Episode 140 - Jake Shimabukuro

Above The Basement - Boston Music and Conversation

We met up with Jake Shimabukuro before his concert in front of a sold out crowd at Cary Memorial Hall in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Jake became an international sensation in 2006 when a YouTube video of him playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps in Central Park - without his knowledge - became one of the very first viral videos on that site with millions of views.

Jake plays the ukulele (which we also discovered can be pronounced "ookelele") - and has performed at numerous festivals including the Stockholm Jazz Festival and Blue Mountains Music Festival and has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, A Prairie Home Companion, NPR’s Morning Edition and World Cafe, and has spoken at several TED conferences.

In 2012, an award-winning documentary was released tracking his life, career, and music, titled Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings.

Jake is the founder The Four Strings Foundation, which creates music education workshops nationwide and provides ukuleles and other materials and training tools to schools and music teachers.

Song List:

Song 1: While My Guitar Gently Weeps Song 2: Clip from the "Wow" kid - Courtesy of WCRB Classical Radio Boston & The Handel and Haydn Society Song 3: Bohemian Rhapsody Song 4: Chuck Minor (a brand new song!!!!) Song 5: The Greatest Day