U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of U2’s lead singer as a potential successor to soon-departing World Bank President John Wolfensohn. Makes sense. If the World Bank ever went into the red Bono could bail them out with a personal loan.
Star-Bulletin article on podcasting mentions a few Hawai’i-produced podcasts, including MacHelpMaui.
When I saw the graphic and link on the S-B homepage I was expecting a syndicated piece, but it was done by one of their own writers. Adam Curry gets a lot of love and credit, but Dave is not mentioned anywhere, again. The article also mentioned that Wave Waikiki (a popular nightspot) has introduced “iPod Night” on Sundays. You can plug your iPod into the club’s system to play any four songs you want. Bring your iPod and your friends and get in free. Everyone else must pay $5 to get in.
March Declared Irish-American Heritage Month in U.S.
GW proclaims March 2005 as Irish-American Heritage Month, and calls upon all Americans to observe this month by celebrating the contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation. Scott will likely protest the exclusion of other Celts, such as his own Cornish ancestors and their contributions, like the Cornish Game Hen I’ll be honoring my ancestors with the ritual dispensing of a glass of stout.
Northern Irish eyes won’t be smiling on St.Patrick’s Day.
The White House will not extend invitations to any of Northern Ireland’s political parties because of “”lack of progress in negotiations in the Northern Ireland peace process.” You think he’d take the opportunity to get them all into the same room and maybe do some good, but… oh, forget it.
Home Pricing Madness.
Just a few weeks ago I pointed to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser that showed the median home price on O’ahu hit $505,000 in January. Just one month later it hits $525,000, a 4% increase! Great if you’re a realtor or homeowner anxious to sell; bad news for people trying to avoid homelessness or being a contributor of the flow of people out of the state.
Disgruntled Napster Customer.
Mike Torres is a Microsoft employee (on the Microsoft “Places” team) who has given up on Napster’s music rental service. When you make your DRM (digital rights management) so unmanageable that the legitimate purchaser has to be connected to the Internet to verify legitimate ownership and still can’t listen to the music, it’s time to switch. Mike did – back to buying used CDs.
Global Pop, Local Language.
I came across this book in my search for a dissertation topic, and have not been disappointed. It examines how global performers deal with the issue of language and dialect choice. I was most intrigued by “Anthony McCann”‘s article on the heirarchy of tradition in Irish- and English-language song in Ireland, and am considering a similar approach to the analysis of language choice in Hawai’i’s musical traditions. Global Pop, Local Language also includes an interesting article by C. K. Szego on Hawaiian language performances at Kamehameha School. I highly recommend the book.
Radio na Gaeltachta.
I frequently tune into Radio na Gaeltachta, the Irish language radio station, from my office. As we’re 10 hours behind them, I catch their late-PM and early-AM programming, which is quite eclectic. Today I’ve heard an interesting mix of traditional Irish, including sean-nos, as well as classical, flamenco, latin, as well as other world music forms, but the DJ speaks in Irish. There was one solo guitar piece in there that was very similar to our own ki ho’alu (slack key guitar) traditional, but the DJ never mentioned the artist or song title, or if she did, I simply didn’t…
160 years after famine, Ireland has too many spuds.
I remember that during our trip to Ireland we got spuds with every dish, including lasagna at the kitchen next to Oideas Gael. My wife ordered salmon at a restaurant in Co. Sligo. She got a decent slab of salmon – surrounded by four huge boiled potatoes. I think she barely finished one of them.
Next Royal Hawaiian Band leader must speak Hawaiian?
Former bandmaster Aaron Mahi testified in favor of a bill which would require future bandmasters of the Royal Hawaiian Band be able to speak Hawaiian. I’d like to see it go further – all future members of the band should be required to speak the language or must commit to learning it. At the very least the ability to speak Hawaiian should be a “desirable qualification” for any potential future employee of the band.