Review: Aldrine Guerrero - Suite 409
July 21, 2008
Bandito Tyler Unplugged (Sample MP3)
Uke on Stick (Sample MP3)
Red and Silky (Sample MP3)
You probably already familiar with Aldrine Guerrero from his YouTube videos and his lessons on Ukulele Underground (the web’s second best ukulele site). Aldrine has just released his debut CD, Suite 409, and Ryan from UU (the album’s Executive Producer) was brave enough to send me a copy for review.
The Good Stuff
Bandito Tyler (Unplugged): A phenomenal tune. A stone-cold ukulele classic. It’s played with real force and energy. It fizzes out of the speakers.
The album contains two versions of Bandito Tyler: a solo version and a band version. The solo version is by far the most exciting. The tune is so strong and forceful that the band dilute it rather than add to it.
The Instrumental Tracks: As well as having impeccable technique, Aldrine has a way with a tune. The instrumental tracks are instantly catchy.
They’re also nicely varied. Schizophrenic Snowflakes is light and atmospheric. Uke on a Stick is great fun. It starts out as a 21st Century Greensleeves, kicks into some Dick Dale tremelo, launches into Santana-style soloing and recalls the solo from Hotel California before it’s done. Cecilia is steady and meditative. Each of them a huge success on their own terms.
The Not So Good Stuff
The Vocal Tracks: In contrast to the variety of the instrumental tracks, all the songs are mid-tempo, easy listening RnB. Whether he’s lonely (Buttercup), in seduction mode (Red and Silky with Danyo Cummings and Ariki Foster), or resigned (Ducky Adores Me), it never really shows in the songs. Lyrically, the songs don’t ring true. It feels like he’s holding back most of the time.
Listening to the songs made me feel like the girl who feel for the cock-strutting MoFo of Bandito Tyler and ended up with the limp lothario of Red and Silky. I wanted the same passion and honesty of the instrumental tracks in the songs.
Overall
Suite 409 announces Aldrine Guerrero as a serious contender in the ukulele world - up there with the very best. If he can get the same passion that he has in his playing into his songs, he’ll be unstoppable.
Buy Suite 409
Aldrine and Ryan are currently touring California. You can find the remaining dates here.
Monday Exposure: Bosko and Honey
July 14, 2008
I’m sure you all know who Bosko and Honey are. Their Ukulele Safari has been the uke highlight of the year so far. What you might not know is that they have just released an album Just Quietly.
The album features six of Bosko and Honey’s original instrumental tracks including the blistering Black Mountain Breakdown. If you sign up as a member you can download an mp3 of the track Samidare.
Go here to buy the album and support them in their Ukulele Safari. My copy is on its way right now.
Monday Exposure: Madame Pamita
July 7, 2008
Competition update: The ‘Review Your Ukulele’ contest is now closed. There have been loads of great entries. I’ll be looking over all of them and will announce the result on Friday (probably - it’ll be a tough decision). Everyone who entered should have their Rick tab. If you didn’t get it something must have got lost along the way, send me your entry again and I’ll get it to you.
Madame Pamita - Love Is Good (mp3)
Madame Pamita - Pink Pocketbook (mp3) via Madame Pamita’s Parlor of Wonders
After last week’s post Madame Pamita got back to me with the answers. And it was worth the eleven month wait.
What was your first musical instrument and what made you pick it up?
my first musical instrument was imaginary tambourine in my backyard playing “band” with my neighborhood friends. we also did a lot of lip synching to my mother’s broadway show soundtrack records - “South Pacific” “The Music Man” “The Sound of Music” - we would set up a “curtain” across the clothes line, put on the record and perform an entire two and a half hour musical in 12 minutes. the ultimate broadway experience for those with short attention spans. Very
groundbreaking theatre. we were very avant garde. we had an all-girl cast of 2nd and 3rd graders playing the jets and the sharks in “west side story.” a bold choice, i know, but that’s because there were only girls in my neighborhood.
How did you go from surf music and Cheap Trick to old-time music and spiritualism?
there really is a secret link between all of them. I can see it clearly. anyone who sends me an email naming the mysterious common denominator will get a free CD from me. it might not be a cd of me, but it will be free.
I just got an email from a friend saying, “you’re always reinventing yourself” and I told him, no it’s not that I reinvent myself, it’s that I have M.A.D.D. (musical attention deficit disorder). I am like a very poorly trained dog who chases after a squirrel and then barks at a mailman and then starts running after a passing car. clearly my piano teacher didn’t rap my fingers hard enough with that ruler.
What goes on at a Parlor of Wonders show?
it is a madcap adventure into mysticism and mayhem and not unlike a 12 minute backyard version of “cabaret”. willkommen! bienvenue! I have a set of very large tarot cards. each card has a fortune (of course) and also a song attached to it. audience members come up, and pick a card, get a fortune and then i’ll sing the song that goes along with that card. the audience is, in essence, choosing the set list for the night. it’s always a different show. always unpredictable. the people who come up are often exceptionally drunk, which makes it even more entertaining.
How did you manage to build up such a collection of strange instruments?
by being the worst person ever at saving money. my latest favorite is my marxophone. it’s the people’s instrument, you know.
On a related note, have you ever managed to get a good tune out of your ukelin?
no, but i enjoy the bad tunes very much. it’s the best $15 bucks i ever spent. i bring it out at parties and become one of those insufferable people who forces partygoers to play it and then listen to the legend of the ukelin. do you know the story? they were sold door to door. the price on the inside of the ukelin says “$35″ (which was a huge amount of money in the 1920s) but the sales man would sell it to you for “wholesale cost” which was $17.50, IF you would become a ukelin distributor yourself. If you sold 6 at full price, you would even get your $17.50 refunded. My ukelin came with all the original paperwork for the whole dastardly pyramid scheme transaction. See? now you know what it’s like to go to one of my parties. but you get to hear the ukelin legend from thousands of miles away! that’s the magic of the internet!
How did the idea for The Very Special come about?
My friend sid who invented the swirlygig and i were holed up in a cabin in the woods of wisconsin for a week. we were playing this and that and then we wrote the swirlygig jingle. and then we decided that more things needed jingles. things that we love that don’t get the credit that they deserve such as “foam fingers” and “slotted spoons” and “bobby pins”. have you heard any good bobby pin jingles lately? no, i thought not. now you can see the genius behind that. of course, being jingle writers, we’re not musical snobs who write only because we are “inspired,” so if you have something you want a jingle for, just send us the pertinent information and we’ll write a jingle for you for $1 a word. that’s a total bargain. jingles are short. the shortest one we wrote was a $4 jingle!
What have you written jingles for so far?
we are so prolific, we don’t keep track. well, sid does. she’s the organized twin. we are constantly writing jingles. the latest best one was for bituminous asphalt. our favorite one goes “flag foods - we’ll wave when you come in” - it doesn’t get better than that in the jingle biz. not for $8, it doesn’t.
I was reading your about page on the Dime Box Band site and it said you couldn’t live without ‘vintage jewelry, un-picked-over thriftshops and used bookstores’ and it struck me that there’s a similar vintage/used theme in a lot of the music you’ve made. What is it that appeals to you?
that bio had some very interesting repercussions. there was a time that i was dating around and i had a whole string of dates with different guys and they would take me to thrift stores. i thought, “wow! i’m meeting a lot of guys who are into thrift shopping.” but it turns out there was a question on there that said “what is your dream date” and i had just randomly put down something about thrift shopping. they had been scoping out my band website beforehand and
then planning our first date around that. now, of course, i’ve changed the answer to that question to “driving the getaway car at a bank robbery”
and i didn’t answer your question at all, did i?
I have to ask this one. What do you see in my future?
I pulled three cards for you
the seven of swords, the ace of wands and the moon card.
you are starting a new activity that you are very passionate about - new songs? a new project? but you’re very excited about it. the main thing to do though is to keep your thoughts about it based in realism, it will be easy to get “pie-in-the-sky” about something this new that you’re this excited about. dream big but also keep one foot on the terra firma of practicality. the best news of all though is that this project will involve doing something that is a little crafty - not illegal, but just a little rascally - and that you will get away with it!
Madame Pamita will be recording a new CD in August and touring after that. You can keep up to date with all the news on her website.
Madame Pamita and Entertainment for the Braindead
June 30, 2008
Quick reminder: You’ve got until midnight on Sunday to review your ukulele and win a Kala pineapple.
Here’s how it goes sometimes: I hear some ukulele music I really like, I ask the person if they mind answering a few questions, they say ‘go ahead’, I send them some questions, they realise the questions are idiotic and offensive and I never hear from them again. I can’t offer much in the way of facts with these two, but you should definitely check out the music.
Madame Pamita
Madame Pamita - Pink Pocketbook (MP3)
Madame Pamita - Love Is Good (MP3)
Madame Pamita - No Bad News (MP3) via her website
Pamela Moore is not short of bands or genres. Her musical credits include surf guitar with The Neputas, ole time country with The Dime Box Band, punk with the Birdinumnums and all-girl Cheap Trick covers with Cheap Chick. She also has two ukulele featuring acts: The Very Special (jingles for things that should have jingles but have been overlooked by the advertising industry) and Madame Pamita (a perfect mix of ukuleles and spiritualism). Almost as entertaining as her music is her Flickr account with old time gentleman musicians and old time lady musicians
Entertainment for the Braindead
Entertainment for the Braindead’s Hypersomnia is a quite brilliant album of drowsy, spaced out, acoustic songs. You can download it all for free here and buy the CD here.
Standout ukulele tracks: Sleep, Winter
Standout non-uke tracks: Ordinary Sunday, Home
Monday Exposure: Elizabeth Darling/Allo Darlin’
June 23, 2008
The Darlings - Emily (MP3) via WeePOP!
Elizabeth Darling - I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend (MP3)
Elizabeth Darling - Oh No! Another Email From You! (MP3) via her website.
It’s a tough job being a songwriter these days. A good 90% of songs are about getting together and splitting up and you can’t write an honest, story song about either of those anymore without including email, texts, MySpace, Facebook etc. But the pop song has really moved beyond letters and phonecalls. Any reference to more modern means of communication is open to ridicule (such as from Bill Bailey at about 5:40). The only song that comes to mind that includes texting without sounding contrived is The Arctic Monkeys’ The View from the Afternoon. All of which is a roundabout way of me saying I like Elizabeth Darling’s songs.
The first I heard of Elizabeth Darling was when WeePOP! released The Darlings’Photo EP. The EP has sold out but you can still download Emily and stream officially the best ukulele AC/DC here. They’ve since changed their name to Allo Darlin’ (probably due to the fact there are 6,000 bands called The Darlings) and Elizabeth has been putting up a bunch of demos on her website which are some of the best ukulele-pop songs I’ve ever heard.
Wednesday Exposure: Mad Tea Party
May 28, 2008
Mad Tea Party - Found A Reason (mp3)
Mad Tea Party - Bunny Moves On (mp3) via Nine Mile Records
Mad Tea Party are a very fun band with catchy songs and the sound of a ukulele crashing up against rollocking guitar riffs and rockabilly licks. Judging by the preview tracks put out by Nine Mile Records, their forthcoming album, Found A Reason, looks set to be their best yet.
The core of the band is ukulelist and vocalist Ami Worthen and guitarist Jason Krekel. They got together in 2004 and have put out three albums to date. Nick Beery made a documentary about them and you can watch the whole film on his blog. They (along with, bassist at the time, Lora Pendelton) make quite an eccentric bunch. If you haven’t got an hour to spare, the choice quote from Ami is, “I’m not going for the record deal, the MTV. I want to play the ukulele, and I think if I had a manager and I was on that path, one of the first things they’d tell us is to ditch the ukulele.”
Found A Reason will be released in June. Visit their website.
Monday Exposure: James Clem
May 19, 2008
James Clem has been playing blues guitar since the 1960’s and his career includes backing up Chick Willis in his Stoop Down Baby heyday. More recently, he’s picked up the ukulele and will be appearing at this year’s Portland Uke Fest. I interrogated him to find out more.
How did you first get started as a musician?
I went to a car show when I was 15 years old with my father and heard Dick Dale playing guitar and right then I knew that was what I wanted to do. His playing was amazing to hear, especially live.
When did you start playing the ukulele?
I started playing the uke about four years ago when I found an old Kumalae koa ukulele at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California for $20. I bought a songbook of 1920’s tunes and right off the bat I loved it. If you play guitar most of the techniques from that instrument (damping, strumming, etc) can be applied to the ukulele.
What made you pick the ukulele up?
I had seen the ukulele in many vintage films and always thought it looked like a lot of fun. Twenties jazz like the Boswell Sisters, Louis Armstrong and others has always been one of my favorite genres of music, but I was too lazy to learn that swing style jazz guitar and all the musicians I knew were into blues, so I couldn’t see much chance of playing it anyway. Actually, the last couple of years I have been studying the Django style swing guitar rhythm and adapting that to the ukulele. To me, the weak point of most uke players is not damping the strings enough (or at all). It can make or break a player.
The first really great ukulele player I heard live was Bob Brozman in the eighties. He really opened my eyes to what you can do on that instrument. He is a phenomenal musician and one of the best uke players.
When I lived in Los Angeles Janet Klein and Ian Whitcomb performed a lot together at a tiny club near my house and they both played ukulele and that got me into thinking “I need a ukulele!”. Janet Klein has a band of killer jazz musicians and she has this kind of wacky Gracie Allen personality that is a throwback to another era. You can’t help but love that group.
It’s quite unusual to play Delta blues on the uke. How do you go about making the songs work on the uke?
I really don’t play that many Delta Blues tunes on the uke as I try to do more twenties jazz on the ukulele with a lot of snappy chord changes that seem to fit the little instrument so well. I play a lot of slide guitar and regular guitar so when I dig out the uke it makes a nice change of mood for the audience. Audiences love the instrument. You just pick it up and they smile.
As far as playing blues on our little four string friend goes I have found that uptempo blues with a ragtime feel can be played on the ukulele and works great. I look for tunes that have a lot of right hand rhythm such Robert Johnson’s They’re Red Hot which he adapted from Blind Boy Fuller’s Keep On Truckin’. Be on the lookout for blues tunes with a lot of chord changes (think 1920’s and ’30’s) and a fast tempo and there are a lot of possibilities that will enable you to get away from the jazz standards that everyone does on the ukulele. Check out Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy and others from that era . You will be surprised how well some can sound on the ukulele.
Another tip I have for players is if there is a song that you really want to learn, you should search out different versions of the song and after learning the chords steal some horn or guitar parts from the recording and tweak it a bit to make it your own. That is how most musicians get good. Steal from the masters!
Can you tell us a little about your ukulele.
My uke is a newer National Reso-Phonic made of koa. It has rope binding, fancy inlays and an ivoroid headstock overlay. The resonator projects well into a microphone, so it doesn’t need any kind of a pickup.
How can people buy your music?
Right now they can’t as I have a very basic CD that I sell at my gigs , but right now I am recording a new CD that will have some really good musicians and should be available be the end of the year on CD Baby. I would like to get on a label with world wide distribution and play over in Europe. Playing live is where it’s at for me but every musician will tell that you are taken for granted in your hometown (oh him, he is always around!) My wife is from England and I consider it my home away from home as I have been over there a lot. It would be great to get established over there.
You can find out more on his website and download some of his guitar tracks on MySpace.
Wednesday Exposure: Phredd
May 14, 2008
Quick note: There’s a problem with the daily Uke Hunt emails at the moment and a lot of them aren’t getting through or sent. If the problem doesn’t right itself soon, I’ll try to make alternative arrangements. On to the matter in hand:
Phredd is one of my favourite YouTube ukers. His videos often leave me laughing so hard I need medical attention. Which says something about my maturity as Phredd (or Fred McNaughton) is children’s entertainer. I grilled him for more information.
How long have you been playing the uke? What attracted you to it?
I have been playing the uke about 5 or 6 years now. I love the sound. I bought one on a whim on ebay. It was a martin backpacker and I got it (with shipping) for $60. It was the sound I was looking for. It is just so happy. I have played all kinds of musical instruments my whole life, but none resonate with me more than the uke. When I started playing my ukulele at concerts, the kids loved it. Children really identify with the ukulele. They love how small it is and the happy sound it makes. Plus, everyone is playing the guitar, so it is unique.
How do you get into making music for kids?
I used to sing for adults. Then I started leading worship for kids at church and it just clicked. I didn’t find a lot of songs that I really liked, that had a lot of fun and enthusiasm, so I started writing my own and making up goofy hand motions to get the kids involved. Kids love to sing and love to worship, but they want to do it with their entire beings. So getting them jumping and moving and clapping and yelling is a big part of it. My wife and I have 8 children. Our oldest will be 26 in June. Our youngest, and newest member is 7. We just adopted her and have fallen in love with her. So we do a lot of singing at home. Through the years I would know I hit on a good song when I caught the kids singing it around the house. Then as they grew up they started helping me at the concerts, and that has been fantastic.
Something I find very interesting is that kids understand. They understand that you can be totally goofy and having fun and that some of the songs are just for making you smile and some of the songs have a message. Adults seem to have trouble with that. If you are going to sing me a serious song then stop goofing around. That seems to be just as prevalent in church as not in church. But kids get it. I also am amused that the same songs I sang for adults,that they didn’t understand, they now appreciate and enjoy, because I am singing for their kids. So, it kind of changed everything for me in that sense. So, I guess you could say in some way, that I do kids songs for adults, too.
What’s the secret to keeping kids entertained?
When I find this out I will get back to you. Seriously, I’m not sure there is a secret. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and I’m not sure it is always dependent on the performer. It might have more to do with what they ate, where they were before hearing you sing, or a hundred other things that affect kids. For me, having fun, acting goofy and just being my weird self seems to be the ticket.
How does your Christianity influence your music?
I love Jesus with all my heart, so it influences everything I do. I love singing for kids and making them smile. I think that is a gift from God. What could be better than singing for kids? At the same time, I think a lot of music for kids disrespects their musical appreciation. So I try to write songs that are fun and out of left field. For instance I have a song that is called Awooga. It replaces saying ‘Amen’ with saying ‘Awooga. So, if you say Amen at your church when the Pastor says something you approve of, imagine saying, “AWOOGA!” really loud at the top of your lungs instead. I tell the kids its like honking the horn of your car in approval. Kids seem to get that.
I also have a song called INVISIBLE FRIEND. I think kids (and big kids too) struggle with not being able to see God like we see each other. It’s that whole faith thing. Almost all of us had an imaginary friend at some point in our lives, so relating that to God being invisible, but not imaginary seemed like a fun way to help them understand a little bit.
I’ve also started to get into some of the older folk gospel spirituals. There was some great songwriting and story telling. I like how they didn’t tell the whole story, but told just enough that it makes you more interested. The song MARY DON’T YOU WEEP is one of my current favorites. That song is so excellently written, but it doesn’t hit you over the head. It makes you really think. It also conveys such a depth of emotion. I think some of our modern music has lost the ability to touch the soul, while at the same fueling our imagination, and tickling our funny bone. I like that about some of the older songs I am finding. They have a depth of feeling while at the same time not taking themselves so seriously. Something about that really appeals to me. I don’t know if you’ve seen Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band Live in Dublin or not, but, wow! I love that dvd and I have been watching and listening to it a ton.
Elmer’s Electric Tricycle is my absolute favourite. Is it a true story? (Asked more in hope than expectation).
My very good friend Steven Courtney and I wrote this song together. Steven also performs for children and families and is about the best friend anyone could ever have.
We both have very busy schedules so we don’t get to spend as much time together as we would like. We also really enjoy writing songs and making music together. So one time, we came up with this crazy idea to write songs together via email. I would send him a line, and then maybe later that day, or the next, he would send me the next line. I do a morning radio show, so I wake up very early, and I would come in to work and open my email and there would be the next line to the song and it would make me really laugh. So our goal became to make the other person laugh when they read the next line. We wrote over 40 songs together that way. It was just a really fun time.
Elmer’s was born out of that writing experiment. In a weird sort of way it mirrored what we were doing with the songwriting; going into “the lab” and coming out with this explosion of creativity. The video of Elmer that you currently have up at Uke Hunt is my daughter Keilah and I singing. Keilah has been singing with me since she was about 7. We do about 50 concerts a year at schools, churches, festivals and all sorts of places. She is so talented and adds so much to this song and to the concerts in general. I love that she sings with me. It really is an honor to have my teenage daughter be my singing partner. Teenagerdom is a time when many kids are embarrassed by their parents, so I don’t take it for granted that Keilah, at the age of 16 is willing to make a fool of herself with me in front of an audience. That has been a huge blessing in my life.
Visit Phredd Central to find out more, hear more songs and buy his stuff. You can listen to Fred’s radio show, Get Up and Go, on WJTL FM 90.3.
Ukulele Muxtape
May 5, 2008
I thought the Ukulele Muxtape, deserved some liner notes. There were only two rules to it: uke featuring and no cover versions. Here’s a quick rundown of the tracks with places to visit to hear more from the performers.
1. The Cedar Tavern Singers AKA The Phonorealists - Artistic Statement
One band, two names. The Cedar Tavern Singers are a pair of artists who sing songs about art history in a shop window. How could that be anything but brilliant? You can hear more of their songs here and you can buy their stuff here.
2. David Ivar Herman Dune - Take Me To Your Country
As well as fronting up Herman Dune (check out chords for I Wish That I Could See You Soon), David Ivar Herman Dune puts out plenty of ukulele stuff: a ukulele covers project Yayahoni, a solo album Ya-Ya
3. James Hill - One Small Suite For ‘Ukulele: I. Allegro Con Brio
James Hill is my favourite ukulele instrumentalist around today. By a long way. His technique is unmatched and he can write a catchy tune. This piece is the first segment of his Small Suite for Ukulele from the album A Flying Leap
4. Jacob Borshard - Brains, Brains
Have I mentioned Jacob Borshard enough yet? His songs are irresistibly charming and so are his videos. As far as I’m aware, his only commercial release is Cocktail on the equally wonderful WeePOP! but you can download two of his albums free on his website.
5. MJ Hibbett - Chips and Cheese, Pint of Wine.
I interviewed MJ Hibbett not long ago. This is another song of his solo album A Million Ukeleles.
6. Shelley Short - The Sunny Side
I discovered this song by Shelley Short (not to be confused with the glamour model of the same name) while perusing eMusic. I love coming across unexpected ukuleles. It happened this morning when I was listening to Ryan Adams. The track comes from her album Captain Wild Horse
7. The Darlings - Emily
Another top notch release from WeePOP! The EP has sold out, but you can still download this track here and you can listen to the rest of it here.
8. Jens Lekman - Arms Around Me
Disappointingly, there was no ukulele on Jens Lekman’s most recent album Night Falls Over Kortedala
9. Mirah - Engine Heart
As she’s gone on, Mirah’s sound has got increasingly epic. But on her debut album You Think It’s Like This But Really It’s Like This
10. Noah & The Whale - Five Years Time
I wrote about Noah & the Whale ealier and I love this song even more now. There’s a very healthy posh singer-songwriter scene in London at the moment. Check out Welcome to our TV Show for some class acts.
11. P:ano - Trouble Ahead
P:ano have officially called it a day, but their final act was to release an album packed with ukulele ditties Ghost Pirates Without Heads
12. Craig Robertson - She Just Needs Her Head
You must know Craig Robertson by now. You can download this song and many more here and buy his albums here.
Jake Shimabukuro, Chicago Live Review
April 28, 2008
Jake Shimabukuro is touring the US at the moment. Uke Hunt’s roving reporters Shawn and Lonna B filed this review from Chicago.
Jake Shimabukuro
Old Town School of Folk Music
Chicago, IL
4/26/08
Early show
Set List
Let’s Dance
Dragon
Me and Shirley T
In My Life
Sakura, Sakura
Going to California
Blue Roses Falling
Orange World
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ave Maria
Saturday, April 26th, renowned ukulele slinger Jake Shimabukuro made his second appearance at the school’s Gary & Laura Maurer Concert Hall at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. Old Town is the largest independent community arts school in the United States, offering not less than eight courses relating to the ukulele as well as a music store fairly crammed with ukuleles and other instruments.
We’d never seen Jake before, and we’d never been to the Old Town School either. We live three hours away in Indianapolis, Indiana. But if you play the ukulele and have the chance to see a performer of Jake’s caliber, you drop the kids at mom’s, gas up the car, pack up some smokes and a change of booze and off you go.
The venue exceeded expectations. As a community run venture, the vibe was very positive – none of that Clear Channel taint at all. Excellent beers were available and availed of. The hall itself featured sparkling acoustics and 250 seats, each of which was within 45 feet of the stage. We sat front row center in the balcony.
Alas, there was an opening act. Terrifically, it turned out to be husband and wife team Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Sarah Lee (she of Arlo and Woody descent) and Johnny charmed the crowd for an hour with their spare, acoustic numbers and witty (if obligatory) folk stage patter.
After a chance to replace our empty beers with full ones, it was finally Jakulele time. Jake Shimabukuro is easily the best known and most recognized face of modern ukulele and it’s not for nothing. Throughout the evening, he embellished his already intricate arrangements, lifting many songs stratospherically higher than their written form.
He opened with Let’s Dance, and soon rendered his forearm and hand a flesh-colored blur. He introduced his next song, Dragon, as having been inspired by Bruce Lee and Eddie Van Halen, and the ensuing fretboard fireworks did more than justice to those two worthies. Me and Shirley T and In My Life, the Lennon/McCartney song which serves as the title track on Jake’s latest cd, followed.
As he was introducing Sakura, Jake recalled the experience of hearing this traditional Japanese song played on a thirteen stringed instrument, the koto. He admitted to locking himself in his room for days at a time trying to turn his four strings into 13. Jake’s next choice in song was Going To California, which he proclaimed to be one of his favorite Jimmy Page songs. The mood mellowed out a bit as Jake played Blue Roses Falling, only to pick back up with a slamming version of Orange World. Confessing a predilection for such behavior, Jake admitted to having again locked himself in his room, this time after sharing the stage with banjo legend Bela Fleck. He joked that playing a bluegrass tune was a good way to ‘get it all out of your system’, and then did just that, peeling off finger rolls at a blinding clip while remembering to quote “Dueling Banjos” as a capper. Before hitting us with Gently Weeps, Jake told the story of making that now web famous video in Central Park, an event Jake believes changed his life.
As there was a second performance scheduled, there wasn’t time for a proper version of the encore ritual, so Jake simply remained onstage until the applause died down long enough for him to introduce the final number as having been written by a friend of his from Hawaii, Franz Schubert. A crystalline version of Ave Maria closed the show.
Afterwards, Jake made himself available for photos and autographs, which, being utterly shameless in every way we were pleased to take advantage of. Any hopes we’d had about being the coolest members of the audience were devastatingly crushed when we had the good fortune to meet up with the Australian couple Bosko and Honey (on their Ukulele Safari), as well as YouTube ukemeister and Chicago native, Seeso. They’d stopped selling beer at the concessions stand, so we returned to our hotel, congratulated ourselves on having the great sense to make the trip, and, well, you know.
Shawn and LonnaB
You can find Jake’s remaining tour dates here.
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