Jake Shimabukuro's career took off after a YouTube video of him went viral.
Shimabukuro been called the Hendrix of Ukulele (or for you 80s heavy metal fans, theÂ Â Yngwie of Ukulele, as former Hyphen Music Editor Todd Inoue described him). I sawShimabukuro play atÂ Yoshi’s San Francisco on Monday night, and along with his mad ukulele skills, he had an engaging stage presence when telling the little back-stories to each song before performing it.
Maybe the best story Shimabukuro told was his own. It’s about how a little video on YouTube of him playing the Beatles’ “Â While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in Central Park went viral and changed his life. He thanked all the people who e-mailed the video. Without YouTube, “none of this would be possible.”Â He paid tribute by wearing a YouTube sweatshirt after the show when he was signing autographs.
In the last three years, Shimabukuro has peformed a duet of the Beatles’ “Â In My Life” with Bette Midler for the Queen of England, toured the world and played with the likes of Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Buffet, Yo-Yo Ma and Bella and the Flecktones.
It’s got to be a whirlwind for him, but he seems humble and appreciative, signing autographs for everyone who lined up at Yoshi’s even though it probably made him late for his second show of the night. Maybe it’s the laid back Hawaiian style. After all, he ended his show by saying, “If everyone played the ukelele, the world would be a happier place.” I believe him.