{"id":817,"date":"2013-08-11T18:53:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T01:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/blog\/?p=817"},"modified":"2013-08-11T18:53:10","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T01:53:10","slug":"in-a-flashing-kind-of-mood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/in-a-flashing-kind-of-mood\/","title":{"rendered":"IN A “FLASHING” KIND OF MOOD"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Cali, Ed, Nancy & Lillian. Nancy hands a young family her camera and domo arigato, we have this splendid picture in Little Tokyo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve been telling The CC Strummers, my ukulele group in Culver City, all about the big \u201cUkulele Flash Mob.\u201d It\u2019s a-comin\u2019. And we\u2019re a-goin\u2019.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a flash mob?\u201d One senior asks. \u201cWell\u2026. You wear a trench coat and when they count 1-2-3-4, you open your coat and flash your….\u2026ukulele.\u201d<\/p>\n

That goes over with a thud.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen is it,\u201d they ask? One fine Saturday afternoon in Little Tokyo. So I gather three stalwart strummers, Ed, Lillian and Nancy, to carpool with me as we drive to what is now vibrant and exhilarating downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

We find a place to park in the cheap lot and hike past the new condos, old restaurants and colorful shops. Suddenly we are swept into rivers of people and declare, above the cacophony, that we should tie a rope to each other so we don\u2019t get separated. But I guess cell phones have become the new virtual \u201cleash\u201d these days.<\/p>\n

We eventually find the powers-that-be, Terry and Shoshanna, the two hard-working volunteers from the Los Angeles Music Center, who have planned this flashy<\/em> exhibition of spontaneity, right in front of the Japanese-American National Museum. A few moments before \u201cshow time,\u201d folks arrive with their ukuleles surreptitiously hidden away\u2014in grocery bags, big purses, between their legs. But even the few ukes that are now prominently displayed out in the open don\u2019t register a passing nod of curiosity. Did I tell you it\u2019s Nisei week? Too. The food, the taiko drums, the rows and rows of booths that sell all kinds of goodies, the whole celebration, that is what\u2019s drawing the crowds today.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m actually here by accident, to tell you the truth. A few weeks ago I respond to a group email request from Terry, asking for song ideas for the mob to perform. Well that\u2019s right up my alley after teaching the CC Strummers for three years. We like our fun, simple songs that are easy to learn and easy to play. So I share a few suggestions, and figure that’s it. Done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ukulele players take their positions and get ready to “flash”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well so much for my gifts of prophecy. \u201cFlash forward\u201d and the organizers are using three of The CC Strummers\u2019 song charts for the Flash Mob and I am called on to lead the group. I figure I will count 1-2-3-4, then fade into the crowd.<\/p>\n

But no\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

They put me up on the steps and tell me to start playing my uke. Suddenly people appear, almost a hundred I guess, from every direction, with ukuleles and smiles and they begin strumming along. Oh what a wonder!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
“1-2-3-4 All of me. Why not take all of me…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At that point I am yanked off my stoop to face the crowd and suddenly I\u2019m \u201cconducting\u201d and most important, \u201ccounting down\u201d the songs so we all start together. At the same time. Large crowds make me nervous so I think about food instead and that usually calms me down. \u00a0Today sushi comes to mind.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how I make it through an utterly joyful mob-scene of happy ukulele players. We sing Let\u2019s Twist Again, Dream Baby, Hound Dog and All of Me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The “view” from the top of the mob.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Families, couples, young people, old people\u00a0stop to watch and take pictures and sing along. I have to tell you, this is SMILE-O-LICIOUS! And it\u2019s hard to imagine anything can top our splendid six minutes of flashing in Little Tokyo…<\/p>\n

Until\u2026<\/p>\n

As we merge onto the Santa Monica Freeway, a long stretch limo appears to our right. \u00a0It\u2019s big, almost like a bus. Suddenly a window rolls down and someone hangs his big naked butt out for all west-bound traffic to see. \u00a0Let me tell you, glimpsing a full-moon<\/em>, on a hot afternoon, from a moving vehicle with three other people who value comedy, is better than chocolate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o\u201d! That\u2019s all we can muster at first, in exquisite unison. Eyes fixed on that big round posterior until the limo changes freeways at the Staples Center, we dissolve into laughter, then rousing commentary concluding that this butt belongs to a dude. Not because any other \u201cdude\u201d parts are hanging out. \u00a0Nope, we figure this kind of \u201cdisplay\u201d is something a dude would do. And a young-un<\/em> at that. These are not the buns of someone who is worrying about paying the mortgage. You can tell two lanes away.<\/p>\n

Quick! Get that kid a ukulele\u2026<\/p>\n

——————-<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Have harmonica holder, have charts, hands free!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attention Cheat Sheet Fans: It is nearly impossible to memorize four ukulele songs and perform them without nary a rehearsal, but this Flash Mob pulls it off. They use cheat sheets–in an array of creative ways. Mini charts are taped to ukuleles, players are turned into human music stands when the songs are taped to their backs. And here is another clever solution: This young lady clips her cheat sheets onto a harmonica holder as she plays her banjo ukulele.<\/p>\n

What do you do to get through a show?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been telling The CC Strummers, my ukulele group in Culver City, all about the big \u201cUkulele Flash Mob.\u201d It\u2019s a-comin\u2019. And we\u2019re a-goin\u2019. What\u2019s a flash mob?\u201d One senior asks. \u201cWell\u2026. You wear a trench coat and when they count 1-2-3-4, you open your coat and flash your….\u2026ukulele.\u201d That goes over with a thud. \u201cWhen is it,\u201d they ask? One fine Saturday afternoon in Little Tokyo. So I gather three stalwart strummers, Ed, Lillian and Nancy, to carpool with … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76,77],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-little-tokyo","tag-ukulele-flash-mob"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":76,"label":"Little Tokyo"},{"value":77,"label":"ukulele flash mob"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":2,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":76,"name":"Little Tokyo","slug":"little-tokyo","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":76,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":77,"name":"ukulele flash mob","slug":"ukulele-flash-mob","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":77,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}