Your town might have a local character like my town’s legendary Shaky Jake. Sadly, Jake passed away a few years ago, but you can rest assured his story will live on; his local fame definitely dwarfed that of any mayor, university figure, or local professional entertainers or artists. You may know about Jake even if you’ve never been in the area, but if you don’t, a little background is necessary before I explain why you might want to “Shake it Like Jake”.
To many, Jake was just a flamboyant bum. Even when summer temperatures soared into the 90’s, he always wore his suit, hat, and fancy shoes, sometimes accompanied by a brightly colored boa or scarf. He also always had his trusty guitar in its battered case, which most people would say was always out of tune. I’d argue that’s western harmonic tuning bias at work, but we’ll get back to that. What most people didn’t realize – or what they never bothered to take the time to figure out – was that Jake was NOT a bum. I defy anyone to step forward who can say that Jake ever asked them for money on the street. He simply didn’t. Sometimes Jake’s guitar case would be open for donations as he strummed and “jaked” the afternoon away, but giving him money was YOUR choice. And you probably would. But if you put some money in the case, you were – in point of fact – paying Jake for BEING JAKE.
The fact is, Jake held jobs and lived somewhere, and the rest of whatever Jake was was a result of whatever people BELIEVED he was. This became evident at his funeral, which probably had ten times as many people in attendance as yours or mine will. The funeral home where the memorial was held was so packed that they were piping audio and video to overflow rooms which were standing-room-only, and there were still people OUTSIDE. There were a lot of insightful and funny anecdotes shared that day. One of the funnier ones was shared by local martial arts school owner Keith Hafner, who told the crowd about how he used to help Jake out by paying for pressings of Jake’s CD (download the whole thing here, if you dare) which had been around for years. He more or less donated them to Jake, who sold them on the streets, usually for about ten bucks. Since Hafner routinely passed Jake on the street, he’d buy some of them back and put them in his office, knowing he could order that many fewer discs eventually. Another local business owner shared one of Jake’s real secrets. She told the story of how just about every time she saw him, even if she just saw him the day before, he’d say “You lookin’ GOOD today! You lose weight or somethin’? C’mon. Who doesn’t love to hear that? Which highlights one of the most important things about Jake, which is something most people probably never noticed. Jake NEVER had bad things to say about anybody, in fact he probably would say something NICE. Except of course when he was hollerin’ his trademark “On the MOVE!”
So what am I really saying when I suggest you “shake it like Jake”? That you dress funny, rely on others for support, and wander the streets of your town? Heck no. If you’ve been paying any attention at all, the real lessons that Jake taught us were simple:
Be exactly who you want to be.
Be nice to people.
Stay ON THE MOVE.
Jake was exactly who was, and made a living at it. He never said bad things about people. He never begged, people just gave him money. Because HE WAS SHAKEY JAKE! I don’t imagine anyone’ll be paying me just for being Ian Gray any time soon, and I don’t know if I’ve truly made a lasting impact on anyone. But I know Jake definitely left his mark on ME. I remember when I was about ten, heading to the pinball arcade. Jake would yell “Better get home pee wee! Yo mama’s lookin’ for ya!” As I grew older, we’d actually end up small talking now and then, and I still have the wacky tie he gave me one day years ago when I was a waiter. It has a label that proudly proclaims “100% NYLON”. I’ll also never forget the year I had to work a week-long fair confined in a 12×12 foot booth. Most of each day, Jake was planted nearby strumming that crazy guitar of his. And you know what I figured out? In spite of what everyone perceived as out of tune random strumming, after about two hours, you realized the dude had this amazing shaman-like pulse in there. He was probably summoning spirits with that thing all along.
Jake had a lot of tall tales about bars in New Orleans named after him, and how he was born a midget, but when the doctor left the room, he grew six inches. But that’s all just part of the package.
Mostly, Jake was Jake, and made a living just being Jake. Can you say the same?
