We start off with the Punahou Carnival. Held annually at Punahou School, the carnival is the main fundraiser for the school, helping raise funds for its financial aid program. Being Punahou alumni ourselves, we have been doing our part by performing at the Hawaiian Plate Booth for the last five years. It’s one of our favorite shows of the year because it allows us to bring our full band and rock the cafeteria! Thanks to Punahou School for having us again, and we look forward to performing in 2012!

Look for more great photos from Carnival in Thursday’s “Nick in Photos”

Friday night, we performed at carnival, then Saturday night we were back at Kani Ka Pila. By Sunday, I was exhausted and really full from eating all the great carnival food. No time to rest though, as Sunday afternoon was the NFL Super Bowl XLV, the championship game! We headed over to Alex’s house for the game, and pigged out on some great food. Alex even made homemade Portugese Bean Soup! Send him a twitter message, and ask him to give you some, cuz it was so delicious!

I was too exhausted to remember to take pictures from the Super Bowl party, but I did want to share two of my favorite commercials that aired during the game. (For those of you in Japan, the Super Bowl is very special because companies go all out on their commercials during the game. Some people just watch the Super Bowl for the commercials!)

First, from Volkswagen…

Secondly, from the NFL. This one brings back a lot of memories…

See you Thursday! I will have more pictures from the Punahou Carnival to share!

Tis the month of love and we here at Manoa DNA headquarters would like to wish everyone a very happy February! Now I know many of you are preparing for Valentine’s day on the 14th and wondering what you could possibly do to make the day as special as possible? Well I’m here to let you in on a couple of special events we have planned for this month, that you could include in your festivities!

2/6: Punahou Carnival Keeping alive the annual tradition, Manoa DNA will once again be performing for our alma mater at the Hawaiian Plate Booth of the Punahou Carnival. Always surrounded by our friends and family, we look forward to this gig every year as it gives us a chance to give back to the place that gave us so much. Friday, 2/6/09, 7pm, Hawaiian Plate Booth of the Punahou Carnival

2/7: Twilight at Kalahuipua’a For those of you on the Big Island, or planning to take a trip there, we will be performing for the February installment of “Talk Story” with Danny Akaka. Set on the porch of the Eva Parker Woods house at the Mauna Lani resort, it is a completely free event hosted every month under lantern and full moonlight. Saturday, 2/7/09, 5:30pm, Eva Parker Woods House on the grounds of the Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island

2/14: Ukulele Picnic Alongside great entertainers from both Hawai’i & Japan, Manoa DNA will be celebrating Valentine’s Day in style!

2/16: Great Aloha Run Entertaining the runners and their guests, Manoa DNA will be jammin’ up the Great Aloha Run party between 9 & 10 A.M. If you are running at this event, we’ll see you down there!

Other than that, we will of course have our usual monthly installment of Gordon Biersch on the 4th, and down at Lulu’s Waikiki on the 13th & 27th. For a full list of events, including the ones mentioned above, see our schedule.