I’ve talked about my work with songwriter/producer/recording artist Kenneth Makuak?ne previously here. Well, the big day is inching closer. Kenneth picked up the master CD today, and after some final tweaks to the liner notes, the CD and graphics head off to be pressed. The entire process has been a three-pronged effort. I wrote all but one of the Hawaiian lyrics (“mele”), did all of the text layout, worked with Kenneth on the liners, developed his website and taught him how to maintain it. Kenneth wrote all of the music, two of the English songs, arranged and performed every instrument…
There is a God!
Jessica Simpson ordered not to sing. Unfortunately it is not a permanent injunction.
Pics and Audio From Volcano Arts & Cultural Festival
I posted a few pictures from Kenneth Makuak?ne’s performance (with a little support from yours truly) at the Volcano Arts & Cultural Festival, held in Ka‘?, Hawai‘i island last Saturday. Sorry if the pics are grainy; they were lifted from the video that my daughter recorded of the performance. Kenneth allowed me to include some of the audio in my most recent Nahenahe.net podcast, his performance of the R. Alex Anderson hapa-Haole standard “Haole Hula” as well as his N? H?k? Hanohano Song of the Year award-winning composition, “I Miss You, My Hawai‘i.” N? Leo Pilimehana originally recorded the song…
Great Balls of Fire!
I really need to get my act together and update this site on a more regular basis. It seems I alternate bursts of activity between here and Nahenahe.net, and Nahenahe has been receiving all of the love recently. I have also spent a lot of time helping my friend and songwriting partner Kenneth Makuak?ne get his website launched in anticipation of his upcoming CD release, which will feature anywhere from 10-15 of our joint compositions, in addition to a few that he has written himself or with others. We’ll be performing together (or more accurately, I’ll be backing him up…
The truth is out…
Last year I pointed to Kenneth Makuak?ne’s weblog and speculated who his anonymous collaborator at UH-Hilo was. Well, Kenneth’s let the cat out of the bag, and I don’t mind – it’s me. It has been an amazing process, and hard to believe we’ve been at it for over a year. Sometimes I write lyrics to his music, sometimes he sets music to my mele, but there is always a lot of give and take. I always run the mele by my colleagues at UHH, a process called paka, to make sure that there isn’t anything in there that could…
Code Monkey
Every once in a while Conn at An tImeall finds a gem of a podsafe song and includes it in his podcast. Such was the case with Code Monkey. Give it a listen, just don’t have any food or drink in your mouth when you do or it could find itself violently ejected via your nostrils.
Beo! Turns Five
The online Irish language magazine Beo! is five years old this month. A special concert will be held on Wednesday, 10 May in the Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin to celebrate these first five years. The doors will open at 8.30 p.m. and guests will include the Irish language rock group Na Fíréin. Tickets will cost €8 and €6 and will be available at the door on the night. For more information, call (01) 675-3658.
Bush Says Anthem Should Be in English
The Chimp in Charge has put his two cents in on the issue, and states, “I think people who want to be citizens of this country ought to learn English”, and “One of the things that’s very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul.” Sorry Georgie, too late. We lost it when you took the oath of office. I’m going to have to buy myself a copy of that CD now. This story from Yahoo contains an interesting fact – that the Star-Spangled Banner?s melody was lifted from a British drinking song. I…
José Can You See?
A group of Latino pop stars record a Spanish ‘Star Spangled Banner’ to support immigrants. Boy, a touchy issue, for sure. Apparently many people are outraged about this, including a descendant of the author. My first impression was, why should anyone be offended by this? I’m certainly not. However, I don’t know how I’d feel if someone took “Hawai’i Pono‘?” (our state anthem) or “Hawai‘i Aloha” (held with the same reverence) and performed them in English. That being said, I am looking foward to hearing it, and it certainly is certainly going to bring even more attention to one of…
U2 Grabs 5 Grammys.
I was a good night to be Irish and in Los Angeles.