Thank you, Jack, and thanks to all who came out on this icy evening.
It was great to be back playing together again! I had fun during the break looking forward to Groundhog Day and generally moving on from the lesser holidays.
Several of us talked during the Christmas party about working on some show tunes, remembering how fun it was to try the Oklahoma medley that Joan brought to a practice. I took this as a challenge and put together the medley we practiced tonight. As I mentioned, this did not meet with overwhelming excitement by the test group I sent it out to… in fact there was some marked underwhelm-ment. I thank you all for giving it a shot! I know it needs practice and some tweaks, but I was very pleased that it actually sounded pretty good. Given that, this is an anchor of our Hogapalooza performance, and we will make it great!
Other songs in the running to fill out our set are Hazy Shade of Winter, If you Want to Sing Out, Skye Boat Song, Black Velvet Band, Don’t Bring Me Down, and I am sure I am forgetting something. Jack’s parody was well received and I am sure there will be more to come; we are deciding whether to do a separate Groundhog parody set.
We have some good raffles planned: Thank you to Marilyn for reprising her role as the Raffle Queen. She also had a great idea for a raffle that we can all participate in –
Please pick up a scratch-off lottery ticket or two to contribute to a collage of tickets that we can then raffle off. I think this will be a big hit and sell lots of tickets!
We will be talking more in the coming weeks about plans for food and other details of the day. If you have thoughts on any of this, please send them!
I hope to see lots of you on Saturday. We will of course be running through Hogapalooza songs and talking about that, but it’s also just an opportunity to play some random songs and enjoy each other’s company in the rare daylight hours.
Stay safe and healthy – see you soon!
Susan
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Jack Heffernan <jackheff@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Subject: SUP Recap 1/7/2026
To: Susan Ayer <clerkkent33@gmail.com>
Cc: Jack Heffernan <jackheff@yahoo.com>
Happy New Year Susan and all my SUP friends,
We had 14 people in attendance this evening.
Fortunately the roads were not icy. But I’m sure a lot of people had trouble with their driveways and local roads.
We will be practicing again this Saturday from 10 to noon.
Susan started the evening with a couple of familiar songs and then she dove into the show tunes medley for Hogapalooza. This is something much different than anything we’ve done before but all in all it was well received and we did well with it.
Medley – add chord diagrams as needed. Change the A sharp to a B flat. Add dots to emphasize the pause in Tomorrow. If I’ve missed something please comment to Susan in response to this email.
If You Want to Sing Out – The ending needs work and it needs more practice.
Hazy Shade of Winter – practice
Drift Away – practice
It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me – challenging but may be doable with practice
Don’t Bring Me Down – please listen to this when you get a chance in practice.
I Can Help – another song that Susan pulled out of the weeds. Definitely playable just needs practice
Skye Boat Song – We revisited this song and did well with it.
Whiskey in the Jar – the correct version has the ending as one verse not two. Always a fun song.
Black Velvet Band – went very well. Continue to practice.
Lonely Groundhog – A fairly easy parody for Hogapalooza III.
Events:
Hogapalooza III is on the books for Saturday January 31, 2026 at the Seabrook Library. We will have our regular space from 9 until 4 PM. We also have a snow date for the following Saturday. I believe we have four groups committed at this point. Susan may have more information.
Stay tuned for more information as things develop.
Winter Songs at the Brentwood Library – Brentwood, NH – 2/17/2026
Play at the All American Assisted Living – Kingston. NH – 8/29/2026
Information on these events can be found on our Meetup page.
Please remember that Susan has SUP t-shirts for sale, $25 each. She also has some very nice SUP seashells, that she hand decorated. If you didn’t get one for Christmas please see her. I believe she has some SUP pins still available at no cost.
Don’t forget to save the date for Hogapalooza III. In the very near future will be planning raffles as well as food for the event.
Stay safe out there and come on out Saturday if you’re can.
Thanks,
Jack
Seacoast Ukulele Players 