Bare Naked Brain Fodder

Tuesdays Tune – Jake Shimabukuro does Bohemian Rhapsody

I’m not sure there’s a better ukulele player than Jake Shimabukuro. The guys is so solid on the uke.

I remember first seeing him do a cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” sometime in 2006 and it literally brought me to tears. I had never heard anyone play the ukulele in such a manner. It had a lasting impression on me that would never dwindle.

One of the things I love about Jake is he’s really tuned into the surfing culture, which makes a lot of sense considering he’s from Hawaii.

I had the pleasure of meeting him at a fundraiser for the California Surf Museum a few years ago and he was such a stand up guy. He loves to bring smiles to people’s faces, and boy oh boy does he love to strum that ukulele.

Watch the video below as he does a cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody…

Continue Reading

I was just digging through some footage and found this video I filmed on my Olympus underwater camera that I use for surfing. Because I take this camera in the Ocean, the audio isn’t super perfect but it’s not too shabby either.

The video below is Hawaiian Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and Cardiff’s legendary local surfer Rob Machado. I feel bad for not remembering the girl’s name who was singing. Her voice helped make the song very soothing. It was many months ago when I filmed this and met them so that’s partly why I don’t remember her name.

The show was at the Grace Chapel Theater in Oceanside CA for a fundraising event for the California Surf Museum.

I was pretty stoked to pick up this 5’11″ Rusty board made with “All Green” materials at the auction. And was equally as happy to get to spend a bit of time with Jake at the museum before the show. The guy is truly a class act.

Continue Reading