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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
 Posted - 10/09/2005 : 11:31:19 PM
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We arrived last Friday, Lynnie had us a floor of a rental house, ocean view and very nicely situated and furnished, just off Ali`i Drive in Kailua-Kona. She's the queen of good travelling. Hopefully Konabob is having a great time on his mainland travels, but he's leaving his buddies high and dry on the BI. We've been checking http://www.konaweb.com for tips, but it seems like I always get the info just after I need it. Like learning about John Keawe's gigs today instead of yesterday, when they were going on.
Saturday was a plenty fun day, even though we missed John. Lynn is really interested in hula and Tahitian dance, and the Hilo Tahiti Fete was happening this weekend. We had a lovely drive from the dry side, over the island to Waimea then on around the north side to Hilo. We got there early enough to visit a few guitar stores (heh heh).
First Pacific Music Connection recommended by Brittni Paiva. Nice looking Lehua tenor uke with rope binding, Australian blackwood (acacia, like koa), but not a compelling tone. I had a dark side moment when I spotted a truly gorgeous metallic teal blue Gibson Firebird VII (reverse headstock, banjo tuners, triple pickups, and a vibrola system), used and bargain priced. Aaaaarrrgggggh!
Next to Hilo Guitars. These guys have a bunch of nice ukes, G String, Kamaka, a house brand, a National. Favorites were a Bushman concert with Acquila strings that really popped, and a G string concert that had a special smooth and musical sound and feel.
Finally, a visit to Music Exchange, conveniently near the Civic Center where the Tahiti Fete was going on. We actually paid them a visit because we're looking for an ipu heke, no luck there. But they did have not one but two K-Wave Rock ukes. Both concerts, one shaped like a mini Fender Telecaster, the other like a Les Paul. I only tried the Tele, and I was surprised by two things - first it was really heavy, and second, it sounded really good! The frets were really tiny, but this little thing played in tune all the way up the neck. Waaahhhhh, I want one!!! I know these are just a rip of the Earnest Instruments Tululele, but this one cost a little more than half of the real thing. Now I have to STAY OUT OF HILO for the rest of the trip.
The Tahiti Fete next. Wow. Just Wow. These folks were good. Now I finally get Tahitian dance. These drummers were good. They were tight, orchestrated, powerful, subtle, compelling. These dancers were good. We watched mostly older solo competitors, who improvised their routines as the drummers went through various rhythms, and they were very impressive. We wound up with demonstrations by two different troupes of dancers, and it was wonderful to see the moves of the solo competition used as building blocks for carefully choreographed group dances.
Another beautiful drive, and we're back in Kona. We've missed the Lim Family and John Keawe. We can't find any Darlene Ahuna performance. If we weren't in paradise, I'd be downright depressed.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 07:45:01 AM
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That post got a bit long, so I thought I'd start a new one for Sunday. Now the internet connection seems to be flaking out, so I probably won't be able to post this tonight. We spent most of the day roaming Kailua-Kona looking for gifts for folks at home. Not my idea, needless to say. Didn't see a decent ukulele all day!!
Another terrible scheduling job, we got done with shopping and back to the house to check the time for the Braddah Smitty show in Waimea - only to discover that it had already started!! We hopped in the car and headed to Waimea, and I'm so glad we did. We arrived for the tail end of the show (4-6 PM, Sundays, Thibault's in Waimea) and quite a show it was. The house was packed, we couldn't get in to the bar where the bad was playing and sat at a table in the next room, where we interrupted our dinner over and over to check out the uproar. The core band consisted of Smitty, a bass player, a second guitarist, and a steel player, but there was a sit in fiddler and a guitarist standing alongside as well. Plenty of ukuleles on the tables, and sure enough folks were coming up to add their stylings to the tunes. Nearly every tune featured a hula dancer from the audience, and naturally the kane dancer got the most reaction and a big hana hou.
We met some folks who were regulars and learned that we should have gotten there by 3:30 to get a seat and let the band know that we wanted to do a tune. Waimea is a different world from Kona, with a different climate, the paniolo influence everywhere, and only the beginnings of the tourist focus we see down here by the coast. It's one of my favorite places on the Big Island, and having seen the community embrace their music so fervently, I love it even more.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 08:02:10 AM
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Fran,
Thanks for posting. I always enjoy your island activities commentary. It's great to read about your fun even though I'm sitting in the office. And I can create a checklist of things-to-do at a future date. |
Andy |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2005 : 6:06:25 PM
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Hey, Andy, this one is probably going in the wrong place because we keep not getting out to see music, but I've got hopes. Today was something maybe more special than a slack key show. We got up early and rushed through the Kailua-Kona traffic to get to Waimea, then on to Waipio for our tour of the Waipio Valley. Oh, my, oh my. The place was amazing, but our guide made it much more than that. Kelly is retired from the local water company, was born in Waipio Valley, has farmed taro part-time in the valley for over 50 years, was walking to school up the near vertical trail when the tsunami hit in 1941.
Story after story, and when we began to discuss the waterfalls and I mentioned the song "Hi`ilawe" he asked if I knew who wrote the song. I told him I'd heard the name Sam Lia, he says "That's right, he was my grandfather, my tutu."
As we drove slowly along the rutted track, fording the streams that cut the valley floor, he pointed out his relatives' homes, the site of the old school and church, his father's old house, the flowers and fruits and plants along the way, until we came to his weekend home, alongside his taro fields. We stopped for a visit, heard about harvesting a thousand pounds of taro in one afternoon, saw his four varieties of bananas, avocado, mango, papaya, squash, macadamia. From his fields he pointed across the valley to a small brown roof - his grandfather's home where he was raised.
The trip back was more stories, more botany, more gorgeous views. One of those days that will be an inspiration. Our tour was with the Waipio Valley Shuttle, 808 775-7121.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2005 : 6:34:08 PM
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Fran,
You're killing me! What an awesome day you and Lynn had. Mahalo for the tip on Waipio Valley Shuttle. |
Andy |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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hwnslacker
Lokahi
USA
295 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2005 : 02:40:43 AM
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Your stories are always great! Fran, here's a project for you, seek out this guys name Marcus Wong-Yuen. (Feel like I'm putting you on a mission)I can reveal more later about who this person is, but when you meet him ask him to play slack key. He is on the Kona side and plays at the hotels. Let him tell you stories of his past as well, tell him I sent you..
Aloha!
Patrick |
Patrick Landeza
www.patricklandeza.com
www.landezapresents.com
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2005 : 02:41:12 AM
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Isn't Waipi`o amazing? Glad you had that experience Fran. Sarah and I hiked down and in and roamed the valley about several years ago. We stayed right on the lip of the valley for 3 days. Once, surprisingly, one of the people, who lived on the valley floor, just saw us passing and invited us in and gave us a tour of his very extensive garden. Very spiritual place.
...Reid |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2005 : 02:00:44 AM
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Patrick, I'm running out of town, we're headed out Friday morning. As usual, now that I'm leaving I'm starting to figure a few things out, and your suggestion to find Marcus would add to the fun, but I probably won't be able to track him down.
Reid, you're so right about the amazing feeling of being in Waipio valley. The town above the valley is a pretty special place as well.
Today was a pretty darned good day, as well. We headed up to Holualoa to visit Sam Rosen at his Ukulele Gallery. The town is another charming spot, not even a wide place in the road, but a few blocks are lined with galleries. We had a lot of fun talking gourds with the proprietor of the Ipu Gallery, and more fun with Sam at the Uke Gallery.
After some snorkeling time we headed out to the Kohala coast to check the music at the Prince hotels. We visited the Mauna Kea first, where The Hawaiian Trio was going through their versions of various classics. Bass, standard acoustic, and steel guitar, and three voices doing the chicken skin blend. Most of their tunes featured English lyrics, but when they asked for requests we went for the hula favorites we love. "Papalina Lahilahi" and "Hula O Makee" and then one that Lynn has studied at her halau, "Kaimana Hila." She gave in for the first time and got up to dance the tune, and she did a lovely job. The guys in the trio were grinning as big as I was.
When the Hawaiian Trio packed up at the Mauna Kea, we headed over to the Hapuna Beach Prince, where Sonny Lim was playing with his Hawaiian Traditions group. It turned out that he had two replacement players, but they played together so smoothly that no one would ever know. When we came in they were doing "Hotel California" by request, but soon they were stringing together a hula medley, then back to the pop stuff. When they asked for requests, naturally we hit them with more traditional Hawaiian stuff. "Uluwehi O Ke Kai" - they had a really interesting, kinda rock-ish arrangement of this old standard. Then "I Kona" and Ed, who was fronting the group, got to show off his super sweet falsetto. Sonny can do great slack key licks in standard tuning, just like Ledward (he later told me they both got the tricks from Uncle Fred Punahoa).
We had a fun chat with Sonny during the break, with Lynn expressing her undying love for Darlene Ahuna - needless to say she was about to kill me when she learned that Sonny had played with Darlene at a gig in Newark, CA last month, right down the road from our house. Oooops, I guess I'm supposed to stay on top of shows passing through our neighborhood.
We finally figured out that Sonny had been in the band with Braddah Smitty at Thiebaut's on Sunday. He recognized us before we recognized him (dumb haoles) and he invited me to bring my guitar for some ki ho`alu tomorrow. Gee, I wonder if I'll go??
Starting the second set, Sonny slacked his really sweet sounding Takamine dread - something new he just picked up with a built-in tube preamp, of all things. He started off by going to a B-flat Mauna Loa to do "Hi`ilawe," then up to F Taropatch for a medley, then back to standard to end the show with some oldies. Even the heavy drinkers at the next table could tell that these guys were something special.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Bd1
Lokahi
USA
114 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2005 : 02:36:51 AM
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| Aloha Fran, That Uke you liked so much sounds like Led's "Hulacaster". I saw him play it at Kaponos in May. His enjoyment playing it was almost as big as the sound of it! |
BD1 |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2005 : 08:19:01 AM
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I left out one of the more impressive tunes Sonny played, it was a piece by Bryan Kessler, one of the performers on the Grammy winning CD, called "Heiau." It's a vocal with deep lyrics about the spiritual power of these Hawaiian temple structures, Sonny played it in Taro F capoed 2, and he was making some very painful looking fingerboard shapes to pull minor chords and more complex extended chords out of the tuning. I could barely enjoy the song I was so busy trying to follow his fingers.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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UncaJohn
Aloha
USA
25 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2005 : 08:56:52 AM
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Whoa...shoots!
What a great thread!
Fran you guys are doing more in a week than we did all last summer!
Warning when you fall in love with Waimea, you will soon move there.
None the less, thanks for your posts. I know it is no easy thing to keep up an active island schedule ...and...post on the internet. Some days these activities are polar opposites in terms of the mind space used. As for me, I've had a tough work week and you took me right out of it with talk of places we love.
It sounds like you worked pout the kinks of finding music, but here is some un-common advice I try to share with BI visitors. At some point quit looking for the music -- quit looking for anything. Just cruise around with your instrument. When you get the feelings, pull over and play -- anywhere you feel right.
Why? Well one thing is you'll have a better chance of connecting with the "_________" and -- as often happens -- a like minded person will join you. You’re in Kona.. You could try the old airport, or the park near mile marker 4 on Ali'i (forgot the name). Or anywhere you drive, you could stop and take a minute or 60.
Hang loose,
John
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Let's go back to the valley, one more time. = ) ...Ekolu |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2005 : 12:41:40 AM
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Sad to say, this is the last night of our Big Island visit. We made a night of it at the Hapuna Beach Prince, catching Sonny and Lorna Lim at the Reef Lounge. We were knocked over to discover that we had been talking to Lorna at Thibault's on Sunday, after the Braddah Smitty gig. She and some friends had a table next to ours, and we wound up in the same circle for "Hawaii Aloha" then got acquainted over Lynnie's questions about the local hula scene. She greeted us like old buds when we arrived at the HBP, so the night started out with warm feelings of aloha, and just kept getting better.
Lorna is quite a dancer, and Sonny playing solo was such a treat. They start the evening at 5:30, then at 8:30 expand to a trio without a dancer. Since this was the hula show they were hitting all our favorites, Sonny handling the vocals and guitar. Ohhhh, man, this guy is good. Smooth and solid and musical as the Mormon Tab Choir, nudging those old luau hula favorites with just a sprinkle of contemporary flavor, then slipping in some great English language tunes like "White Sandy Beaches" with his own rich arrangements.
Since Sonny asked, I felt obligated to bring the guitar along, and got invited up to do a couple of numbers. I did "Nanea Kou Maka" as close to Uncle Ray style as I could manage, then stayed in the same vein with "Pua Sadinia." I tried nodding Sonny into taking a pa`ani but he wasn't having any, he kept his volume down but he was doing some cooooool stuff for backup.
At the next break he sat at our table and went through his versions of some slack key tunes on my guitar - "Punahele" of course, and "Wa`ahila" - such a sweet sound in Double Slack. Hey, when you're a master and tuned to G Wahine you gotta run through "Whee Ha Swing" right? Did he ever! Then back to Taropatch for a chorus of "Ku`u Ipo Onaona" and finished up with a great "Opihi Moemoe." All this great stuff while he's talking story about how he learned the tunes, and how his versions are similar to Ledward's but different.
Turns out that the "regular" trio is Sonny on guitar, sister Lorna on bass, and sister Nani on ukulele, with everybody singing. But Lorna has a two-ish daughter these days, so poppa Wailau Ryder is covering her bass spot. On Wednesday, Nani was tied up so hubby Ed Yap took the front spot, but tonight Nani was back. Ed was in the audience, however, and Lorna was still visiting with Mamma Mary Ann and friends, so we wound up with six performers for the price of three (and the price was free to start with).
After a few numbers by Nani, Wailau, and Sonny, Lorna joined in for some soaring sister duets, then they brought Mary Ann to the stage for her falsetto piece. As Ed said, when the three of them went up to the top of their ranges in harmony, it was the highest triad I'd ever heard. Lorna has a round voice that goes way up there, Nani's tone is clear and light and floats above, while Mamma Mary Ann had to turn down and step back from the mic because her falsetto had explosive power and seemingly limitless range.
Lorna and Mary Ann left, and things were back to the trio, driven by Sonny's virtuoso guitar and Nani's vocals. She also showed some terrific changalang chops on her Kamaka 6 string. Before the evening was over, Ed was called up to take a lead vocal and uke turn, he went for the forties catalog with a swing number complete with blazing ukulele pa`ani. For his hana hou he strolled thorugh a Frank Sinatra medley.
At the next break Lynn got the back scratcher from her Tropical Itch signed by the whole band, and we reluctantly headed home to catch a few hours sleep before packing and leaving. But we feel like we've met a whole new world of musical talent out Kohala way, and we can't wait to return for more exploration.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
Edited by - Fran Guidry on 10/15/2005 6:48:11 PM |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2005 : 05:57:56 AM
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Final final report, sad to say. We're back in Walnut Creek, unpacked, and savoring memories.
Friday morning we had to fly from the Big Island to Maui to catch our return flight (using airline miles so the available flights are limited). At the airport I waited with the luggage while Lynn returned the rental car. I pulled out my pacifier (Epiphoney EF-500M on this trip) and played through a few tunes. At the Island Air counter the rep behind the counter had us hold the guitar back from the luggage processing because he had his uke behind the counter and business was slow. Well alllll right!. Turns out Mr. Vaughn Kalawa has a really enjoyable "delayed picking" style on the uke, oooooooh yeah, this was gonna get really good in about a minute, then his wound third string decided to break and he didn't have a spare and those darned customers started coming and ...
Vaughn leads a family based band called Mele Ka Mana, and they perform mostly around the north end, Kohala and Honoka`a districts. A very personable young man, and someone to look for on our next visit.
Since we had to spend a few hours on Maui I herded us out to Lahaina and met Ken Potts, constructeur d'ukulele. Ken had one customer instrument strung up, a low G concert, and it was very very impressive. I've never heard a concert sound so sweet and full.
http://www.kpukulele.com/
After a dinner with a friend at the Kihei Sansei we headed back to Kahului and the airport, caught a red eye and were back home by 8 in the morning, just in time for Lynnie to head off to hula.
Autumn came while we were gone.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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