Jake Shimabukuro's Ukelele Gently Weeps

When a musician does something great on late-night TV, it tends to show up the next morning as a search spike on Google Trends. Here's last night's discovery, ukelele hero Jake Shimabukuro performing George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

O'Brien called it "one of my favorite performances on this show ever." I didn't realize how great Harrison's song was until Prince burned the house down playing it in 2004 with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison at George Harrison's posthumous induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame.

I've watched that Hall of Fame clip dozens of times, but I still can't figure out who catches Prince's guitar at the end.

Music · 2008/02/20 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

To my way of thinking all of George's music was heads above that of the others; the apotheosis for the group as composer and person ...

#1 · tadowe · 2008/02/21

Another video of Jake's "While My Guitar..."

www.youtube.com

#2 · McD · 2008/02/21

Jake Shimabukuro may well be the Andrs Segovia of the ukelele.

I'm surprised that it took Prince, of all people, to make Rogers realize how great the socialist [;-)] George Harrison's song is (Dhani is the spitting image of his father in his youth).

Prince is a genius, but his guitar-playing skills can't hold a candle to Jimi Hendrix's.

#3 · Vince Williams · 2008/02/21

Just catching up on this post -- Prince's guitar is most likely caught by a fellow named Takumi, who was his guitar tech at the time. (It's a stunt he does pretty regularly.) If Takumi wasn't there to catch it, then it would the same bodyguard who was holding Prince up when he did the backwards lean off the stage.

#4 · Anil · 2008/03/02

He's AMAZING! Of course Prince is no Jimi Hendrix, but who else is? I guess this performance fully answers the question of whether or not he belongs in the discussion of who the greatest "living" electric guitar virtuoso is. I'm no expert, but, after listening to some of the most prominent young African/American guitarists, Prince has to be at the top of the list and, to the uninitiated, the name Van Hunt comes instantly to mind. That brother is baddd too!!
"The Hawk"

#5 · Dr. J. Brian Hawkins,II · 2010/08/05