Hawaii singer-songwriter-musician Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival is happening today and Sunday in Waikiki. Our friend, writer and Jack fan Jessica Ferracane, will be at tonight’s sold-out show. She’s promised us a post-concert report and photos. Until then, we’re happy to share her view from the ground of Friday’s pre-Kokua Festival press conference. Pinch me. I’m […]
Molokai Ranch closed earlier this month, forcibly relocating Aloha Music Camp. For the last five years, the Hawaiian music, dance and culture camp convened each summer at Molokai Ranch’s isolated Kaupoa Beach Village. This year’s camp—scheduled for June 22-28—will move to the Big Island’s considerably less remote Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort. The camp suffered an
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been in court this week trying to keep a fan from publishing The Harry Potter Lexicon, on which he’d spent the last nine years working. In addition to charging the fan, Steven Vander Ark, with plagiarism, Rowling claimed his encyclopedia of Potter wizardry contained errors. For instance, Vander Ark
You ask. We answer. A couple of readers wrote, lamenting that they couldn’t attend Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival shows in Waikiki this weekend. This is the fifth-annual go-round of Johnson’s music festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday at the Waikiki Shell. Johnson, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds headline, with Mason Jennings and Hawaii acts Paula
Hawaii is no stranger to movie screens. This Friday (4/18), Hawaii has another starring location role, this time in a new film called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Most of the movie’s scenes were filmed on Oahu’s North Shore, including places such as Turtle Bay Resort. Actor Jason Segel (who plays Peter Bretter, the film’s main character)
We ran into Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus on ABC’s hit TV series “Lost,” listening to jazz in Honolulu’s Chinatown district the other night. Nice guy—which makes you realize what an incredible actor he is. When he plays Linus—the series’ complicated is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-villain—he somehow manages to be both seriously sinister and as equable as a
Hawaii has lost not just a legendary entertainer, but a respected cultural figure. A well-known Hawaiian music family has lost its much-loved matriarch. Winona Beamer passed away in her sleep this morning at her home on Maui, after a long illness. She was 84. Her sons are musicians Keola and Kapono Beamer—as a duo, best
If you were one of millions of television viewers watching American Idol last night, you know that contestant Jason Castro sang beloved Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s arrangement of “Over the Rainbow.” The contestants were supposed to sing songs that inspired them. The dreadlocked, typically mellow Castro called the song “really magical. He [Iz] really captured
Hawaiian music’s brightest rising star—and two-time Grammy nominee—Raiatea Helm leaves the Islands Thursday for a four-concert West Coast tour. “This is the first time I’ve toured just as myself,” she says. “The venues are selling well. I’m always interested in meeting the audiences. They have a greater appreciation of Hawaiian music than people in Hawaii.”
Congratulations to Kalimakuhilani Akemi Kalamanamana Suganuma! Kalima to her friends, we’re guessing. Suganuma won the 2008 Miss Aloha Hula title at yesterday’s opening evening of Merrie Monarch Festival competition on the Big Island. In a tiebreaker. Two dances were required of competitors last night—a hula auana, or modern dance; and a hula kahiko, or traditional
There are few things more satisfying here than a Sunday afternoon—perhaps one on a favorite beach, watching the surf, catching up with thoughts. What’s the perfect soundtrack? Each Sunday, Hawaii Public Radio station KIPO-FM 89.3 provides three hours of the best in Hawaiian music. It’s “Kanikapila Sunday.” Though we’re sure you’d much rather be on
The 45th annual Merrie Monarch Festival begins tonight. This is the World Series, the SuperBowl of hula competitions, bringing the best hula dancers from around the world to Edith Kanakaole Stadium in Hilo, Hawaii. If you can’t get to Hilo, KITV.com will provide live streaming video. (Of course, if you are near a TV set
