Awesome weekend!

Aloha, all!

It’s Monday evening and Carla and I just returned from a wonderful weekend on the Big Island which included ManoaDNA’s appearance at Danny Akaka’s “Twilight at Kalahuipua’a” over at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel.  Like I told you guys in my previous blog, this event is the highlight of the year for us and one that you guys should not miss!  This weekend’s Twilight was no different – everything from the full moon that bathed the crowd to the wonderful camaraderie shared by everyone was absolutely perfect.  And the neat thing about this talk story event is that no one really knows who’s going to show up every month .. it’s always a surprise which is really cool!  What’s also great is that there are always other musicians or storytellers in the crowd who love to come up and share their aloha with the crowd.  Saturday night, our pal Brother Noland came up to jam a few songs with us and later, Nani Lim graced us with a beautiful rendition of “Alika”, before finishing with an awesome “hana hou” hula.  The mana (spirit) and energy of the evening was truly magical and something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.  We even got the audience on its feet and dancing to our finale of MJ’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” before Danny closed the evening with a pule (prayer) and everyone singing “Hawai’i Aloha”!   Ahhhhh, only at Twilight!  I want to thank Danny & Anna Akaka, Francis & Susie Ruddle, Susan Maddox, Pi’i, Lani, John (sound), the “DNA boys”, the management & staff of the Fairmont Orchid, and everyone who worked so hard to put this event on.  It truly is THE best!

Ok, it’s now Tuesday morning and I’m sort of combining this with yesterday’s blog … lazy, yeah?  Forgot to mention that Brother Noland brought us some  of his special smoked meat Saturday night at Twilight … mahalo, brah!  I also went swimming every day while I was in Kohala, something I hadn’t done in many years.  The ocean is a very healing place – both spiritually and physically – and I was reminded of that as I swam in the cool, clear waters.  Carla and I decided to stay an extra night which was a good move since we just spent the day relaxing by the beach and doing nothing.  The next day, Danny and his daughter Kalei picked us up and we went to grab a bite to eat in Kawaihae before heading out to the airport to catch our flight to home.  I must have been really relaxed because I totally forgot about my golf clubs which was still at the hotel and didn’t realize it until after we had landed in Honolulu!  Hmmm … I thought we were traveling a little light!  hahahaha!!  Anyway, it was perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

After we landed in Honolulu, we got our luggage (minus my clubs!), got in the car and exited the parking lot … and immediately hit the rush hour traffic on H-1!  Back to the human rat race …

Aloha, “D”