Last night a medium size gathering of folks from SUPA got together, first to dine and chat, and then, to see Jake Shimabukuro play the uke. Jake is a pocket-sized Japanese/Hawaiian guy, I’m guessing he’s what? 22? 25? And boy howdy, does he play the uke.
He does these crazy things with his hands, pulling notes off the fretboard almost like it’s a piano, then strumming like he’s got hummingbird wings for hands. Fast is insufficient to describe it. It would be something of a circus trick, a little gimmick, and there’s some of that going on, but because he maintains flawless rhythym and melody at the same time that his strumming hand has transformed into a blur, it’s way more than just a sideshow. He gets more sound out of that little four-stringed instrument than, well, fergitaboutit, okay?
Evidence that Jake touched my strumming hand. With both hands.
After the show we were invited to stick around backstage to meet Jake, who’s just as adorable up close as he is from the 12th row. His eyes got all big when we told him we were from a contingent of more than 60 ukulele players, he shook everyone’s hand and thanked them personally for coming in a very sweet and genuine sort of way, he laughed at our silly ukulele banter… what a charmer. (He looks like a total badass in the pics on his site, but that’s just the camera talking, don’t be fooled.)
I’ve been wondering a couple of things. I’ve been wondering if that kind of manner isn’t something culturally Hawaiian. The Hawaiian musicians I’ve met – and I’ve met a few because it seems they always stick around after the show to sign autographs or to catch up with old friends, or they hang out in the lobby drinking overpriced cocktails with everyone else during intermission – have that self-effacing friendly manner. It is just so appealling. Aloha, baby. Get some.
Also, on the music side, I’ve been wondering if you can actually learn to strum like that. Maybe if you’re 6 and you live in a family of musicians, you just kind of grow up doing it. But what if you’re starting late and you’re the only one in your house with the call to make music? Is timing something that you can learn or does it come from something else? I am inclined to think that you can learn some of it, but to transcend to the exceptional, there has to be something ticking inside you, some kind of internal metronome. Maybe if you have the beat, it’s because you are somehow, subconciously, more in connection with your heart. I don’t mean that in a woo woo new agey kind of way, I mean that somehow, you are more aware of the metronome inside your body, whether you know it in your head or not.
I found your site while googling “ukulele rainbow connections chords” !
Anyhow, I too was at the Jake concert lo these many months ago. I need to comment on the “niceness of Hawaiians”
My office is in a little building on Airport Way in front of Boeing Field. One day, last month, in the rain, a car had a flat tire. The driver, a young woman, pulled as far off the road as she could (there is no shoulder) and got out her cell phone.
Traffic going by is pretty fast, so I called SPD and told them she was partially blocking the road and visibility was low.
Five minutes later, two motorcycle cops arrived, chatted a bit, and told her to wait inside the car. They then left.
15 minutes later a police car just happened to come by and the officer got out. We watched as they chatted a bit, then the cop opened the back of the SUV. A woman in my office came to watch and made the comment, “He’s going to help her because he’s Hawaiian.”
I thought that was a rather broad brush to use and I mentioned it to her.
Very matter of factly she said, “Hawaiians always help, and if they can’t, they will stay there until help arrives. It’s a family thing.”
Sure enough, we watched the pantomime as the cop got down on his knees to look at the spare tire trussed up under the rear of the SUV. Then the two of them, driver and cop, pored over the owners manual. They discovered thaqt the jack was up in the engine compartment. We watched the scene play out, and as they were putting the jack in place another car arrived with the woman’s husband at the wheel. Hubby and cop got the deed done, shook hands and all parties left the scene.
I sent an e-mail to the SPD website and explained what I had seen, and that I wanted to extend thanks to the community spirited officer.
I got an e-mail back from him. His first name is Dean and he is Hawaiian. He used to be a Honolulu cop.
What she said, must be true.
Look at you! This is how Molly would look if she met Ludicris! (Or, if I met David Sedaris).
Anyway, of course you had a Jake encounter. Mighty is the PamNerd, she who knows only the cool things.