SLCene Suggests: Jake Shimabukuro at Peery’s Egyptian Theatre

JAKE SHIMABUKURO, PEERY’S EGYPTIAN THEATRE, Ogden, Saturday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., $20

I’m not completely on board with this re-emergence of the ukulele as a go-to instrument. Eddie Vedder’s solo album and all manner of cutesy indie-rockers have embraced the instrument that the public school system of Knob Noster, Missouri, would force us to play as a means to learning how to read music when I was a kid. Suffice to say, the sound of 30 or so third-graders plucking away at the ukulele is enough to scar a person for life. That said, I’ve seen the man playing the awesome Peery’s Egyptian Theatre this weekend, and while Jake Shimabukuro is probably not the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele” that some have labeled him, he is certainly the best, most entertaining ukulele player I’ve ever heard. You might have caught him a few years back at the Twilight Concert Series. If you did, you know what I’m talking about. If you didn’t consider a trip to O-town on Saturday, and be sure to stop at Brewski’s on 25th Street while you’re there.