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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1583 Posts |
 Posted - 01/20/2013 : 2:23:29 PM
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After today's 6th Annual Southern California Slack Key Festival (Go, Mitch!) Ledward and Sharon will head north. Ledward will be playing at several venues around the San Francisco area before heading up to Oregon and Washington.
I'll be opening the shows in California, introducing Ledward and discussing a bit of slack key history and playing a few tunes. Needless to say, it's an honor and a privilege and a ton of fun to travel and perform with this guy. The only way to make it better is to run into a bunch of Taropatchers along the way.
In case you don't obsessively visit Ledward's website to check his schedule http://ledkaapana.com/concerts.htm like I do, here's a list of the shows we'll be playing together:
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1583 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2013 : 07:21:22 AM
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Don Quixote's is an unlikely place in so many ways. It's in Felton, which is basically a wide space in the road with a couple of stoplights, a health food store, and a bar. And Don Quixote's is the bar. The town is located well off the winding and weaving wonder that is Highway 17 as it crosses the Santa Cruz mountains. But in this surprising out of the way location, Don Quixote's serves up Mexican food and a remarkable array of music http://www.donquixotesmusic.info/ everything from classical to punk to Hawaiian.
Nearby Santa Cruz was the site of the first mainland surfing, when three Hawaiian princes attending a nearby school demonstrated surfing there in 1885. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_13863440 These days the area is one of the mainland centers of `ukulele enthusiasm, and Hawaiian music is featured on a number of local radio stations.
All the shows I've seen at Don Quixote's have been well attended, but last night the crowd was larger, and warmer, than ever. Plenty of old friends, like Norm Markowitz who shoots YouTube video of many of the Hawaiian shows in the area https://www.youtube.com/user/markwitz/videos?flow=grid&view=0 and Julie Hendriks who decorates the stage to make Hawaiian artists feel at home. And plenty of new fans of Hawaiian music, folks who have visited Hawai`i recently, or been encouraged by friends.
Ledward was in fine voice, and still brings out new tricks and licks in every song. He did a number of requests from the audience, wowed them with some `ukulele tunes, even called me out to play a few "backyard style" jams before he closed the show. I would say that the mission to bring a little warmth to the chilly NorCal winter is well under way.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2013 : 12:36:44 PM
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It was great to see you again Fran.
Few things are as enjoyable as being in a room with Ledward Kaapana.
If you are lucky enough to be near one of the stops listed above, you are in for a treat.
From his concert at Don Quixite's in Felton, California.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hns4ej4y_mo Kolomona Slack Key
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkmq3XPFUXw 'Opihi Moemeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSBI3n18-6M Pipeline/Ghostriders In The Sky |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
Edited by - markwitz on 01/24/2013 12:38:18 PM |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2013 : 12:46:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Fran Guidry
Nearby Santa Cruz was the site of the first mainland surfing, when three Hawaiian princes attending a nearby school demonstrated surfing there in 1885. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_13863440
Plenty of old friends, like Norm Markowitz who shoots YouTube video of many of the Hawaiian shows in the area https://www.youtube.com/user/markwitz/videos?flow=grid&view=0
Heck Fran, I even have a video of the event you refer to in the newspaper article above, about the Three Hawaiian Princes that brought surfing to the mainland, first in Santa Cruz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3a_njM3zhQ Three Hawaiian Princes Day In Santa Cruz |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
Edited by - markwitz on 01/24/2013 12:55:11 PM |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1583 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2013 : 08:02:22 AM
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Norm, thanks a lot for the clips. Great to see you at Don Quixote's.
Yesterday we took a drive out to Sacramento for a show at Harlow's. This is a very happening nightclub with a totally eclectic mix of performers, from heavy metal to the latest hip hop trends with plenty of folk and blues mixed in. The Sacramento area has a rich history that includes a Hawai`i connection going back to the gold rush days when John Sutter hired Hawaiians to handle the boats for his shipping company.
Our crowd included a lot of long time Ledward fans along with plenty of newly convinced fans who raided the CD table to take some of the magic home with them. Ledward as always gave us that irresistible mix of familiar tunes with surprising new licks and twists. One highlight was an `ukulele version of "Never on Sunday" that went through five key changes, then there was a "Weeha Swing" that was absolutely turbocharged.
Traffic was light and we made good time getting home, so we still had enough energy to pull out the guitars and jam in the living room. One tune after another, one sweet lick on top of another, before we knew it the clock was telling us 2:30 AM and we were done for the day.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
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markwitz
`Olu`olu
USA
841 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2013 : 12:58:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Fran Guidry
Traffic was light and we made good time getting home, so we still had enough energy to pull out the guitars and jam in the living room. One tune after another, one sweet lick on top of another, before we knew it the clock was telling us 2:30 AM and we were done for the day.
Fran
Like I told you Fran. You're living a dream. |
"The music of the Hawaiians, the most fascinating in the world, is still in my ears and
haunts me sleeping and waking."
Mark Twain |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1583 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2013 : 2:26:56 PM
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Norm, it's definitely what I'd ask for as a birthday present <grin>. But it's not all sweet music and funny stories.
The lapse in gig reports was triggered by “one of those” evenings. Thinking back to some of my writeups of gigs and trips, I realized that the story I have told is missing one critical dimension - the down side, the flops, the booboos, the missed connections and miserable weather, grumpy tempers and bad directions and missed communications that are always a part of human endeavor. We don't want to dwell on the negatives, but sometimes things do go wrong, don't they?
The quaint and charming Rancho Nicasio hosted us for a Sunday evening Luaua. Lovely, but we had three or four (it's hard to keep track) different show times floating around due to those communication problems, so we left extra early in order to make all of them. But I took a wrong turn and then the iPhone sent us the scenic (read "carsicky") route.
We got to the show in plenty of time but we definitely weren't flowing, and the flow really stopped when the sound man couldn't get a signal from my guitar, even though all the signs on my end were good. So a last minute battery change, the battery is inside the guitar soundhole so we have to loosen the strings, and the silly string winder freezes up and won't wind any more. Wind strings by hand, get the new battery (which is really an old one from the bottom of my gear bag and is weaker than the one it replaced) in and now the signal is showing up at the board, but there's massive low end feedback and woofiness. Naturally when that is cured the result is a thin and uninspiring sound from the monitors. Am I whining yet?
Finish up sound check, I have a spinach salad with grilled chicken except they substitute a piece of scorched cardboard for my chicken. Go up to do my set and crisis - I can't see my dots on the neck of the guitar which means "oops" I'm going to "arggh" hit some clams at critical "eeeek" moments. I take some wounded pride in the fact that I didn't collapse in a writhing mass or run from the stage, just played through the clinkers with a red face.
Ledward hit the stage and got things rolling but amazingly he's having some little issues as well. Not clinkers, but he's not really nailing every note like he usually does. Turns out the monitor mix and lack of light is getting to him as well. After the break we beg the soundman for a little more light onstage, and Led tears up the `ukulele portion of his set, then calls me up for our end-of-show jam. Now the low end feedback is happening again on my guitar, and since I’m playing the low line I’m fighting every note. Between songs WE WAKE UP THE SOUNDMAN to get him to deal with the feedback but of course he just kills all the bass …
Naturally we just kept trucking, happy to do our best to deliver some nice Hawaiian music to the audience. And seeing folks smile, hearing how much they enjoyed the show, meeting old friends and making new ones, it makes it all worthwhile. But it isn’t always without a bit of stress here and there.
Happily, things have been running much more smoothly since then. We played our first time at the new Sweetwater Music Hall where a capacity crowd got swept up in Ledward’s songs and stories. The Sweetwater has been a legendary part of the Marin County music scene since the 70s, and the management seems determined to see this new incarnation top the old one. I loved the younger guy at the break, telling me that he was a big fan of Clapton and Hendrix but he couldn't believe what Ledward was doing on the guitar.
Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage is another living legend of a venue. I played sensitive singer songwriter stuff at the original coffee house, then did open mics and shows with Patrick Landeza at the second home of the venue, as well as opening for Ledward there. Of course the new theater, constructed from the ground up after years of planning and fund raising, with a state of the art Meyer Sound Labs PA, is a dream gig. The turnout was simply wonderful, lots of island folks, lots of island lovers, lots of old Led fans and new ones, friends of mine from work and play.
Our visit to the Club Fox in Redwood City was a lot of fun, especially because we ran into so many friends. Lawrence and Cynthia, Nadine, Cousin Al, Dale and Stephanie, slack key enthusiasts, a hula dancer for “I Kona.” Unfortunately the venue had booked a dance show for the same evening, so we had to wind up after only an hour, but Ledward made sure the music was pouring off the stage the whole time.
Now we have a most of the week off, time for some shopping, some snoozing, maybe a little sight seeing, and of course plenty of jamming.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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Haolenuke
Lokahi
USA
117 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2013 : 09:31:55 AM
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Hello Fran,
My girlfriend and I were very fortunate to attend your show at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station on Saturday. I think that this was the finest slack key show that I've ever been to. You guys played a fantastic set and Uncle Ledward played better than I've ever heard him play before. My girlfriend grew up in Kauai, and she was ecstatic with the performance. If you guys played any clinkers, I sure didn't hear them.
The venue was warm and intimate. The chairs were comfortable. The cell phones were turned off. And the sound was simply astonishing. I do wish that I had seen a few more young faces in the crowd, so that I could be assured that the treasure that is Slack Key music will be passed on to the next generation. Everyone at the show was obviously in tune with your fine performance. I hope to catch another show soon. Perhaps the tiple will be ready for prime time, by the time that the next show comes to town.
Best Regards,
Michael Leahy |
Edited by - Haolenuke on 02/17/2013 09:34:49 AM |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1583 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2013 : 1:19:10 PM
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Michael, thanks so much for coming out to the show. I can really identify with your comment on the age of the audience, and the search for young faces. But on some level I think it may be OK that Hawaiian music is more the choice of the mature listener. I sometimes wish I'd discovered it earlier, but I'm also very happy to have this wonderful "new" art and culture to learn about in my later years.
The Dance Palace is a treasure. As you say, the facility is first class, very respectful of both the audience and artists. I saw my first Ledward show there, then I played there with Patrick Landeza and Dennis Kamakahi. I've played background music for the annual meeting as well. But naturally jamming with Mr. Kaapana is one of those experiences that transcends.
I'll see about getting somebody to tweak the tiple a bit so we can take it on the road.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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Haolenuke
Lokahi
USA
117 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2013 : 06:58:26 AM
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Hello Fran,
Congratulations on your time jamming with Uncle Ledward. I doubt that things could get much better than that.
I've read that for most people the music that they love all through their lives is what they listened to when they were 14 years old. I have a hard time imagining future 80 year olds listening to the rap music of their youth. Perhaps some of these slack key shows could offer free admission for kids to get them hooked while they are still young.
Good luck with your tiple, and if you guys take requests, I would really like to hear someone play Leonard Kwan's New Opihi Moe Moe. I have Uncle Leonard's CD with that mele on it, but I've never heard it played live.
Best Regards,
Michael Leahy
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Ledward Kaapana is on the road
