Another mixed bag of eclectic genres and moods, lucky door prizes and good vibes!! Good turn out. Great night!

There were two tunes we played twice back to back. The Turtle’s “Happy Together” (thanks Mark Virtue) and Culture Club’s “Kama Chameleon”. The tempo was not quite right (or something…), both sounded better the 2nd time through, just like a band rehearsal and I’m glad we persevered and went for gold.

Our guest vocalist tonight was Sarah-Grace Buckley. She has the calm, collected presence of a seasoned professional at the age of 12. Though, there’s no ‘youtube mentoring’ going on here… Sarah-Grace comes from a musical family. Dad – Mick Buckley – rock drummer turned boogie woogie / stride piano player and Mum – Sharon Buckley – supportive wonder woman, have worked diligently over the years, with music, to fuel, travel and feed their 7-piece family with many amazing experiences and loads of love. Sarah-grace is the oldest of their clan and is a remarkable talent, as are every single one of her amazing younger siblings. Beautiful and life affirming. Many, many thanks Sarah-Grace and all the Buckley’s for being you!!! see more here.

Much thanks also to Joel Salom for his special version of ‘Don’t Worry.. Be Happy’ with lyrical adaptions and juggling – shaker gymnastics. I have seen Joel perform many, many times and I have never seen anything less than pure wonderment on the faces of his audience. (The man is a freak in all the best ways). Fresh from his first ever vipashina, Joel was peaking!!!!

Then, out of the blue… Ben Hur (Helwend) was in the house. I love Ben, he is a very empathetic performer who has the power of listening and also the power of embellishing a lead vocal with beautiful harmony… (even mine)… thanks for indulging us Ben. You are the goods and I can’t wait to hear you new collection of songs.

I cannot adequately express in mere type how thankful I am to Rod Coe on bass, Jason Caspen on drums, Luis on sound and projection and Deb on the door. We rely on you and you have never let us down. Hat’s off to all who travelled from afar to take part in our Mullum Celebration of the Uke. As far as Brisbane .. as far as Sydney. Many many Thanks.

See you next month. Stukulele.