Twist My Arm Enough and I Will Go

On Tuesday evening, Adam convinced me to go to a concert to see Jake Shimabukuro, a world renowned ukulele player, who undeniably got his big break as a YouTube sensation for a clip of his "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." (Keep in mind, this was 2 years before YouTube was used to win Barack Obama the election.) Jake has toured with the likes of Jimmy Buffett and has been performing as a solo artist for the last year.

It's hard to explain how a ukulele player could be so captivating, but Jake is unbelievably talented and has a funny, self-assured/self-deprecating shtick between songs. For example, he composed a song called "Me & Shirley T." about drinking Shirley Temples as a kid and getting a sugar high. He told us he didn't find out until a year after he'd been performing the song that Shirley Temple is a real person!




Then, last night, we went to the Wild stadium in downtown St. Paul to watch two MN high school hockey championship games. To say I was skeptical is an understatement... why should I pay $20 to see high school hockey?? To experience a MN obsession, that's why! In the sold-out 18,000+ stadium, we witnessed the dominant Eden Prairie take down Blaine. As my two native Minnesota friends explained to me, they'd have loved to watch Eden Prairie lose, but so it goes with the perennial team-to-beat. We also watched the Moorehead SPUDS beat the St. Paul private school Cretin Hall, which caused me a little grief. First of all, the SPUDS?? Like, as in, potatoes?? Plus, with all the anti-private school cheers, I had to feel a little solidarity with Cretin.

But did I have fun? Oh, yes!