He Didn’t Just Play Thriller on the Ukulele Did He?
You need a little back story to put my Monday night Jake Shimabukuro concert experience into perspective. About three to four years ago, I went on my first Hawaiian vacation and just had an incredible time. To better remember my visit, I hit the gift shop at the airport and they had a music section with some local musicians. I picked up a slack-key guitar cd, by Sonny Lim and a progressive jazz ukulele cd by Jake Shimabukuro. I liked the Lim and loved the Shimabukuro. I turned a few of my music friends on to him. Fast forward to my second Hawaiian visit, and we are on the other side of Maui to eat what would be one of the best and most picturesque meals I have ever experienced at Mama’s Fish House outside the little town of Paia. We got there quicker then we thought and decided to stop for a drink in Paia. Whilst walking to the bar, there was a poster, Jake Shimabukuro was playing at a small bar in Paia that night! Unfortunately I couldn’t convince the rest of the party that seeing a virtuoso ukulele player would be cool, so we passed and headed back to the other side of the island. The real pisser, is that instead of just driving straight back to the condo, we had to sit at the side of the road for two hours due to a fire that blocked the only road in and out of our village.
Needless to say I was pouting and have ever since wanted to see Jake.
Back to Monday night. The venue was Jazz Alley which is a dinner and a show kind of place and they encourage reservations. I didn’t have one and the show was sold out. They do have a standby line and I decided to give it a shot. After sweating it out, I made it in and instantly knew I was going to love this venue. Intimate, comfortable seats, good view of the stage and a waitress bringing food and beer!
Jake took the stage and it was just him and his electric ukulele. All of Jake’s work is instrumental and one of the things he did that I thought was very cool, was before each song he shared what his inspiration was for writing it. Some were funny and some were inspirational. I think my favorite was him telling about his friend’s grandmother who was dying. Jake and his friend visited her in the hospital and she was heavily dosed and hallucinating. She described to the two boys the “Blue Roses” she was seeing on the ceiling and how the petals were slowly falling down on to her. Then Jake played a beautiful selection dedicated to her vision. It was touching.
I was constantly in awe of his musical ability, but even more how much he expressed himself through his craft. To share happiness, sadness and everything in between without the use of lyrics and just using his energy and skill made this one of my favorite shows I have ever seen.
I will make this commitment right now, I will never miss him again whenever I have the chance to see him. And yes he did do a killer Thriller!
Peace Out
Bill
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