Holy smoke! Has it been a week since my last blog?? My how time flies … I’m sure you’re just dying to hear the latest – NOT!! Anyway, for those of you who still read this stuff, let me first wish you all a “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!” and hope you’re spending a wonderful day with that special someone in your life. Today is also my wedding anniversary, but Carla and I’ve been so busy this week that we’ll probably have to celebrate later …
So a quick recap … great golf last Thursday – my game sucked, but I had a nice time with the people I was with. Got a lot of business stuff done too. Friday @ Lulu’s and Saturday @ Kani Ka Pila Grille were awesome as usual … can’t remember the details, but all I know is that I really enjoyed myself! Sunday, we performed at the Ukulele Picnic over at the Kakaako Waterfront Park … will reserve my comments on that one, if you know what I mean. Weather and the crowd were great, though, and it was really nice to see Skyler Kamaka again … she’s such a sweet girl! That night we had our last DNA Golf Club banquet … we’re disbanding the golf group since interest has waned and it was becoming a lot of work for Nick. Monday was pretty quiet .. Tuesday I met with my good friend Peter over at the Asahi Grill – good local food and known for their oxtail soup even though I think Waialae still has the best. That night I had a meeting at Side Street Inn with our pal Reiko. Yesterday, Wednesday was an awesome day … started off by speaking with a group of business students from Japan’s Rikkyo University about the history of ‘IOLANI and our family. I was really impressed by how bright and articulate they were … sure helped renew my hope for the future generations! And finally, last night turned out to be an amazing evening of music … Hirokazu Ogura, one of Japan’s top musicians – one of their “superstars” if you will – came down to the Hyatt to jam with us! This guy was awesome … he just blew everybody away with his playing and it was indeed an honor to share the stage with a person of his caliber. His primary instrument is the guitar, but last night he brought a 6-string uke (almost like a mini-guitar) and a unique instrument called a harp-uke. I can’t even begin to describe what this instrument looked like, but it was part ukulele and part harp … and the sound was amazing! I’m sorry more people couldn’t have seen last night’s performance … it was truly a magical moment. If anyone of you guys were there last night and took some video, I’d really appreciate it if you could send some of the footage …
“HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SWEETIE!!”
Aloha, “D”