Kumuola Foundation presents Waikiki Revival
Nã Kumu O Ke Ola (The Sources of Life)
A Hawaiian Cultural Festival
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Waikiki International Marketplace
10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

The Trader Vic’s Courtyard in the International Market Place will come alive as the day’s schedule will create a living and interactive experience for island residents and visitors alike moving from the courtyard, to the Kumuola Hale Ku`ai , store just upstairs, and Kumuola Hãlau learning center, also just above the courtyard.

Kumuola will feature NãKumu – Master Artisans and Practitioners of Life, as well as, the Trees and Plants that give us Life. With ongoing Hawaiian Music Kanikapila, Hula, Hana No’eau , Arts and Crafts demonstrations, Hawaiian food booths/local foods, Education about Hawaiian organizations that practice Hawaiian culture. Master Artisans and Practitioners of the Hawaiian culture with their apprentices, will showcase the many Hawaiian values and life lessons of our people in unity with all who come – all to demonstrate a living value of Lokahi A Me Ke Aloha; working together with Aloha. We anticipate a turnout of 3,000 – 5,000 people, malihini a me na kama`aina – keiki to kupuna, children to elders.

Check out this press release i found on The Open Press

Fortuna, CA (OPENPRESS) April 23, 2008 — When you think top-selling stringed instruments, chances are you aren’t envisioning the ukulele among them. But that’s where you’d be wrong… at least at Fortuna Music Mart.

The humble and oft-maligned ukulele ranks third among the most sought-after instruments in their inventory (right behind the Walden D351 acoustic guitar and the Walden G1070 acoustic guitar).

And why not? The miniature instrument popularized by Don Ho and (dare we say it?) Tiny Tim is making a comeback. Musical giants Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Brian May of Queen are ukulele players and fans. Departed rockers Joe Strummer, John Lennon and George Harrison were also big into this little instrument. George Harrison was an active member of the George Formby Society, a group of British ukulele aficionados.

George Harrison even gave Paul McCartney a ukulele – the very one which Paul used to play the Harrison-penned tune “Something” at a memorial concert in San Francisco for the former Beatle.

So how did the little instrument with the peculiar-sounding moniker get that name? According to legend, 400 Portuguese immigrants arrived at the island of Honolulu on the afternoon of August 23, 1879. One of those arriving immigrants, Joao Fernandes (gleeful over the Ravenscrag’s safe landing after its four-month, 15,000-mile journey), borrowed a friend’s braguinha (a stringed instrument in the guitar family, also known as a cavaquinho). Fernandes then leapt from the ship and began playing folk songs from his homeland. The native Hawaiians who had come down to the wharf to greet the immigrants on their arrival were impressed by the speed with which his fingers navigated the instrument’s fingerboard. They dubbed the unusual instrument “ukulele” – referring to the visual image those flying fingers conjured up.

Oh, and the English translation of “ukulele”? “Jumping flea.”

Fortuna Music Mart carries a delightful selection of Mahalo painted acoustic ukuleles, as well as some lovely Oscar Schmidt Acoustic and Acoustic Electric ukuleles. See their entire selection of ukuleles at www.FortunaMusicMart.com.

Ukuleles are among the most reasonably priced musical instruments available today. The Mahalo Painted U30 Ukulele, available in five eye-catching colors (sky blue, ocean blue, hibiscus red, pineapple gold and midnight black), features 100% maple construction and an ebonized bridge and fingerboard. The frets are polished brass; the guitar-style tuners are nickel plated, with plastic knobs. There’s even a color-coordinated carrying bag.

If you’re looking to express your funky musical style in an even more daring way, try out the Mahalo U1 Painted Ukulele Kit. Inside the unassuming grey carrying bag is the wildest looking musical instrument you’ll ever lay eyes on. This maple-body ukulele comes in either light blue or pineapple gold, and it’s decorated with all manner of tropical fruits – pineapples, mangoes, star fruit, coconuts and bananas – to lend a tropical punch to your performance. The kit comes with pitch pipes, a felt plectrum (similar to a guitar pick, but made of compressed felt) – and even an instructional DVD to start you on the way to becoming the hit of any party with your dazzling ukulele-strumming abilities.

The ukulele is small, light and portable – and easy to learn. Plus, an astounding number of people have never actually seen or heard one… so when you pull yours out and begin to play, just watch the smiles bloom across their faces.

As a matter of fact, Paul McCartney (whose first solo album featured the ukulele) is credited with having said, “To this day, if I ever meet grownups who play ukulele, I love ’em.”

So, if you’ve been seeking Paul McCartney’s love and admiration, get yourself an acoustic or electric ukulele from Fortuna Music Mart by visiting www.FortunaMusicMart.com.

About Fortuna Music Mart: Fortuna Music Mart carries a range of stringed instruments (bass, banjos, guitars, mandolins and ukuleles), along with an eclectic selection of crystal flutes and hand drums. Fortuna Music Mart also stocks the Kustom line of acoustic, bass and electric guitar amplifiers. For further information about Fortuna Music Mart, please call 707-725-9230 or visit www.FortunaMusicMart.com.

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Professional Free Press Release News Wire

It was a privilege for me to have met her. You will be missed Aunty.

Here’s the news release from GenoaKeawe.com
Early Monday morning, February 25, 2008, Aunty Genoa Leilani Keawe passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Papakolea. She has dealt with many health challenges in the last 10 years of her life and has met each obstacle with great faith and determination to bounce back into the lime light with her many performances. Her team of doctors treated her with admirable service. Her Heavenly Father has truly blessed her 89 years of life with strength in maintaining her beautiful soprano voice for everyone to enjoy up to the last day at home. Aunty Genoa has lived a full life and is very happy with all the blessings of family and her self-taught career as an entertainer and business woman. She was a very simple person. She loved the people of Hawaii and her many fans throughout the world for their support through her experiences and travels.

Service arrangements will be by Borthwick Mortuary. Services will be conducted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for which she has served as a faithful member.

Genoa Leilani Adolpho married Edward P. Keawe-Aiko. Together they had 12 children. Today there are 3 survivors, Gary P. Keawe-Aiko (#1), Eli Kaeo Paalua (#8) and Eric K. Keawe (#11). Deceased are Moana, Arthur, Victoria, Edward Jr., Samuel, Miriam, James, Kauilani & Sonny. She has 40 Grand Children 98 Great Grand Children and 81 Great, Great Grand Children. She recognizes her deceased children’s spouses as well who has always been there for support when needed, Howard Lono, Iwalani (Ho), Frederick Amina, Snooks (Watson), Barbara (Buchanan), Patrick Ah Yuen and two hanai daughters Suzie Harrison and Roberta Silva.

Where I heard the news

Technorati Tags: aunty, genoa keawe

Click To Play

Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t but every Wednesday night over on 39 Hotel Street in Chinatown, Brett Shimabuku hosts the Rising Melody which is a feature of songwriters and performers in a music spotlight. On the first Wednesday of every month, they feature open mic night, so if you got skillz, by all means head on over to enjoy and entertain their ever growing audience. Play the video above to hear it from Brett himself.

Technorati Tags: the rising melody, brett shimabuku, music, hawaii, 39 hotel, chinatown

Congratulations to Hawai’i’s female supergroup Mighty J on winning the Hawai’i Music Award for Best Island Contemporary Album of the year. Did we ever doubt that they would deserve such an award? Mighty J’s album – Calling Out has already received huge critical acclaim and I believe this is just the beginning of the many awards and recognition they are due to receive. Who could expect less of a group that got it’s start on DoctorTrey.com.

Of course we’d like to congratulate all the other winners as well, most notably Rob Yamanoha for winning Adult Contemporary Category.

Technorati Tags: Mighty J, Best Island Contemporary Album, Hawaii Music Awards, Calling Out, Hawaii, Music, Awards, Rob Yamanoha

The Band He Is Playing With In This Video Sucks Ass, But His Voice Is Amazing!

December 5, 2007 — After much speculation…the wait is finally over.

JOURNEY–Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums)–is proud to introduce fans all over the world to their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda (“pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

Arnel hails from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs–in addition to original material–with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him.

“It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore JOURNEY fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like ‘the voice’ (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there’s only one Steve Perry in this world.”

When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing “Faithfully,” he knew he had found the perfect frontman.
“I was frustrated about not having a singer,” explains guitarist Neal Schon, “so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

Arnel Pineda picks up the story: “My friend Noel picked up the message on YouTube and told me it was from Neal. I thought it was a hoax so I ignored it. Noel said, ‘what if it really was Neal and he wanted to offer you the chance of a lifetime?’ So I e-mailed Neal back and the rest is history.”

“Arnel brings a soulful and passionate voice to JOURNEY,” continues keyboardist Jonathan Cain. “His personality is very well-suited to our music. He’s a sincere, authentic person with a great smile and a big heart. I think fans are really going to love him. With Arnel’s soaring tenor, Journey returns to our heritage sound.”

Schon agrees, “We feel reborn. I think there’s a lot of chemistry between the five of us. At first we were going to go into the studio and just write 4 songs, but now it’s escalated to a lot of great new and diverse material. The stuff sounds tremendous. Everyone’s so stoked about it. We feel very fortunate to have found Arnel.”

JOURNEY is currently working on a new album with legendary producer Kevin Shirley, which they hope to release by spring/summer 2008. Details will be announced early next year.

www.journeymusic.com

The Day Has Finally Arrived.

JOHN CRUZ  “One Of These Days”
In Stores Now.
Go Pick Up A Copy

Hey friends.
The contest at amiestreet.com round 1 ended last night and we made it into the top 20. With your help we actually gained and held down the number one spot. For round 2 the top 20 bands will be put on the chopping block with CMJ judges stripping the contest down to 5 bands. Lets cross our fingers that our number one spot plus the album will be able to make it to round 3. At that point i will need everyones help again and then some to make this NYC show a reality.

Panel Judging: August 30th – September 4th, 2007

I’ll keep everyone posted if i make the top 5. Thank you all so much for even getting me this far. i couldn’t have done it without such supportive friends. Stay tuned.
Aloha
Jake

www.cubworld.cc

Please read this email from Cubworld and participate:

There is a competition going on on Amiestreet.com. Real great chance for me to do a show in NYC and make some bill paying cash If you are interested in helping me here are the steps it takes to hook me up.

go to: www.amiestreet.com

sign up as a member (heres the direct link for that): http://amiestreet.com/user/new

Once at your member page, paste this into the address bar: http://amiestreet.com/cubworld (my artist page direct link)

Last step Click on the Vote to SEND ME TO CMJ

Thats it! Real simple and your support would mean a lot to me so thanks for your time friends.

Option B: I know the hardest part of doing competitions online and getting people you know to help out is getting folks to “sign up”. So i wanted to offer this to all of you as well: If you feel you would like to support me but dont have the time, motivation, etc to hook it up, you can send me an email telling me its okay for me to use your email address. I’ll sign you up and then send you your password. I only have till Wednesday the 29th to place in the top 20. Hit me up at cubworld@gmail.com

One love and Aloha
Jake

Technorati Tags: jake kongaika, cubworld, music, hawaii, sellaband, contest, performance

He may be embarrassed of DoctorTrey.com, considering how he never acknowledges us in his newsletters, but to show him what great folks we are here at DTDC, we’re going to ask our visitors and listeners to follow this email to show some support for such an amazing artist.�� Here’s the email he sent me:

Real cool competition and chance for a US sellaband act to grace the stage of a NYC venue. I need your votes friends at my Amie Street account. To read about the competition visit here.

To VOTE for me please log into your Amie Street account then swing by my page and look for the link that says “Eclipse Gum Sets The Stage” which should be under my stats under CONTESTS IM IN.
Voting starts real soon so i would love your help.

If you dont have a Amie Street account feel free to get one. Its real easy, the sites real cool and it only takes your email. Actually you get a free dollar to start you off if in the PROMOTION CODE box you put “sellaband”. check check check it out

Aloha
Jake

Round One – Qualifying Round Important Dates:
Band & Artist Entry Submissions: August 20th – August 24th, 2007
Qualifying Round of Voting: August 25th – August 29th, 2007

Technorati Tags: cubworld, sellaband, contest, hawaii, music