Got a Birthday Story?

Monday was my birthday. A month ago my best friend asked me for a gift suggestion and on Monday my gift arrived. My navy blue Ukulele Underground tee shirt (and pen and sticker!)! I immediately put it on and got birthday dinner schmutz on it! I kid you not- I think my playing sounded better with that shirt on. Just saying.

Anyone else have a birthday story?

My recently ordered Beau Hannam Uke will probably be ready around my birthday (August) in 2016. Patience is a virtue, they say, and it will be the best birthday present I have ever received.

I think I ordered my rosewood/cedar during the summer, before my birthday, and I let that count as my gift. It was tough finding the ukulele I wanted, because it was at the end of the model year and there were none in stock, literally, here or in GB. Luckily, I found one store that had one ukulele, but they had it out at a ukulele fest, trying to sell it. The lady said it was mine if it came back. It came back and I ordered it along with a case for safe shipping and it has been fun, fun, fun every since. The instrument didn't come with a setup, so I had that done and then it sang. Still singing for me, too.

Last year I was given my lovely Ohana koa concert and I have been loving it ever since. I just got it some new strings! Can't wait to try it out, but I guess I gotta get off UU first, huh?

My story is that Chuck Moore and I share the same birthday. Every year we see who can be first to wish the other a Happy Birthmas or Merry Birthday!(our birthdays are right after Christmas.) Up until this past year, I have always beat him to the punch. But this time he included something unexpected. A new Moore Bettah tenor! Wow! What a birthday present! Thanks again Chuck! :shaka:

Um ... heck ya!

This April 26th ... I will have my brand spanking new LFdM Sinker Redwood top, Malaysian Blackwood back and sides with arm rest and sound port ... for my birthday! I am SO EXCITED. :agree:

back to your regular programming ... zzzz.

OK, so Chuck didn't actually send me a new tenor as a birthday gift. But the rest of the story is true.

I had a minor surgery early in March. Unfortunately, I acquired a drug resistant bacteria in the hospital. The surgery had complications which caused the need for another surgery and an emergency hospital stay. Between the surgeries, the bacteria and the kick-ass anti-biotic I had to take, I was afraid that birthdays would be a thing of the past. This last Monday I was able to stop the anti-biotic and by my 65th birthday on Wednesday I was feeling a lot better.
No new uke this birthday but I think I got present enough.

John Sargent said:

I had a minor surgery early in March. Unfortunately, I acquired a drug resistant bacteria in the hospital. The surgery had complications which caused the need for another surgery and an emergency hospital stay. Between the surgeries, the bacteria and the kick-ass anti-biotic I had to take, I was afraid that birthdays would be a thing of the past. This last Monday I was able to stop the anti-biotic and by my 65th birthday on Wednesday I was feeling a lot better.
No new uke this birthday but I think I got present enough.

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John, best best wishes for your recovery. Your gift of feeling better ...the best gift there is.

My story is my 50th was last month. My wife and family arranged a surprise gift for me. I will be flying off to the West Coast event at Asilomar in May. What a loving family I have! I also got to jam with 4 of my fellow Portland Oregon Seasonistas at the party. Best birthday in recent memory for me!!

librainian said:

My story is my 50th was last month. My wife and family arranged a surprise gift for me. I will be flying off to the West Coast event at Asilomar in May. What a loving family I have! I also got to jam with 4 of my fellow Portland Oregon Seasonistas at the party. Best birthday in recent memory for me!!

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Sounds great...especially birthday cake with "jam" on the side!

Can we expand this conversation to include other celebratory ukes too? I'm graduating at the end of next month and my graduation gift is my first uke, the Makala concert. Can't wait to get jamming with my dad who plays the guitar!

Late January of last year, a Mike Pereira (MP)Oregon myrtle with redwood top concert was for sale, at less than half of the original cost. I showed the ad to my wife because we both like myrtle wood. Without any hinting or heavy breathing on my part, she said that my birthday would be next month, and she asked if I would like to have it as a birthday present. It plays as nicely as it looks! I decided that I would surprise her with a trip to Hawaii for our 40th anniversary in August. In March, suddenly and unexpectedly ,she ended our marriage by going to be with The One Who Loved her from before the foundations of the world. Heaven is far more glorious than Hawaii!!! Can I play it dry eyed? Yes, it was a gift meant to bring joy. Her journey from mortality to immortality was greater gift than I could have ever given her. He spared her an end of life which would have been diminished in quantity and quality. She was only 63. Yes, I can celebrate playing it.

I turned 70 on March 30, 2014. My wife and I were planning on going to see Jesse Winchester for my birthday celebration, but he became ill and had to cancel his show, so my son and wife arranged for a surprise party. They said they'd take me to a place I like to eat in Peterborough, but Clay, my son, said that our friend Benj was running an open stage, so we should take some instruments and play a few tunes. We went to Benj's open mic and played for a while, then went to eat. On the way back to the car, Clay said,"I've gotta talk to the sound guy at the Red Dog. Come on over with me." When I walked in the door, I saw a couple of guys who went to school with me and figured something was up. The stage was set up and everyone in the bar was someone I knew and had played music with or at least on the same venue. Clay and Jimmy Bowskill were the house band if anyone needed one and there were enough top quality musicians to fill a folk festival.
Dennis O'Toole started the show, followed by Washboard Hank, Cris Cuddy, David Newland, Jimmy Bowskill, Rick Fines, Saskia Tomkins, Carlos del Junco, Ted Staunton and we finished the night with a unique incarnation of the Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band.
The coolest birthday ever.