-instrumentalist Tim McAlpine where he mentioned that one of
his dreams was to have a Key West Ukulele orchestra. I called Tim next he
assured me he was up for anything uke-like.
So Tim would
be the co-host with Bill Davis on that first Thursday night and would continue
in that role monthly along with Jeff Clark, a local triple-threat
singer/songwriter musician whose ability to engage the audience as both
entertainer and teacher became a key ingredient to the eventual success of the
Association.
The
first-ever meeting of The Green Parrot Ukulele Association (GPUA) was held
Thursday night, June 2nd.
Avid
ukulele enthusiast and teacher Bill Davis of Dash Rip Rock hosted this
first-ever Green Parrot Uke Out. Things kicked off as planned with a ukulele
workshop for beginners, followed by featured artists Bill Davis and Tim
McAlpine strumming some tunes of their own, then an open mic sign-up, and
finally an all-out strum-along with at least 20 uke-toting participants.
It
seemed that night that we uncovered a Key
West ukulele scene simmering just below the surface.
And The Green Parrot was the perfect vessel for this unique way for Key Westers
to meet people and make music at the same time.
For
folks seeking a little pick-me-up in these bleak times, ukulele night with The
Green Parrot Ukulele Association seemed just the ticket. As singer-songwriter
Louden Wainright III once said, "In terms of Improving one's mood and
general outlook I consider the ukulele to be the big gun."
Now
we encourage everyone to dig out that old ukulele from your attic or closet and
strum your way into a four-string stupor at Green Parrot Ukulele Night, Key West's only
ukulele-powered jam session. Come to just listen, or join in. All levels are
welcome and spare ukes and instruction are available for those who want to try
them out.
Noting
the happy-making effect of the instrument, Manager John Vagnoni says in third
person for this blog post: "I think we may be completely shocked to find
there is a whole community of ukulele-ists out there. There's very little music
by the ukulele that isn't joyful and playful, and that is part of the
attraction," says Vagnoni, dismissing that awkward feeling of composing a
blog post and quoting himself in said same post. "With just four strings,
two octaves, a low price-point and diminutive size, the ukulele appeals to both
amateurs and professional musicians alike."
Like
so many of the good things that happen at The Parrot, the success of Ukulele
Night is not the result of one person's talent or passion, but rather the
result of a group of people taking a seed, planting it and nurturing it to
fruition all with the same goal, just to have some fun. Charter members who
were the hand-maidens of this included Ron and Charlie Bell, Will Thompson, Jay
Gewin, Ashley Kamen and Gretchen Mills, Allison Withers Johnson, and Gary
Zimmerman.
We
are also proud to announce that for the first time, The Green Parrot Ukulele
Association hosted a meeting outside the friendly confines of the bar when
Sweat Records, the popular Miami
indie music store, event space, and coffee house played host to The Green
Parrot Ukulele Association, Miami Chapter.
It
is also worth noting that John Lennon's first instrument was the ukulele, and
by the end of George Harrison's life, he was carrying two ukuleles as his
carry-on baggage. He was the most spiritual of musicians, and where did he end
up in terms of enlightenment? Ukulele!"
Come on down and have fun!!
