Good morning, guys! It’s another very hectic week for me since ManoaDNA is heading back up to Japan for its annual summer tour which also includes the Aloha Yokohama Festival this weekend. The weather there continues to be challenging – typhoon Ma-On is currently lashing Japan with torrential rains and damaging winds … man, will those poor people ever get a break?! And even though the storm should pass by the weekend, the high humidity and temperatures should return with a vengeance – ugh! I got a feeling that we’re gonna run up a pretty hefty laundry bill on this trip …
We just got our delivery of “FEEL THE LIGHT” CD singles which we’ll be bringing with us to Japan. We’ll be selling them and our bracelets at all of our shows and with the net proceeds going to the Tohoku University Hospital system’s disaster relief fund. We’re really proud of the way it turned out, especially since it was done in such a short time with everyone’s help. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did producing it!
Alex and I performed at Bruce Shimabukuro’s CD release party at Gordon Biersch on Sunday night, and it was blast!  Brother Jake also performed, along with performances by Japan’s, Fulare Pad and students from Bruce’s ukulele school. It was nice to be back at GBs – it’s been at least a couple of years since we last performed there – and it’s still hotter than ever when the afternoon sun hits that stage! Boy, some things never change!
And finally … we now have air conditioning in our offices again! Yay! After two weeks of sauna-like conditions, the cool air is finally back! It was getting so bad during the day that I could only work in my office for 20-30 minutes before having to go in the store or outside to cool off … boy, was it miserable! But not anymore!!
Aloha, “D”
Be safe in Japan, guys! Avoid all major weather events!