Preparations continue for ManoaDNA’s upcoming trip to Japan … so many little details to take care of with so little time!  I want to really thank everyone for their concern about our safety … please don’t worry, we will be fine!  I especially want to thank Misa-san who made a special trip to the IOLANI store yesterday afternoon to drop off some special crystal pendants to help protect us on our journey.  I am really looking forward to this trip, especially when Nick & I go up to Sendai and Miyagi next week.  Oh .. and thanks to my good friend, Ric Noyle, I now have a camera to take photos & videos!  Ric is one of Hawai’i's top commercial photographers and I had asked him to recommend a camera that was compact, able to take both photos and video, and most importantly, could be operated by a real camera dummy like me!  He sent me a cool little Canon which seems to be very simple to operate so I’m good to go!  Mahalo, Ric!

I met my friends Gregg and Cal down at the original Side Street Inn last night for some drinks and pupus. We haven’t been able to get together in a while so it was fun to hang out like the old days.  We had some great pulehu ribeye steak, furikake ahi, aku & ahi poke, and Chinese roast pork … all washed down with some great draft beer and a glass of Rombauer white!  It really doesn’t get much better than that ….

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”

There have been many benefits here locally to help aid the victims of Japan’s terrible disaster, and I’m proud of the way the people of Hawai’i have jumped in to contribute in any way possible.  There’s a fundraiser at the Pacific Beach Hotel this afternoon where our good friends Bruce Shimabukuro, Palani Vaughn, and Kapala will be performing so I plan on dropping by to show support.  ManoaDNA will also be performing at two benefit concerts this week – Thursday on Pakele Live @ the Willows, and Sunday @ the Hilton HV for the Kokua Japan telethon.  I hope you all can come down to help support this great cause …

Kani Ka Pila Grille was hopping again last night … lots of family, friends, and tourists enjoying an evening of music, dance, and just plain fun!  It must have been “Stump the Band” night because we got a couple of requests for songs that I never heard of … I mean, I I have a pretty wide repertoire but some of this stuff was off the charts!  And I love it when Alex and Nick start bantering back and forth with each other and the audience – some of the stuff they come up with just kills me!  Of course the crowd just eats it up …

Out of the blue:  As I was driving up Waialae Ave. yesterday, I saw a young woman driving a car next to me, holding her cell phone with one hand and applying her eye makeup with the other!  How the hell was she steering?!  I was really starting to admire her multi-tasking skills up until the moment when she almost rear-ended some poor guy near Kahala Mall who had stopped for a red light!  I think she’s still trying to pull her mascara brush out of her nose!  hahaha!!

Aloha, “D”

Borrowed Non-maliciously from HawaiiWeb.com

My friends and I often go to Bellows to camp, and our favorite time of the year is fourth of July weekend. This is a jam packed camping weekend at all beach parks on O’ahu because most people have the entire weekend off from work. You have to plan ahead and get permits early, but if you do, it is a weekend full of fun and fireworks on the beach. It doesn’t hurt that you wake up every morning to the ocean and sun!

But be careful of the man-o-war!

“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).

Besides, if wanna get my day to day, follow me on Twitter!
http://www.twitter.com/nickkawakami

Anyway, onto the news! Hawai’i got smoked by Wisconsin over the weekend, capping off a roller-coaster of a season. And while the pole 11.5 crew showed up in force, it wasn’t enough as Wisconsin ran all over the place. Oh well, I have to say, with all the crap that Coach Mack had to deal with this year, it’s amazing how well it turned out. Congratulations and thanks go out to the senior class!

Some of you have heard that Manoa DNA will be airing a two-hour radio program in Nagoya, Japan every Sunday afternoon. We are meeting tonight to finalize the details of the show’s content, but as a preview I thought I would test my reporting skills and let you all know of a delicious Vietnamese place in Kaimuki, O’ahu called “Hale Vietnam!” Their specialty of course is the pho (Wikipedia definition), a soup and noodle dish with vegetables and your choice of meat. It comes with bean sprouts, basil, mint, along with your usual pho fixings creating a delicious aroma that hits you the minute you walk in the door. If you aren’t in the mood for soup, I also love their Vietnamese thin noodles. Comes with a variety of meat, seafood or vegetable toppings, and I tried the lemongrass chicken. Whoo! Broke da mout! So ono, so good. Definitely makes the trek out to Kaimuki worth it! If you get a chance to make it to Hale Vietnam, tell them Manoa DNA sent you! (They won’t know what you’re talking about, so take their photo and send it to me! I would love to see their face!)

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Have a great week everyone. Thanks for reading!
Nick

"N" and "A" relaxing at InterFM studios in Roppongi

J-WAVE studios

Good morning everyone!  It’s Day 1 for the JATA World Trade Fair and since it’s media day, we’re only doing one performance at noon today.  We’ll be attending a reception later this evening, so we won’t be able to join our dear friends, the Taguchis, for some great Tokyo shabu shabu … oh well, maybe in November?  The JATA/WTF is a huge tourism convention where countries from all over the world gather to showcase their food, music, and attractions to the public.  I heard that over 150,000 people attend this 2-day event … I recall past JATA events when I couldn’t even cross an aisle because there were so many people!  I hope our favorite Ghana food booth will be there again this year .. they have this awesome meat sandwich that is sooooo good!  I also wonder whether Alex will buy another instrument to add to his collection at home … last year he bought an African jembe (sp), a conga-like drum with a really great sound but a real pain in the butt to carry on the airplane home!

It was another busy day yesterday with a radio interview at InterFM and a visit to the J-WAVE studios.  I want to send a big “mahalo” out to our manager, Ann, for taking such good care of us and putting up with all of our b.s.!  U da bess, Umelani!  Well, I gotta run and start getting ready, so as we like to say to each other right before we go on stage, “see you at the end, boys”!

Aloha, “Pops”