Country singer Billy Currington

October 15, 2015

Country star Billy Currington loves Maui. He loves our island so much he once halted his successful music career to live here for a year."When I first went to Maui, I was only going to be there for three weeks," he explains. "Within the first week, I called my manager in Nashville and said, 'I'm not coming back home.' I had a coffee at Grandma's (in Koekea) and that's when I got on the phone and said, 'I'm not coming back and I don't know what to tell you about the music career.' I had already had some good success and No. 1s on the radio, but the power of Maui was so strong for me that ...

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

October 8, 2015

Hailed by MTV as "the most melodic hip-hop group of all time," Bone Thugs-n-Harmony return to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Friday evening. Best known for their fast-paced rapping style and harmonizing vocals, the band has sold more than 50 million records.The original group comprised rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone and Flesh-n-Bone. They earned their first Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 1997 for their hit "Tha Crossroads," which was dedicated to the memory of N.W.A's Eazy-E. With songs like "Tha Crossroads" and "First of the Month," the Bone Thugs' ...

JAZZ on the UKE

October 1, 2015

Among Hawaii's musicians redefining the traditional scope of the ukulele, Benny Chong reigns supreme as a virtuoso jazz player. Best known as a founding member and guitarist for Don Ho's backing group, the Aliis, Chong has been honored with a Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2012 he won a Hoku award for Jazz Album of the Year for his CD, "Ukulele Jazz: Live in Concert at Hilo, Hawaii."In the world of solo ukulele playing, very few musicians specialize in jazz. Besides Chong, jazz ukulele pioneers include the great Bill Tapia, who released his first ...

Return to rock ‘n’ roll stage

September 24, 2015

Return to rock 'n' roll stage Longtime Kula resident Pamela Polland recently returned from singing before 50,000 music fans at a historic concert on Sept. 11 at Virginia's Lockn' Music Festival. A tribute to Joe Cocker's legendary "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" live album and film, the concert was organized by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, and included a number of the original Mad Dogs musicians like Leon Russell, keyboardist Chris Stainton, and singers Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear and Polland."It was spectacular," she says. "It was amazing in every regard. Tedeschi Trucks is such a ...

Rising to the challenge

September 17, 2015

Hawaiian music legend Keola Beamer and Moanalani Beamer will perform with Na Hoku Award-winning kumu hula/musician Uluwehi Guerrero on Saturday at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center as part of a benefit for Mental Health Kokua. The "Arise - A Film & Music Benefit" will also feature the Makaha Sons."It's an opportunity for me to explore some family music again, particularly the music of my great-grandmother Helen Desha Beamer," Keola Beamer explains. "And the reason is Uluwehi's beautiful voice. He has tremendous range, a beautiful vibrato and a terrific soulfulness. Sometimes ...

Cool down with jazz & blues

September 10, 2015

Virtuoso jazz bassist John Patitucci credits his grandfather with igniting his passion for jazz. This Grammy Award winner, who has played with a who's who of jazz greats including Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, had his mind blown as a kid when his grandpa showed up one day at his Brooklyn home with a box of records.The record stash, which had been left in the trash on a sidewalk, included such seminal gems as Art Blakey's "Mosaic," Ray Charles' "Genius + Soul = Jazz," Jimmy Smith's "Hoochie Coochie Man" and a few Wes Montgomery classics."My grandfather found this box in ...