Hawaii singer-songwriter Jack Johnson’s new CD Sleep Through the Static has become his second chart-topping disc.Johnson’s just-released fifth album will debut at the No. 1 position of music industry trade publication Billboard’s Top 200 chart this week. The CD sold 375,000 in its first week of sales in the United States, more than doubling debut week sales of his […]
I love good beer. I love going to the Big Island.If you do, too, the 13th annual Kona Brewers Festival is where you might want to be on March 8.Launched in 1996 to celebrate the opening of the first Kona Brewing Co. restaurant, the Kailua-Kona festival has grown into a larger celebration of Hawaii’s burgeoning craft brewing
The Hawaii Superferry has cancelled its entire travel schedule until March 3. Company officials are moving up the Alakai’s annual drydock to take advantage of the off-peak travel season and make some necessary repairs to the vessel.The annual drydock is required by the United States Coast Guard for the Superferry’s recertification to operate. Repairs will be
Can you say “three-peat?”The live, vocal and instrumental multi-artist compilation Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar has won this year’s Grammy award for best Hawaiian music album.The win was the third consecutive in the category for a compilation from the production team of Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku Jr., Paul Konwiser and Wayne Wong. The four received Grammys last
You’re reading my final post about this year’s Best Hawaiian Music Album Grammy. My final post, that is, before the actual Grammy ceremonies on Sunday. Promise.Nothing new to report. The nominees haven’t changed:• Keola Beamer’s Ka Hikina O Ka Hau (The Coming Of The Snow)• Tia Carrere’s Hawaiiana• Raiatea Helm’s Hawaiian Blossom• Cyril Pahinui’s He‘eia• Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar,
29 inches.That’s the amount of rain that fell on Hilo, my former hometown, between Friday evening and yesterday. Overloaded streams flooded more than a hundred homes in the Waiakea Uka suburb upslope of town. Flood control channels overflowed into Hilo’s picturesque bayfront area. Landslides closed highways and roads along the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast. Schools closed on
Look at this vintage film I found—eruptions at Kilauea volcano in 1959 and 1960.Both eruptions were significant. The first half of the video shows the Nov. 1959 eruption at Kilauea Iki crater, which produced fountains of lava up to 1,400 feet high. Because of its convenient location near Kilauea’s summit, near the visitor center and volcano observatory, the
The Big Island has more coral in the waters near its shores than any other major Hawaiian island.New maps from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coral reef studyshow that live coral covers 57 percent of the waters surrounding the Big Island. That’s more than 29 square miles of living reef.The NOAA findings support previous studies
A finger of lava from Kilauea’s quarter-century old eruption crept to within a mile of the Big Island’s Royal Gardens subdivision this morning.You might remember the now largely-abandoned subdivision east of Kilauea as the epicenter of Hawaii eruption news from 1983 to 1990. Over the years, flows from Kilauea’s Puu Oo vent have claimed 189
Is NCL going to shut down its Hawaii cruises? That rumor was posted on the Web this morning.Hawaiirama.com suggested that Norwegian Cruise Lineswould be suspending all of its Hawaii cruise operations. The rumor was based on information received from Bruce Fisher, a contributor to the site. Fisher also posted the rumor on his own Hawaii Vacation Blog
Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2008 list of the world’s 500 best hotels features 16 properties from Hawaii.The annual list is determined from a poll of T+L readers, who graded their experiences at hotels and resorts worldwide.The highest ranking Hawaii resort this year?The Big Island’s consistently top-ranked Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, which broke into the T+L list’s Top
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom got engaged in Hawaii last weekend—to actress Jennifer Siebel. Newsom’s a colorful figure, best known for issuing 4,000 marriage licenses to gay couples, and for having an affair with his campaign chair’s wife.The Big Question, according to California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, was: When? When she asked him in public, Newsom declined
