More Kaleponi News - 2007

Nov 28, 2007

Acoustic Guitar Showcase at Bazaar Cafe, Wed Nov 28, 7 PM

We're back from our autumn visit to O`ahu with our musical batteries all charged from seeing many of our favorite artists around the island.

Now that Thanksgiving is done (we've almost finished off the leftovers) we're ready to gear up for some more music. This week I'll be part of Teja Gerken's Acoustic Guitar Showcase in San Francisco.

Teja is the managing editor of Acoustic Guitar Magazine and a fingerstyle guitarist/composer of some note. He has been hosting the monthly Acoustic Guitar Showcase at the Bazaar Cafe for a number of years. Several years ago he included one of my mentors, Patrick Landeza, in one of his shows. So this feels like an important step for me, presenting my slack key in "The City" for the first time.

Sep 8, 2007

I'm Opening for Ledward Kaapana!!!

Wow, am I excited! I have been invited to open three shows for Ledward Kaapana. If you don't know Led, let me describe him as one of the greatest slack key players ever, an amazing performer, and an absolutely world class musician. You can see his bio and discography at his web site, http://www.ledkaapana.com. Led has been a huge influence on my playing, starting with his recordings and his video and progressing through workshops and finally to jam sessions and guest appearances at some of his shows.

On Sunday, the 9th, the show will be at the Palms Playhouse in Winters, a hip club located in a 19th century opera house, a little over a half hour from the SF Bay Area.

Monday, the 10th, we'll be at Don Quixote's in Felton. There are plenty of Hawaiian music fans in the neighborhood so I'm expecting lots of folks will make it to this show.

The final stop on this mini-tour is the lovely Rancho Nicasio - always a great spot for a luau and some slack key. This show will include the terrific vocals and `ukulele of recording artist Faith Ako and hula by Halau Hula Na Pua O Ka La`akea. We saw Ledward at Rancho Nicasio earlier this year and it was a terrific evening.

The three shows all start at 8 PM.

Aug 4, 2007

A Busy Month

August has turned out to be a busy month, with two major festivals and a coffee shop gig. Check out the calendar for details.

The San Francisco Aloha Festival is a large gathering of Pacific Islanders and fans of the music and culture. This was my third year to provide a slack key workshop and it's always fun to try to gain a few more converts to the style.

The Healdsburg Guitar Festival is a long running event held every other year. The last few events have been in Santa Rosa since attendance outgrew the original Healdsburg site. This three day event gives independent luthiers (guitar builders) an opportunity to show their creations to players and collectors. The program also includes a number of workshops aimed at players as well as builders, along with brief concerts in two locations. This will be my first year as workshop instructor and performer, and I'm feeling quite honored to be part of such a prestigious event.

We've been learning about YouTube and video, and we've posted a few clips from a couple of recent afternoon shows. Stop by www.youtube.com/franguidry to see the results.

Jun 12, 2007

A Taste of Our Visit to O`ahu

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since we returned from our O`ahu visit, but I'm finally getting around to posting a couple of tidbits. Many of our favorite musicians live and work on O`ahu, so we love to find a reasonable rental on the windward side, spend the day at the beach, then head out in the evening to enjoy great Hawaiian music.

Kailua Beach is one of the loveliest in the world, and our last few rentals have been just a short walk away from that beach. Here's a wide shot of the beach looking toward Kane`ohe:

Lynnie loves to frolic with our friends and the dogs that are lucky enough to get beach walks:

Another big advantage of the windward side, it's close to the Ko`olau Golf Course, home of the new Honey's lounge. This is where the music really takes off on Sunday afternoon, when Mike Kaawa, Ocean Kaowili, and Paul Kim play. They also feature lots of musical guests, most prominently Eddie Kamae, founder of the legendary Sons of Hawai`i.

It's quite a thrill to sit in with these guys. They're absolutely master musicians, and the audience is enthusiastic and supportive. Here's a shot of one of our sessions, I'm playing my new Go Type II parlor guitar and having a ball:

That's Ocean on the left, playing bass. Paul Kim is next on his steel guitar. The happy guy with the little guitar is me, then Mike Kaawa is to the right, driving the band with his awesome twelve string stylings.

Of course, it's not that far to Waikiki from our little cottage in Kailua. We can get to most places in the Big City in a little over half an hour. One place we go pretty regularly is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, legendary Waikiki showplace. It's a spectacular establishment, in a magnificent location, and one of the greatest musicians in the world plays at the Maitai bar there, alongside the sands of Waikiki. Ledward Kaapana has a regular Saturday afternoon spot at the RHH, and we love to visit with friends and meet folks in the audience. Led also likes to have a little company on stage sometimes, and it's quite a thrill for me to spend a few minutes playing slack key alongside the master:

There's a glimpse at the highlights, naturally there were lots more adventures. And there's something about the air and majestic Ko`olau mountains and the friendly people that helps me to play more and better music than I do at home in Kaleponi.

Apr 26, 2007

Getting Some Inspiration

Thanks over and over to everyone who has bought the CD, and thanks for all the kind words.

We're in Hawai`i for a few weeks, soaking up sun and inspiration. Even the food here has a musical feeling, somehow. Last night we saw a fantastic group, Pilioha at a wonderful club called The Aku Bone Lounge. They serve up some wonderful food that really goes with the sweet music.

I'm reaching out to the musicians I know on O`ahu and hopefully will get plenty of time to kanikapila, or jam, while we're here. And for some reason the feeling of being in the islands stimulates me to learn new songs and maybe even write a few, so I hope I'll have some new material to post on the Kaleponi Music page. Please stop by again and give a listen.

Apr 5, 2007

Boxes and Boxes of CDs in the Garage!!

After several years of recording, editing, mixing, mastering, remixing, remastering, graphics design, and duplication, I am now the proud owner of 1000 CDs with my name on the cover. Needless to say, I'm way excited. If you make it to one of my performances we'll almost certainly have copies available for sale.

Our internet sales will be handled by CD Baby, and we expect to have that account operational in a week or two. Kaleponi will also be available on Itunes in the near future.

The tracks are all solo guitar instrumentals, and all were recorded in the upstairs music room, now renamed Duck Digital Recording. It's been quite a learning experience with all the options available for computers as a music tool.

Please check back in a week or two and listen to samples from the CD.