Making Music Magazine - Ukulele issue

Making Music has recently released released a ukulele issue featuring a nice write up and interview with Jake Shimabukuro.  You do have to order the full issue, which you can do here.  But you can also read a portion of the interview here.

I've gotta share this Jake quote with you - when asked about what makes the ukulele so appealing here's what he had to say....

"“I used to joke around and tell people that ukulele is the Facebook of instruments. When you play it, you want to find ukulele friends, and have jam sessions. It’s a very social instrument. People don’t have egos with the ukulele —it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been playing; we are all just ukulele players.”

 Made me chuckle a bit, but have to say that he hit the nail on the head.

Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings - watch it here!

This past Friday night this documentary premiered nationally on PBS.  It is a must watch not only for Jake Shimabukuro fans, but for ukulele lovers everywhere!  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did!

Note: this will only play the first 20 minutes of the documentary.  You can keep watching it by clicking "continue watching" when it stops.

Watch Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings on PBS. See more from Jake Shimabukuro: Life On Four Strings.

Jake Shimabukuro interview on the Jim Bohannon Show

Jake Shimabukuro (whose name I still fail to pronounce correctly) is a ukulele virtuoso who has sort of taken the musical world by storm.  His beautiful and intricate ukulele arrangements have helped change the perception of the ukulele from "just a toy" to a serious musical instrument.

This past week, I was very surprised to hear one of his arrangements come over the airwaves on the AM radio station that I work for.  That interlude was followed by the announcement that he was one of the guests that evening.  Listening to him chat with host Jim Bohannon about the ukulele for over half an hour was definitely one of the highlights of my week.

I was able to find the podcast of the show he was featured on.  Here's the link to it.  Hope you enjoy listening to it....just a heads up, his interview doesn't start until 1 hour and 20 minutes into it.

Apparently, he also has a PBS special coming up on May 10th entitled "Life On 4 Strings", which they talk about a little bit.  Can't wait to see that special!

Interview w/ Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments

"They don't make 'em like they used to".  It's an old cliché that rings particularly true with Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments.  Jake spends his days fixing up and reviving pre-WWII instruments out of his family's Rochester, Vermont store.  He certainly picked a good name!  The word "antebellum" is a Latin phrase that literally means "before the war".

On the Antebellum Instruments site, you can check out what Jake is currently working on via his running blog (something that I spend WAY too much time looking at).  You also have the opportunity to buy one of these pieces of musical history - ukuleles, banjos, guitars, mandolins, etc. 

There is a group of people in this world that are absolutely fascinating to me - people who have stories and anecdotes to pass along to you...people who seem like they've done it all....people who are just plain interesting.  From my brief correspondence with Jake, I would have to put him in this category.  I enjoyed every bit of his responses to my questions and I hope you will too!