We went to hear Jake Shimabukuro at the Center for the Arts in Natick, MA (TCAN) last night. Wow! For those of you who don't know of him, he's the hottest thing in the ukulele universe right now. Having added uke to my repertoire (I've played guitar for 50+ years) a year and a half ago, I was really looking forward to hearing him live. But I was also apprehensive in that I was somewhat afraid that he'd be all pyrotechnics without musical sophistication. Wrong! There were the expected pyrotechnics, of course, but his musicianship was of the highest caliber and his setlist was enjoyably all over the map. His group was a trio, with a fine bassist and a really good guitarist who was particularly adept at tasty ambient effects. They all played with preamps/pedalboards through the excellent house PA (no amps), which sounded great and made for a very clean stage setup. Whether you uke or not, if you get a chance to hear Jake live, do it!