Aloha

Yesterday we performed at the “Aloha Concert for Hawai’i & Japan” at the Japanese Cultural Center … a great event with great food & entertainment for all.  Some of the other featured entertainers besides ManoaDNA were Brother Noland, Paul Shimomoto, Pali, Robert Cazimero, and Satomi & Shinya Yarimizo.

I’ll be keeping you guys posted while we’re on our trip, so stay tuned ….

Aloha, “D”

Busy day at IOKS (IOLANI on Kona St.) yesterday … mahalo to kumu Ed Collier for coming in to pick up some shirts for their Merrie Monarch appearance,  and also to Kyle and Carole who are in town with friends from the Bay Area … thanks for stopping by everyone!  Oh, and by the way – Carole, I want to see a photo of you in your new outfit!  I’ll also be taking up IOLANI shirts for our friend, former sumo wrestling star and stablemaster Jesse “Takamiyama” Kuhaulua, and also for the governor of Miyagi Prefecture who Nick and I are scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to when we’re up there next week.

Oh, oh .. here come the puppies … damn, they’re ready for their walk!  Ok .. gotta run!  Have a great Saturday, everyone!

Aloha, “D”

We got our shipment of wristbands which we’ll be taking up to Japan next week to help with the fundraising efforts … they’re bright green with “KIZUNA” and “PEACE, LOVE, ALOHA” in bright yellow letters.  We’ll also be selling a new tee shirt which Nick designed and all those profits will be donated to the benefit fund too.

Finally, we are truly honored to have been nominated for a 2011 Na Hoku Hanohano award in 3 categories – Engineering, Group of the Year, and Contemporary Album of the Year.  We humbly send a big mahalo out to everyone for all your love and support!

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”

ManoaDNA has one more benefit performance before it heads up to Japan for Golden Week.  Nick and I will be going up a couple of days earlier to join some of the Hawai’i Tourism Japan staff who are going up to Sendai and Miyagi prefecture to bring supplies to the evacuation shelters there.  Although we’re a little apprehensive about all the aftershocks and the nuclear crisis that’s going on up there, we are looking forward to going and consider it a privilege to be able to go and help bring some aloha and smiles to those people who are facing so much hardship.  Unfortunately, Alex will be unable to join us since he has to finish up his classes at UH, but will meet us in Tokyo along with our bass player, Mark, after we return from Sendai.  ManoaDNA’s 2011 Golden Week tour with HTJ starts on Friday, 4/29, at Ikspiari Live, followed by performances in Odaiba, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.   For more details as they develop, please check our manoadna.com website … mahalo!

Aloha, “D”

No, it’s nothing fancy, I just decided last night that I would make sushi. On my own, no professional help. And let me tell you, it did not turn out that bad!

I first went online (my usual source of information) and found several recipes for sushi rice. I have been to many sushi restaurants in my time, so I know that good sushi rice is the key! Luckily, Foodland down the street had good rice vinegar stocked, so I didn’t have to make a special trip to Nijiya market!

After making the plain rice in the rice cooker (on sushi setting, awesome!) I took it out and tossed it carefully with my rice vinegar, sugar and salt. I personally like it a little more sour, so next time I will probably add more vinegar! Whoohoo!

Next, it was on to rolling! I also bought a bamboo mat from Foodland, so I could feel professional and roll my own makizushi! I picked up my ingredients, and was ready to make sushi!

Not bad for my first try. The rice came out perfect, but the rolling and cutting proved to be more difficult. Oh well, it was delicious, and a perfect pair to an omiyage I got from a fan in Japan. Pancettar!

As I reported on our “Discover Aloha” radio show, one of my favorite places to eat is L&L Drive-Inn. L&L, as it is known here in Hawai’i, is a franchised chain of plate lunch restaurants featuring delicious local food. My favorite from L&L is the garlic shrimp plate, which includes fried shrimp doused in garlic, macaroni salad and rice. DEEELICIOUS!

Anyway, as I reported on the show, I have eaten at L&L Drive-Inn all over the country, including Oregon and New York. Below is a picture from 2005, which features me, in New York City, making shaka signs like a true dude…

“Nick Reports” is a section of the segment “Manoa DNA Reports” featuring weekly reports from each of Manoa DNA (Dad, Nick & Alex). Featured on Manoa DNA’s radio show, “Discover Aloha,” “Manoa DNA Reports” showcases different highlights from Hawai’i and Manoa DNA. For more information about “Manoa DNA’s Discover Aloha” radio show, visit the show’s website, or tune into 79.5 Radio-i (Nagoya, Japan) every Sunday from 11:00-13:00 (11a-1p).

It was another awesome evening at Kani Ka Pila!  We streamed our live performance via the internet so I hope you were able to at least catch some of our show last night.  We had another great crowd in attendance with lots of them blowing these little red whistles that our friend, Yutaka, had brought and was giving away. Nick and Alex were also surprised to see a couple of their former Punahou teachers in the audience, and !  BTW, I’d like to be sure to say “hi” to all of you personally the next time we do a live video feed, so please remind me before the next scheduled performance.  You can check our schedule since Nick always tries to keep it updated.

I did not score very well during my round of golf out at Hoakalei yesterday, although I had a blast with my partners Leon, Chris, and Danny.  As I pointed out in my previous blog, Hoakalei is a brand new golf course out on the Ewa plain and was designed by professional golfer, Ernie Els.  The course covers a much larger area than other Hawaii courses, and there are SO many sandtraps – over 130 to be exact!  Naturally, I ended up in a few of them during the course of play but was able to get out without too much trouble.  Since we weren’t familiar with the course, our scores reflected it – I shot a horrendous 91 – and that was the low score of our group!  What the …?!  I’m sure if we played it again (hint, hint) we’d definitely do much better!

Have a great Labor Day!

Aloha, Lloy”D”