Kaleponi

We found a new spot for our stay in Hawai`i and our time there was enchanting. So appropriate because the name of the subdivision is Enchanted Lake, the haole name given to Ka `Elepulu, the Moist Blackness, as the Hawaiians called this once productive wetlands and pond. Our hosts are situated on the stream that connects the pond to the ocean, on those brief occasions when the mouth down at Kailua Beach Park is dredged and the waters of the lake and ocean mingle for a while.

We found our view of the stream to deliver constant delights. Fish splashed and schooled, water birds swam and swooped, paddlers and kayaks and stand up boarders cruised by along with fishing boats and party barges. (more…)

Ledward plays a regular gig at the Kona Brewing Company restaurant in Hawai`i Kai. When he’s on the island he’s almost certain to perform at KBC on Sunday from at least 6 PM to at least 8 PM and usually a little extra on both ends. Fans come from all over the state of Hawai`i, the mainland, the whole world to see this master of hawaiian slack key and `ukulele perform. I recorded the show a few weeks ago and caught Led performing magic on the slack key guitar and the `ukulele. (more…)

Our visits to Hawai`i bring an opportunity to get together with Ledward Kaapana and shoot some videos that feature the local scenery and lifestyle. With our buddy Pat La`a scouting locations and operating one of the cameras I think we’ve done some of my all time favorite clips. (more…)

Funny how a song comes and goes through our lives. I don’t know when I first heard Grandfather’s Clock but it was a long time ago. I remember when I rediscovered the song, it came back on the Tone Poems CD with David Grisman and Tony Rice, a CD enjoyed for hours.

But the real jolt hit me when I found the song on Leonard Kwan’s Slack Key LP. Although that album was common in Hawai`i it was hard to find in California, and I remember losing out on a number of Ebay auctions before finally winning a scratched and worn copy of the record for over $30. Still I felt like I had gotten my money’s worth when I heard a slack key version of Grandfather’s Clock in Leonard’s unique style. After months of work I developed my own arrangement inspired by Uncle Leonard’s and I’ve played it ever since. (more…)

Auntie Maiki Aiu (Lake) contributed so much through her teaching of hula and culture. She also composed a classic Hawaiian song, Aloha Kaua`i, a love song to an island. I’ve been carrying the tune around in my head for quite a while, probably from hearing Mike Kaawa at Honey’s in Kane`ohe. I even used the opening lines as an intro to my Hanalei Moon video. But as it turned cold here in Walnut Creek I found myself playing the song often, trying to draw a little warmth from the story of the mokihana, the maile, and the warm friendships found on the Garden Isle. (more…)

I’ve gotten a lot of fun out of exploring the paths and trails in our neighborhood. I’m always on the lookout for interesting settings to use in my video shoots, like this magnificent live oak where Ledward Kaapana and I played Aloha Ia No O Maui. I recently headed in a new direction and found myself walking along a creek running through nearby Pleasant Hill. I was surprised to find a very old truck chassis lying in the bamboo and bushes growing on the creekside. One thought popped into my head instantly – what a perfect place to shoot a video of Holoholo Ka`a! (more…)

Kathy Wingert is one of the elite among custom luthiers, she builds exquisite instruments of the very finest materials and has a gift for unusual visual approaches. For this year’s Healdsburg Guitar Festival she built four remarkable instruments including a dramatic harp guitar, a dainty but ferocious little parlor guitar, and two that showed the influence of the steampunk design movement. Kathy stopped by on her way home from the guitar festival and I took advantage of the opportunity to play one of the steampunk guitars and shoot a little video. (more…)

I’ve given slack key workshops at a number of local Aloha Festivals over the years. Several times I preceded or followed Hiram Bell and his always compelling `ukulele workshop. I was invited back this year, and coincidentally a friend expressed an interest in learning the lovely old North Kohala song, Paliokamoa. My friend had seen the version I did last year. I decided to create a tutorial on the song in the form of a video and tablature. (more…)

I’m happily surprised that there is such a thing as a vacation even for retired folks like us. Our trips to Kailua take us to a different world, different routines, different opportunities. I love walking around our neighborhood in Walnut Creek but in Kailua we’re walking with the Ko`olau filling half the horizon. I love the music we make and hear in Northern California, but on O`ahu we can never find the time to take in all the amazing talent playing all around the island. And of course the food, the shopping, the friends, it all piles up into a full time adventure.

I’m holding on to the good times as much as I can with a few videos from the trip. One features Lynn and her hula sisters, na wahine u`i, accompanied by my slack key. The others are a couple of clips from Honey’s at the Ko`olau Golf Course, where Mike Kaawa leads the Hawaiian Boy Crew on Sunday afternoon. (more…)

Finding Ozzie Kotani‘s book, Guitar Playing Hawaiian Style, in the old Kihei Disc record store was the key to my learning slack key. Ozzie is a remarkably adept teacher, and his book showed me the baby steps needed to begin my journey. Along with these fine grained details he included wonderful arrangements and compositions, charming pieces of music that entranced while they taught. His songs were so much fun they made me practice harder so I could get to the next piece. (more…)