Two Grey Cats Monthly Blog
November was a pretty good month for the ol' Cats.  We had nine different events last month to keep us old guys busy. 

We started out on November 1st with two shows at Brookdale Park Place Manor, where we enjoy seeing two different groups of folks every couple months.

The small group in the Assisted Living building always makes us feel appreciated when we bring them our music.  Since it's a small group, we skip the sound system and microphones and just play and sing for them like we're visiting relatives.  There is a special bond with people when you are sitting close and performing on acoustic instruments up close and personal.  We feel very close to this group.

Then we go over to the dining room at the Independent Living Center, where they have Friday "Happy Hour" with music and drinks before dinner.  We've met lots of nice folks there, over the several years we've been playing for them.  It is really nice to be so appreciated by so many senior residents and to be invited back so many times.

One of the biggest events this month was the Spokane Fall Folk Festival.  This was our 5th year performing at the FFF, and we were booked to play on the large Bistro Stage again for 2024.  Plus, earlier that day, we were invited to appear live on KPBX, Spokane Public Radio, as part of their special Fall Folk Festival radio program.  We performed a couple songs and were interviewed on-air to promote the festival.

This year, we pulled a switcheroo for our show.  As you may know, we usually play guitar and bass for our concerts.  But, we also usually bring out the ukulele for a few songs mid-set.  In our previous years at the folk festival, we have pretty much just done our guitar & bass songs.  FFF sets are just 30-minutes.  So this year, we decided to do our full half-hour with the ukulele and bass, and not even bring a guitar.

That was so much fun!  We don't do standard ukulele music on the uke - we rearrange any music we like for the little instrument and see what happens.  This year we did instrumental versions of Apache (The Shadows/The Ventures),  and Samba Pa Ti  (Santana), plus vocal arrangements of Volcano (Jimmy Buffett), In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry), a country song called Light of Day (Chuck Mead/BR 549), The Tiki Bar is Open (John Hiatt), and even a swing version of All of Me.  

We had a really nice crowd response to our ukulele show and also met and ran into a bunch of folks we know or from long-ago music events.  Lyle was there - another Project Joy senior volunteer - and had the stage before our set.  Old friend Roger came to hear us, after doing a set of his own earlier.  Several folks wanted to talk to Don about his Fender ukulele and his Maton guitar.  One nice couple recognized Doug, and mentioned that he played at their wedding, 30-years ago, with his old band,  Loose Change.  Congrats! They're still together.  Then, about 10 minutes later, Doug's old drummer, Tim, from that same Loose Change band, ran into the guys on their way out.

What a day

It was a really nice month.  In addition to these events, we were able to do concerts at Colonial Court in the valley, North Point Village, Cascade homes, Brookdale memory care, St. Joseph's, and a special Thanksgiving event at Mid-City Center.

Whew