Haha yeah I’m trying to keep up with Dad’s blogging but he’s like a machine!!

I woke up earlier than usual this morning because our yard men came to cut the grass today which makes our house look so nice and clean! Thanks guys! I could’ve gone back to sleep but I started to think about my gig tonight at Lulus. I’m playing by myself tonight – meaning no DNA boys – but I’ll be joined by our drummer Seann Carroll. I’m kind of nervous even though I’ve done it before, but for some reason I feel a little more nervous this time. The good thing is, when I’m nervous I practice more and get better at certain things, which makes me more ready when tonight comes around.
This is the last gig of the year for me and the last gig till the end of January which gives us good time to relax and work on some new stuff. Speaking of new stuff, I’ll be playing a couple of new songs tonight to try them out – a couple of originals and a couple of covers. Maybe that’s why I’m nervous! I won’t have the luxury of drinking my nervousness away tonight because I told myself earlier this week I wouldn’t have a drip of alcohol until new years eve. So tonight is the true test of musicianship!

I hope you all have a great new years and if you can, come down to Lulus tonight and have a great time!

Aloha!
ALX

It’s the end of the year and things are kind of settling down. Even though we are taking a “vacation” in January, it feels like everything else in life is making up for not being busy with music. I think next time we say we’re going on vacation I’ll shut off all email and phones and go somewhere where no one will find me so I can just relax and not worry about anything!

I have a solo gig tomorrow night at Lulus and our percussionist Seann Carroll will be joining me. Today I’m in the studio practicing some songs and getting some new songs ready for live performance. I figure I should just try the songs out live to see if they work and hope for the best! So if you’re in town tomorrow night and want to come hang out and listen to music, come by Lulus in Waikiki and have some fun from 6-9!

Thanks for reading, and again, I’m sorry it’s been so long! I really need to get in the habit of writing blogs more often…
Take care everyone!
Happy new year!
ALX

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”

Please, if you can, come see us next weekend. If not, we promise we’ll make it up to you somehow.

Thanks fans, you are the best!
Aloha,
AK

Weird happenings at Lulu’s … we found out late Thursday that Lulu’s would be closed to the public last night because someone had booked the entire club/restaurant for a last-minute private party!  Although Lulu’s management was extremely apologetic, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time since a lot of our fans were in town for the annual Na Hoku Hanohano festivities.  And since many of our fans did come down to listen to us, we tried to go outside and meet with as many of them as we could before starting our live show.  I sincerely apologize to all of you for this terrible inconvenience …

And to make matters worse, we won’t be performing at the Kani Ka Pila Grille this evening due to a scheduling conflict.  That means that our fans who came specifically to see us perform during the Na Hoku Festival weekend won’t get to see us at all!  Man, that really sucks!!  Once again, I sincerely apologize to all of you and we promise to somehow make it up to you in the future!

We’ve been having quite a bit of construction going on lately .. our two neighbors are having renovation work done on their homes and we just had one of our avocado trees cut down.  Don’t worry, it wasn’t the one that always gives us great pears … it was the one behind the garage that never fruited and only made lots of leaf rubbish for us and our neighbors.  Still, it was sad to see it go …

Photo corner:  Here’s a pic of the avocado tree which was just cut down … but our other avocado tree is bearing fruit again!

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”

One of my friends sent me this photo from the big Kokua For Japan telethon last Sunday … it’s a photo of me, Alex and Sarah standing backstage with someone I think many of you in Japan will recognize.   Look familiar???

Lulu’s was kind of mellow last night … not loud and crazy like it normally is.  Must’ve been the heat & humidity ’cause it was MUGGY!  I sort of “hit the wall” about 2/3 of the way through the night – I just ran out of energy all of a sudden.  After we were done for the night, I couldn’t wait to get home, take a nice shower, eat something, and then sack out!  Feeling much better this morning …

Aloha, “D”