Jake Shimabukuro Chicago area shows Sun Aug 9th

[looking4OPH]

One word---amazing!!!!!

I agree! Great in a small venue like Tiki Terrace. And Jake is such a humble, down-to-earth, TALENTED guy.

Wish they would have had the full menu available for the early show, though.

[Tiki Bar]

One word---amazing!!!!!

I agree! Great in a small venue like Tiki Terrace. And Jake is such a humble, down-to-earth, TALENTED guy.

Wish they would have had the full menu available for the early show, though.

Hey (good) looking! Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, where were your seats? We were a bit disappointed with the menu too... we had looked at it online, and already figured out what we were ordering, and none of it was available. So we had the house salad to tie us over, (and we ran to Subway for chips for my finnicky youngest), and just went to Cheeseburger in Paradise afterward. My mai tai was good though, and Jake tempted my youngest into ordering a Shirley Temple!

As we reflected on the show with big smiles on our faces, an adjective for him came to mind... permagrinspirational!! He's an amazing talent, and no matter how many times you see him, you cannot believe the way his hands work, as he pours himself into creating mind-blowing music and melodies. Big cool! And then he's so darn friendly, genuine, and personable, it just warms your heart to get to talk to him.

He played quite a few songs that were firsts for me... from his new Live album, his songs "Piano Forte" and "Five Dollars Unleaded"... it's always fun to hear his stories of his inspirations for his songs. "Help" by the Beatles, and "Close to You" by the Carpenters, which someone had dedicated to Jessica I believe, whose baby is due September 1st... Jake said it was on his first album, but that it had been so long since he played it, he almost forgot he played it. He seemed to get a bit tender in his intro to Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

He also played familiar favorites - he told the story of how the video of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" somehow ended up on a website called YouTube, and it changed his life forever. He thanked all of us for forwarding that email! "Me and Shirley T" got my daughter to order her Shirley Temple. Always enjoy "Let's Dance", "Third Stream", and "Dragon". And the story of his friend's grandmother who was ill, inspiring "Blue Roses Falling" always makes me tender. He played a few more songs whose names are escaping me at the moment, but that were equally wonderful.

It was fun when Jake was talking about playing with Jimmy at Toyota Park, and that Joe Perry was there!! He was so excited about playing with him, and hanging out with him backstage, and asking him if he could take a picture with him! He was quite thrilled about it!

What a great afternoon spent with my daughters. The last time we had seen ejr, she was in a wheelchair with her back brace on, so it was quite nice to see Ellen up and about, smiling, and enjoying the music.

Permagrinspirational!

[Wino you know]

I kept wishing everyone who was there would've had a ROTTEN time and would've came back to the parking lot to find their vehicles had TWO flat tires.

JUST KIDDING!!! (Honest)

I got to the place at 12:00 Noon right after I dropped Larry off at O'Hare for his flight back to New York. Jake was on stage practicing for the shows.
The two VERY hot babes at the door apologized and told me BOTH shows were sold out.
The manager of the place wasn't even going to let me at least say "hi" to Jake because he was getting ready for the shows.
But, God Bless Jake Shimabukuro, he (Jake) saw me at the door from the stage, stopped what he was doing, flashed a smile at me that was bigger than himself, and motioned for me to come over to the stage where he was practicing.
He remembered me from Hawaii in February & March (in fact, he even asked me if I was the Garry who spelled his name with TWO "R's"). What a guy.
Anyway, those next 20 minutes that he and I talked were truly 20 of the most beautiful minutes of my entire life. He was SO sorry that I wasn't able to get a ticket for either show, and said he wished he'd known I was coming. I told him I didn't know myself until Friday that I'd even try to be there. He was sad that he wasn't able to get me in, but I told him no worries-that, God willing, someday, somewhere, I'd turn up at one of his shows. And if God IS willing, I WILL.
But instead of leaving there sad and disappointed, I left after 20 minutes and took with me something I'll always cherish-a memory of 20 fantastic minutes of a beautiful conversation with a truly beautiful young man with a treasured gift in which he so humbly shares with the world. What made those 20 minutes even more special-it was just HIM AND ME talking to each other. I've met him a few other times, but it was always with several other people around, and our conversations were brief and limited. This time it was just him and me, and, I have to be honest, for an old man simply talking to a young man young enough to be his son, I found myself at first stumbling over my words, and as tense as a young nudnik meeting a world renown celebrity for the first time. But, after a couple minutes, Jake had me so at ease, I wish the conversation could've gone on forever.
AGAIN I told him what I always tell him when I see him-of the ga-zillion times I'd heard the National Anthem, his version on ukelele is by far and away the best. Especially when he played it at Wrigley Field in 2005 just before the concert. I probably need to quit telling him that, because it always gets his eyes (and mine) a bit wet.
I guess what blew me away more than anything else is how genuinely happy he was to see me that he literally STOPPED "WORKING" to take some time to talk with me. JUST ME!
What a guy!
Before leaving, I told him to give my love to his family (whom I've met, and are just as humble people as he is), he said he did miss them and looked forward to seeing them all again.
He'll be at the Indianaoplis concert with Jimmy, then it's on to New York for his Lincoln Center preformance. (I wish I could go with you, Larry).
After those 20 beautiful minutes, we said our goodbyes & Alohas, and I headed for Iowa a VERY happy man who just had a VERY special weekend.
Thanks to everyone who made it special, and a special thank you to a most wonderful and gifted young man, Mr. Jake Shimabukuro.

ALOHA NUI LOA, JAKE.

[lime rickie]

Awesome. Congrats on the special encounter, Garry.

[Karacal]

Awesome, Garry!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!

[Tiki Bar]

I must have just missed you on Sunday Garry... we pulled in the parking lot at 12:25 and went on in. I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy the show, but happy for your visit with Jake.

[looking4OPH]

It was fun when Jake was talking about playing with Jimmy at Toyota Park, and that Joe Perry was there!! He was so excited about playing with him, and hanging out with him backstage, and asking him if he could take a picture with him! He was quite thrilled about it!

And the shout out to Mancow who was in the audience. Just coming back to me now. Ugh.

[Wino you know]

I must have just missed you on Sunday Garry... we pulled in the parking lot at 12:25 and went on in. I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy the show, but happy for your visit with Jake.

You must've just missed me by mere seconds.
As I got into my car to drive home, I looked at the clock and remembered grinning a little because the digital clock said "12:25," and chuckled because that's my birthday.
I thought about waiting for you and Ellen to just say hi to both of you, but I figured neither one of you would get there until show time.

Oh well, no complaints here, because I did have a nice (but very brief) visit with Jake.
I'm glad everyone else had a nice time. It's Jake Shimabukuro-how could you not?