Last night marked another year of “Celebrate!,” the gala concert produced by the Arts Alliance of Hawaii at the historic Hawaii Theatre. The Ambassador of Aloha, Danny Kaleikini welcomed everyone and got the program going as our emcee. Before you could catch your breath, the Taiko Center of the Pacific’s Youth Group were getting eveyone’s heart going with their high energy drumming. I think you could hear them a block away. Aunty Irmigard Aluli’s grandson, Noa Pulama Lee showed that with some practice, you can wow the crowd at a mere 14 years of age. He was followed by our friend, Neal Chin, performing 3 original compositions on the ukulele. After the break, the Alliance honored Keiji and Edith Kawakami (founders of Iolani Sportswear) for their lifetime support and patronage of the arts and music community. Many of their personal collections are on loan to various organizations. The evening then showcased the legendary musician and independent film producer, Uncle Eddie Kamae as he paid his personal tribute to the Kawakamis. He was followed by the father-son duo of Dennis and David Kamakahi, getting the audience into their smooth style and making everyone sheer as they closed their set with Wahine Ilikea. As the night was coming to a close, the perfect act brought down the house. Manoa DNA, Lloyd, Nick and alex Kawakami (son and grandson’s of the Kawakamis) showed everyone why they are currently on contract with HTJ to promote Hawaii in Japan. Lloyd was a regular in the C&K band back in the day while Alex has been called a baby James Taylor. Nick provides the color and with. Much mahalo to Marla Musick and Stacy Hoshino for their hard work, coordination and special productions attached to the evening. Kudos to executive director Marilyn Christofori for assembling such a wonderful staff and board. Hope to see you all come out next year to enjoy a night of song and learn a little about our organization. (no pix, special contract of the Hawaii Theatre)
We are very blessed. Despite the slowdown of businesses, we are pretty busy. I am actually planning for growth this year and into the next. Something’s working. We are a little short handed too, so that makes life even more interesting for me. My job:1. Marketing and PR, I coordinate our exposures in paid advertising, editorials, events and community based functions.2. Manufacturing, the big boss I am (ha ha) I still push a broom and get my hands dirty in the shop. I have been spending more time in the shop than my office lately. As I mentioned, short handed.3. Acounting, I am basically our book keeper, doing all our entry of A/P, A/R, billing and payroll.4. GM, I am our general manager, nuff said.5. Public service, I currently serve on 4 non profit boards.Where am I going with this depressing story? Someplace funny, my friends. Bear with me. As GM, I need to bring the heat from time to time. When I get excited, my language may get a little colorful and my stories a little on the edge. One of my favorite “angry” rhetorical question is, “Hey! When you take a s___, do you forget to wipe your ___?!!! C’mon man!!”Well,…..being as busy as I am. I admit I almost forgot today. I was rushing to leave work and before I completed my business, I almost stood up then I realized……… Take ome time off all you busy people. Have a great weekend.
The good folks at KBA pulled off another Taste of Kalihi, showcasing much of what Kalihi has to offer. Two of the guys are my pals from Bank of Hawaii (they lend me money.) Pictured: R-L past President Darin Shigeta and current VP Warren Altona. They’re smiling because we’re eating good food
Okay, my computer just crashed, so this is as good as it get for pix this time. Different on a Mac. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Utage, located in City Square, next to Young’s Fish Market.
Took a pic of their tasty specials, the garlic ahi is soooo ono, but my favorite is the nasubi chanpuru.
Wow, I remember one of the first 7-11’s opening near my mom’s house, back in the day. I’ll keep you guessing on my age…The whole neighborhood was soo excited. Nowadays, it’s like a marker of civilization. “Oh, you no mo one 7-11? Wow, country yeah?”
At the suggestion of good ole Uncle Rodger, he got my nostalgia going. “What was there before 7-11,” he asks…..”
At work, we’re a pratical 7-11 sandwich. We are pretty smack middle between King and Dillingham, so there’s one on each end of the street. One used to be a service station. The other was a drive inn. Once upon a time. What was your 7-11?
Alright. We’ve all seen Fear Factor and just cringe when the people have to eat bugs of some kind, right? Little known bit of information: The average American will ingest over 2 pounds of insects in their food over their lifetime. Pretty much without ever realizing.I am collecting bug in your food stories, no need only be Kalihi. But here’s some of mine: 1) Jack’s Chop Suey (different name now) Not a cockroach, but HALF a roach in my friend rice. I was not interested in the other half, so I stopped eating. 2) Jin Joo - In high school, after a basketball game, our coach took us out to eat some Korean food. In my friend’s taegu, there was a pretty big praying mantis. My friend told the lady, “Excuse me, there’s a bug in my food…” to which the lady replied, “Oh” and took the bug out. How’s that? Ha ha ha!Cannot always show pix of the good stuff right? Send in your stories.
