The first time I saw Jake Shimabukuro play the ukulele was four years ago on a PBS special. He was performing with The Makaha Sons.

I remember being extremely impressed with his mastery of the instrument and his lightening fast fingers. I also remember having the toughest time pronouncing his last name.

A year later, I bought a ukulele in Hawai'i and attempted to learn how to play it. It was a disaster. Give me a piano and my fingers have no trouble running across the keys. Give me a ukulele and my fingers trip and stumble over every string and fret. The frustrating experience made me appreciate Jake's skills even more.

Around that same time, I remember searching music stores for his albums, but I could never find a copy for less than $20, which was discouraging.

Every once in a while, he would pop up on television, blow me away, and inspire me to try my hand at the ukulele again. Usually, though, my hand would refuse to relive the humiliation. Actually, both hands would refuse, but that's not important.

I hadn't heard or seen Shimabukuro play for while, but yesterday, a video of him appeared on the Yahoo! front page. The video is from a year ago and it shows him playing an astounding rendition of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"...

After watching it, I stumbled across what I consider a more amazing performance. In the following video, Jake plays a song called "Let's Dance"...

According to his site, he'll be performing in San Francisco and Monterey next weekend. I've been longing to hear some live Hawaiian music, so I'm very tempted to buy tickets just to see him play.