Tag Archives: Bohemian Rhapsody

Jake–Gifts Beyond Measure

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Monday evening, for probably the sixth time, we saw the virtuoso ukulele player, Jake Shimabukuro, perform at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria.

Physically, Jake is rather diminutive, proving yet again that giants come in all sizes. His intimate connection with his music and his obvious joy when he performs keep him looking much younger than the 46 years in which he has graced the planet with his talent. You can read his biography here. https://jakeshimabukuro.com/biography/

The main Birchmere performance hall seats 500 guests at tables for six people each. It is a massive space, but in the hands of someone like Jake, it becomes remarkably intimate. We have seen Jake and other performers at the Birchmere many times. This time he was doing his magic on a Monday night and while the doors opened at 5 pm, the show wasn’t scheduled until 7:30. We figured to have plenty of time to arrive around 6:15 and finish dinner before the show started. The parking lot rings one half of the large building that houses the venue. We were shocked to find it was almost completely full when we arrived. The crowd knew Jake and had come early for the best seats. There were probably a few empty spots at show time but not many.

Jake wastes no time in displaying his prodigious musical gifts. It can be overwhelming for first-timers. You just can’t anticipate such sounds from a ukulele, even one electrically amplified. When Jake bounded onto the stage, the audience went nuts. He was obviously excited to be back at the Birchmere, and they were equally excited to see him again.

I don’t have words adequate to convey the power and quality of Jake’s playing. This evening he was accompanied by a young electric bass player, Jackson Waldhoff who has some impressive chops of his own:

[Waldhoff]  grew up in Kyoto, Japan, and moved to Hawaii when he was 15 years old. Jackson did not speak English at the time, and started to play music as a way to break language barriers. Later he fell in love with bass guitar, and decides to follow his passion for music. Since then Jackson has performed and recorded with wonderful artists such as Jake Shimabukuro, Mick Fleetwood, Alan Parsons, Sonny Landreth, Keb Mo, Sam Bush, Taku Hirano, Fiji, Mark Yamanaka, Conner Johnson, and many others. [https://www.jacksonwaldhoff.com/]

After a few pieces, Jake welcomed Conner Johnson to the stage. Johnson was an “America’s Got Talent” contestant whose voice and guitar riffs attracted Jake’s attention. He clearly loved to sing. Johnson performed and sang several great pieces, among them the amazing Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

We thought Johnson would stay for the remainder of the show, but he departed after four or so pieces. We anticipated the show would wrap up soon thereafter, but Jake has so much fun performing that he continued with bassist Waldhoff into the night. He managed to work in two of my absolute favorite pieces, While My Guitar Gently Weeps [https://tinyurl.com/mr2scjjr] and Sakura, Sakura [ https://tinyurl.com/ye2aat4r?v=FuqdeFqtxCg]

Then, when we were sure the show was about to end, Jake broke into the great anthem by Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYhcN8p4yhg] followed by, yes, We Will Rock You. On the ukulele. The audience was transfixed, singing the words (hundreds of people knew the words) as everyone joined in the excitement.

The YouTube videos of Jake playing do not do justice to his astonishing talent. But they give you a small hint of what it’s like to witness his performance live. If you ever have the chance to see him, do yourself a favor. You will, quite simply, be amazed and uplifted.

Two closing notes.

Jake played for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, which is extraordinary in itself. He closed the show by thanking everyone involved in producing it and the people in the venue, the waiters, the cook-staff in the kitchen, and delivered a message to the young people in the audience to stay drug-free. After all that, he appeared in the outer hall to speak with every person there who wanted to meet him. He stood for hugs, for photos, signing CDs, books, shirts, ukeleles. Always smiling. Always friendly. Never rushing anyone. The line was long – my wife waited in it for over a half hour and there were still many people behind her when she finally had her minute with Jake. She had him sign her CD and, typically, another one for the kumu hula (hula master) for her hula troupe with which she has been dancing hula for more than 15 years. Jake was probably there another half hour or more speaking to the last guests who wanted to meet him.

The other note is that Jake’s website mentions one of his

dearest friends and favorite singers — Pōmaika`i Keawe. In addition to her incredible musical talent, Jake is always so inspired to see how much time she dedicates to local non-profit organizations, lifting up the community through outreach opportunities. Pōmaika`i had always wanted to record “Ho`okahi Akua,” as a tribute to her late grandmother, the legendary Aunty Genoa Keawe. It was Aunty Genoa who arranged the music with the help of her friend Malia Craver who provided the Hawaiian translation. They had originally recorded the song during the pandemic and both were in tears by the end of it. Fate would have it that the song had to be re-recorded and the recent track captured the more hopeful and joyful feelings they now share.

As it happens, Pōmaika`i Keawe is the daughter of Eric and Marlene Keawe who are wonderful friends of ours in Hawaii. The entire Keawe family are exceptionally talented musicians on multiple instruments, carrying on a multi-generational love of Hawaiian music and culture. Pōmaika’i’s voice is spectacular. We were thrilled to see the entire family perform at a local show some years ago on a visit to Oahu and had dinner with them on our last visit. We saw Jake at the Hawaii Blue Note together. Eric on his guitar accompanied my wife’s surprise performance of a special hula dance as a treat for the audience at a travel industry business conference where she spoke a few years ago. She and he were a smashing success. It’s Hawaii. It’s what they do.

Now, go see Jake.

Murdering “Cats”

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The critics have apparently done it again. Sneering snidely, they have likely sunk any chance of success for the movie Cats, the film version of the long-running Broadway musical. Having seen and enjoyed the musical a few times, we decided to ignore the critics and went to the movies. After battling our way through throngs of people there for the twenty-third running of the Star Wars quintology (not a real word but it fits), also slammed by some critics, we sat in a nearly empty theater as the opening scene appeared.

To be clear, the movie version of Cats has some serious flaws; I about to tell you what they are. But to say that the movie is a “disaster,” etc. as some critics have exclaimed, is, I think ridiculous.

First, one must recognize that the Cats story is a fantasy intended to entertain. It is not a serious thing, except perhaps in one way I’ll come to. It was, after all, a musical based on some poems about cats. If you want to taste the kind of over-analyzed attempts to give some profound meaning to the story, you have many choices but a good one is https://screenrant.com/cats-movie-ending-explained-grizabella-heaviside-layer/ It’s a spoiler in many ways, however, so you may want to avoid it and the others if you’re considering watching the movie (it likely will be “free” on some Internet service soon since it’s being massacred at the box office). I am, frankly, tired of critics condemning works of art because they don’t fit some pre-conceived narrative of what “should” have been done.

Second, the musical is recognized even by the critics (however grudgingly) as much-loved by audiences. According to Wikipedia, the “London production ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances, while the Broadway production ran for 18 years and 7,485 performances, making Cats the longest-running musical in both theatre districts for a number of years.” That doesn’t count the many other performances (like Washington DC where I first saw it). Not bad for a fluffy piece of fiction with a somewhat puzzling story line and no dialogue.

Third, all that notwithstanding, the movie version has some serious flaws. They detract from the heft of the music and special effects, sometimes in major ways. First, and most serious for me, is the modern practice of having the camera viewpoint constantly shifting from one vantage point to another every few seconds. Rather than letting you see a dance scene as a whole, the director, or whomever, has the camera viewpoint constantly changing.

One moment it’s on the lead dancer, Victoria, played by the stunning Francesca Hayward, who in real life is a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at London’s Covent Garden. Then it shifts to a group of cats dancing, then back to Victoria, then to another cat doing something different, then to the entire scene from a different vantage than the first one, and so on and so on. Why, I have to ask, when you have a talent as beautiful and skilled as Francesca Hayward as a main character do you not just show her dancing as the center of attention in the larger frame? If you were watching a live ballet you likely would focus most of your attention on her. But, no, the director, or whoever makes these decisions, wants us to see everything from a constantly changing viewpoint.

This practice is commonplace in music videos I have seen (rarely to completion) but I suggest it does not belong in the staging of a musical as movie.

Fourth, there are several “episodes” in the movie version that occupy an inordinate amount of space/time seemingly to accommodate the actors chosen for the roles. These include James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Jason Derulo. I was struck that at the end of the movie, when the credits roll, Corden was given top billing. I lack the imagination to understand how that could be warranted by anything related to the movie.

Fifth, the most iconic music from the stage version is, of course, Memory. It is sung by the aged and defeated Grizabella, played in the movie by the powerful Jennifer Hudson. Unfortunately, her rendition is an over-wrought downer, over-acted and overwhelmed. I don’t fault Hudson. This had to be the director’s choice and it was a bad one.

Finally, the handling of Macavity, played, inexplicably, by Idris Elba, was a major error. In the story he is a malevolent creature with magical powers and the presentation seems discordant with the rest of the story, albeit that it contains many fantasy elements throughout.

Well, then, with all those flaws, how did the critics go wrong? The answer, I think, is in condemning the whole because of a few defects, unhappy ones, to be sure, but hardly fatal to the overall concept. In the end the story is about redemption, goodwill and generosity triumphing over evil and selfishness. It is a fantasy, a divertissement that should not be taken seriously. It is intended to amuse you and, in the end, lift you up. I thought that, flaws notwithstanding, it did that. It’s a movie, after all, not a major philosophical dissertation.

I suspect it’s too late for a “market correction” that might save this movie from the dust heap where severe criticism tends to push productions that the true critics don’t like. Too bad. Many people who would enjoy the spectacle will now miss it because self-important and self-appointed “experts” have decided that the movie is a “debacle.” Debacles do happen in Hollywood as elsewhere, but I don’t think this Cats is fairly condemned.

P.S. — I had a similar response to the critics’ treatment of Bohemian Rhapsody [see https://autumninnewyork.net/2018/11/04/bohemian-rhapsody-ignore-critics/] that, according to Wikipedia, grossed over $903 million worldwide on a production budget of about $50 million, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2018 worldwide and setting the all-time box office records for the biopic and drama genres. The film earned 4 Oscars and was Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, among other awards and nominations. Just saying. Since the Bohemian Rhapsody post was in the AutumnInNewYork.net blog, I am simultaneously posting the Cats piece in both blogs.