Another fun night at Lulu’s … Seann joined us on percussions with his brand new cajon (Peruvian percussion box) along with his djembe (African drum), and it it was great!  As usual, the place was filled with family, friends and visitors from all over the world, but I was especially happy to see Fukiko-san, who’s here visiting with her daughter and is a huge MDNA fan.  When we performed in Chigasaki last July, Fukiko-san came all the way from Nagano where she lives, just to see our live show … I mean, that’s gotta be at least a 2-hour bullet train ride – and that’s just to Tokyo!  I can’t imagine how many more trains, subways, or taxis she had to take to get to the venue … the expense and time alone blows my mind!  We are truly honored to have such wonderful and dedicated fans like her who always give us such great support and love!  Mahalo!!

Aloha, “D”

It was just like old times last night at Lulu’s … the place was ROCKIN’!  Our friends from Japan – Nancy, her mom and friends – are in town and came down to see us before heading on over to the Big Island.  Nancy and her mom were originally from Brazil (although they are Japanese) and it was the weirdest thing listening to them speaking Portuguese to each other!

Gotta start getting ready to go to U.H. …. have a great day, everyone!

Aloha , “D”

Speaking of jet lag, I’m almost back to my regular sleeping schedule (finally!), although brain-wise I’m still a little out of it (so what’s new?!).  I can also tell that my body is still out of sync – yesterday I played in HJCC’s Samurai Classic golf tournament out at the Pearl Country Club with my buddies and was a total wreck.  I couldn’t hit the ball to save my life … everything felt foreign to me – the club, my stance, my swing – it was the strangest feeling!  But thanks to “Mr. Miller Lite”, my muscle memory started coming back and I was finally able to hit the ball towards the hole instead of away from it for the last few holes.

Although it’s great to be back home, we’re already making plans for our return to Japan in July.  I sure hope that the power shortages are not as severe as predicted, otherwise it’s going to be one HOT summer … especially in Tokyo! I was going through some of the photos from our recent trip to Sendai and Miyagi Prefecture, and I realized that pictures and words can’t even come close to describing what we encountered there.  I still have great difficulty expressing my thoughts and feelings when people ask about the situation …

Anyway, that’s about it for now … we’re back at Lulu’s tonight and Kani Ka Pila tomorrow.  See you there!

Much aloha, “D”

Linda went shopping at the Whole Foods store yesterday and brought back some of their freshly-made pizza.  I love the stuff – I love pizza – but theirs seems to have more cheese and toppings on it than some of the other pizza joints.  My favorite is their pepperoni, although it oozes enough oil to lubricate my entire car!  Most of the products sold at Whole Foods is pretty good, although there was an issue a while ago about a lot of their “organic” stuff coming from China.

ManoaDNA is off this weekend – no Lulu’s or Kani Ka Pila – since we’ll be leaving for Japan next week … but we are performing this Sunday afternoon for a Japan fundraiser at the Hawai’i Japanese Cultural Center.  It’s also Easter Sunday … AND my mom’s birthday, so I expect us to be quite busy!

Aloha, “D”

The boys & I are getting ready to go up to Japan within the next couple of weeks for Golden Week.  Nick & I will first be heading up to the Sendai and Miyagi areas to visit the evacuation shelters where we’ll do our best to bring as much of the aloha spirit as possible to the people up there.  Upon our return to Tokyo, we’ll join up with Alex and Mark who are flying in after Alex finishes his UH classes to continue our Golden Week tour with HTJ in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.  Of course there’s still concern about the ongoing nuclear crisis and aftershocks,  but l need to block all of that from my mind and focus on the task at hand.

And speaking of focus, my golf game SUCKS!  I don’t know what happened … one moment I’m shooting par golf, the next, I’m getting double and triple bogeys!  The golf gods are messing with me again … bastards!

We’re back at Lulu’s tonight and Kani Ka Pila tomorrow, and then we’re off for the next few weekends while we’re in Japan.  Be sure to check our manoadna.com website for our schedules, blogs, and updates!

Aloha, “D”

I sincerely want to thank Pali, Sachi, DJ, and the rest of the Pakele gang for allowing us to perform for their Japan benefit last night.  We had a lot of fun and I’d like to say mahalo to everyone who came to support this great cause!  It was also nice to see Nathan Aweau, who also performed last night .. he’s such a great guy and a real class act!  I remember one of ManoaDNA’s first public appearances – it was for a TV program about Hawai’i's music scene, and we were the featured “new act” and Hapa was the main headliner.  Being the new kid on the block, we were pretty much ignored by everyone.  Nathan was the only one who came over to talk to us  … he really made us feel welcome and I’ve never forgotten that.  Having been a musician for many years, I’ve seen what fame does to people’s egos and believe me, it’s not a pretty sight!  That’s why it’s always refreshing to meet guys like Nathan who are so talented, yet so humble and down-to-earth. 

Check out these tiny origami “tsuru” (crane) that my little pal, Salena, gave us last night at Pakele Live … can you believe how small they are?!  Holy smoke … whoever did this must have REALLY tiny fingers!  I also included a photo of some very cool bracelets which also represent the ongoing relief effort for Japan …

We’re back at Lulu’s tonight and Kani Ka Pila tomorrow, so if you’re in the area drop on by!

Aloha, “D”

One of my all-time favorite local dishes is ox-tail soup.  Yeah, yeah … I know some of you out there are going “Eeewww!”, but I gotta tell you – don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!  It’s very mild and flavorful and the pieces of oxtail are very meaty and tender.  Add in some peanuts, Chinese cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, ginger, anise, green onions, and cilantro, and you’ve got heaven in a bowl!  Everyone seems to have their favorite place for oxtail soup, but after trying them all out I think the best is at the Waialae Country Club … it’s really good!

Lulu’s was rockin’ again last night!  Mahalo to Yutaka, Fumiko, and Pat for some great hula … and to our buddy, Shion, who was there with his whistle.  It also must have been “teenybopper night” because the place was filled with teenage girls … all these little Barbie dolls running around!  I think there must have been some sort of cheerleading competition going on because there were several groups wearing uniforms.  In any case, it was a fun night and everyone had a great time.  We’re back at Kani Ka Pila tonight … this has to be the most consecutive Saturdays we’ve had in quite a while!  Usually, we’re only able to perform a couple of Saturdays in a row before we either go on the road or have a special engagement somewhere.  It’s nice to be back on a regular basis, although we leave for Japan again in about 3 weeks …

And finally, I was able to capture a beautiful Manoa rainbow yesterday at Alex’s house – enjoy!

Take care and have a great, safe weekend my friends!     Aloha “D”

The life of a Waikiki musician is a complicated one. It’s a blessing that every night we get to see hundreds of new faces and get our music into hundreds of ears. However, it’s such a constant battle of satisfying a large, diverse population of people, that it leads most people to buy your CD because they like your sound, not your music. Not really you’re goal when you are someone trying to make a name for yourself. That’s like saying to a fashion designer, “I like the fabric you use!” It’s a compliment to his choice of cotton, but their goal is to get you to enjoy their entire line of styles, colors and prints.

You would think, with a constant stream of new listeners and a captured audience, that its an easy “fish in a barrel” scenario. When we first started, I thought, ok, if we can sell ten CDs a night to 10 new listeners, then in a year, we would have 520 new fans! Simple exponential math would also assume that those ten would tell two friends, and their two friends, and so on. However, the average Waikiki restaurant CD purchaser does not become that referring fan. Your music now becomes associated with their overall Hawai’i experience, and they will remember not how your band or your music made them feel, but how it added to their trip. It’s great that we have the opportunity to add to their trip, and are honored to do so, but if we were looking just to highlight our music, playing in Waikiki is a tough way to do that.

I know this may come across to some people as whining, excuse-making, or even being conceited, and that’s not what I want to convey. I know there are a lot of people out there who would kill for a weekly gig, and definitely appreciate all the support places like Lulus and Kani Ka Pila give us. This is just a word of caution and encouragement to the future musicians of Hawai’i. If you get a chance to play in Waikiki, take it, but don’t assume that this is where you will be discovered, or where you will make your mark. Work hard on your music, believe in your product, and that will be what takes you to the next step. It’s the content, not the packaging.

Friday, Alex & Dad spent the night down at Lulus with Mark & Richie. I took the night off, so Alex & Dad went down and held down the fort for ManoaDNA! They didn’t take any pictures either, so I can’t show you how it went! They reported a fun night, even without me!

Saturday, ManoaDNA was back at Kani Ka Pila in full force! The place was jam-packed (まんいん), and we had a great time. We met new friends from Japan, Canada, the mainland, and even Hawai’i. For me, it was so good to get back in the groove at Kani Ka Pila!

Finally, as Dad has already mentioned in his latest blog, we had our first golf outing of the year at Hawaii Prince. Out in the Ewa plains, Hawaii Prince is a 27-hole golf course that allows you to play 3 different 18-hole combinations. We played B&C yesterday, which proved to be very difficult for me. I am too embarrassed to say what I shot, but let’s say I hope I never get near that score again!

Anyway, again, I apologize for the lack of pictures. I did dine at the new Morimoto’s restaurant in Waikiki over the weekend, so I am hoping I can showcase some of those pictures on Thursday! Until then, ALOOOHA!
Nick

Starting off the weekend in the dark, ManoaDNA was featured on the KHON2 morning news with Manolo Morales. We were helping promote the ‘Ohana Festival in Moiliili benefiting the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.

Then, of course, this weekend marked the first one back for ManoaDNA at Lulus and Kani Ka Pila. It was a little rusty, but once we got back in the groove, the music came back naturally!

Finally on Sunday, we had perfect weather for the 19th Annual ‘Ohana Festival at Moiliili field. It was a little late in the day, so thank you very much to all those people who stuck around!

That’s all for now,
Nick