Later on this afternoon, ManoaDNA will be performing at the Aloha Concert for Hawai’i & Japan over at the Japanese Cultural Center in McCully so if you’re not doing anything, come on down and support the cause!  And after we’re done with that, I’ve got to go home and finish packing … 

Hey, check out the wristbands and t-shirts which we’re taking up to Japan to raise more donations for disaster relief.  Pretty cool, huh?  And for all our friends who wanted to buy a t-shirt, sorry but we only made enough to take with us to Japan … but we may print more after we get back if enough people still want one  … maybe.  hahaha!

Please take care and have a WONDERFUL Easter, y’all!

Aloha, “D”

Aloha kakahiaka

We had dinner last night at Tokkuritei with our friends Reiko and Hiroko from Studio Rim, and Ichikura-san from HTJ in Tokyo.  We ended up ordering various types of izakaya (like pupus, or appetizer-like dishes) with my favorites being the ahi “chips” and the toro (fatty tuna) sushi.  The ahi “chips” were actually deep fried pieces of nori (seaweed) topped with a mixture of spicy ahi, tobiko, veggies, and sauce, while the toro sushi was prepared nigiri style, with the outside of the toro having been seared on the grill … sooooo onolicious!

We also had a nice day at our IOLANI on Kona St. store with people coming in and out pretty much all day.  I was happy that we got a new shipment of Kaua’i Kookies .. especially the “Banzai” ones because they’re my favorite!  Mahalo, everyone, for coming down and supporting us and we hope to see you again real soon! 

Aloha, “D”

Went to play squash yesterday morning and really got a great workout!  I haven’t sweated that much in quite a while and it really felt good although my legs are a little stiff this morning.  Afterward, I dropped in at the local Hawai’i Hongwanji food fair and picked up some homemade sushi and stuff.  They even had my favorite “waffle dog” (it’s a hot dog wrapped in waffle batter and griddled) so I had to have one while I was there … so ono!  Alex & our bass player Mark were also providing some live music for the fair since Mark’s mom is pretty involved with the temple’s activities.  I then drove over to Andy’s in Manoa to pick up sandwiches for lunch … ahi/avocado, ahi melt, turkey/avocado … then headed home.  Spent the rest of the day just vegging and watching the Military Channel (love that stuff!).   Just another normal Sunday …

Got a busy week coming up … lots of stuff going on at IOLANI.  MDNA is also preparing for its trip to Japan at the end of April although our schedule is still not finalized given everything that’s happened in the past two weeks.

Stay safe everybody!   Aloha, “D”

Woke up to some serious rain and a howling wind this morning … winter is definitely here!  The Halloween tent that the boys put up in the yard is starting to break apart and blow away so I’m gonna go out and take it down asap.  And if the weather is like this at Waialae, I’m not sure whether my Thursday group is going to be golfing this afternoon.  Oh well, it’ll give me more time to spend on music and work!

We had our weekly rehearsal yesterday and some of the new James Taylor songs are sounding really good!  We’ll be performing for the MDA Hawai’i fundraiser tomorrow night at 6:00pm over at the Honolulu Hale Civic Grounds so we won’t be at Lulu’s.  We will be at the Kani Ka Pila Grille on Saturday, however, and then the Nick, Alex, and I, will be judges for KZOO Radio’s karaoke finals over at the Sheraton Waikiki ballroom.  This is the 30th anniversary for this karaoke competition and the winners get to go to Japan to compete in the national karaoke finals.  Some of the judges and some professional karaoke performers are coming from Japan to take part in this event, so it should be an interesting experience for us.  Personally, I’ll be interested to see how long the boys (along with myself) can listen to people singing enka-style karaoke for 5 hours … yeehaa!!

I had a couple of beers and some pupus at the original Side Street Inn last night with my buddies Cal Lui and Roy Sakuma.  I hadn’t seen Roy in quite a while so it was good to get together with him … he was ManoaDNA’s producer & manager in our early years and continues to be a great mentor & supporter of me and the boys.  Along with the ice cold draft beers, we munched on garlic edamame, poke, fried saimin, and my all-time favorite, Chinese-style steamed moi, as we reminisced about the old days!  Great times, lots of laughs!!!

Aloha, “D”

Click here for a map to the venue!

Our avocados are looking real good and should be ready to pick next month.  Interesting note – it’s the avocados who now have the size advantage over our puppies.  When the avocados were small our dogs would pick up them up off the ground, carry them into our house, and then rip ‘em apart.  Now the avocados are big and our little ones better be careful that they don’t get hit on the head by the falling fruit!  What a great plot for a movie .. “The Revenge of the Avocado Tree – Part I”!

Aloha, Lloy”D”

Well, we’re off to Japan again this month and we couldn’t be more excited. Keep checking our schedule, as the dates and times will continually be updated. As for the rest of the month, we are excited to test out our new Manoa DNA Live! feature, where we broadcast our shows live over the internet! Just check out our schedule online, and if it says “Live!” next to the show, it means we will be broadcasting directly from the event! If testing goes well, we may even feature other live events where you guys can all chime in!

4th, 11th, & 25th: Lulus Waikiki Live! Testing out their new “Live!” broadcast during the month of September, Manoa DNA will be available online through ustream.tv or here at ManoaDNA.com

5th, 12th, & 26th: Kani Ka Pila Live! Still awaiting word on whether we can actually broadcast live, but we will try. Otherwise, you will have to come see us in person!

15th to the 22nd: Japan September Tour Continuing our 2009 tour with Hawaii Tourism Japan, we will be in Tokyo and Sapporo during the month. Check back often as our schedule will be posted once we get it!