The Green raises the bar for Local Reggae

January 16, 2014

Oahu-based reggae band The Green came up with a novel way to open their latest album, "Hawaii '13," - by recording a group of school students performing a Hawaiian chant."We wanted to bless everybody who had the album and everybody who worked on the album and give respect to all the forces that made it possible," The Green's JP Kennedy explains. "It was an opening ceremony kind of thing. It was an original chant written by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a teacher at a Hawaiian immersion school in Honolulu. We were going to go there to do the last track, 'Hawaii Aloha,' with the kids, and then ...

Endless summer of the Beach Boys

January 9, 2014

In celebration of their 50th anniversary, the surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited to embark on a historic world tour in 2012 and released "That's Why God Made the Radio," their first new studio album in two decades.Resplendent with their signature harmonies and nostalgic, summertime themes, the acclaimed album recalled their glory days and became the legendary group's highest-charting recording in 37 years."It was pretty darn nice," says Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love about reteaming with bandmates. "Brian (Wilson) and I were in the studio listening to a playback of the song, ...

Willie K’s BBQ Blues Festival

January 2, 2014

Willie K's first BBQ Blues Festival was one of the highlights of 2013, and it looks like the second annual event coming up on Jan. 11 will be even more memorable.Featuring headliners Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top and Mississippi blues legend Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, along with some of our island's finest musicians, the festival will be presented outdoors at Maui Tropical Plantation's new Field of Dreams amphitheater.ZZ Top's Gibbons is one of the finest blues-rock guitarists to emerge from Texas. "Ever since I was a little kid and first heard Jimmy Reed's 'Honey, Don't Let Me Go,' the ...

Work is play

December 26, 2013

It's been quite a few years since Willie Nelson played an official concert on Maui. So Saturday's show at the Maui Tropical Plantation marks a significant event when the country music icon headlines a benefit for the Montessori School of Maui's Cynthia Winans-Burns scholarship fund."It's a memorial concert for Cynthia, who built the school," Willie says. "On her death bed, she said she wanted to create a scholarship fund for children of alumni, so if times were hard they would have an opportunity for their kids to go there."The concert will open with performances by Lily Meola with Tom ...

Sounds of the season

December 19, 2013

"Lei Kulaia" Napua GreigPihana ProductionsAfter releasing a couple of Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning albums, Maui's Napua Greig celebrates the holiday season with her latest CD, "Lei Kulaia.""Christmas is a time that everyone enjoys," Napua explains. "It's a time that families come together. I love Christmas music."As befitting as the title, which means to adorn festively, this acclaimed musician and kumu hula has compiled a festive treat that features both Hawaiian and English language songs, and traditional and more contemporary favorites. But unlike other seasonal fare, the album ...

Rally to the ‘Ark’

December 12, 2013

Groundation, one of America's most popular reggae bands, has become internationally renowned for their infectious music that creatively melds influences of jazz and funk onto their roots foundation.Taking their name from a Rastafarian holy day (Grounation), the band was formed in California in 1998 by three students in Sonoma State University's jazz studies program. The band has expanded to a nine-piece ensemble with a horn section, several percussion players and Jamaican backing singers, Kim Pommell and Jhamiela Smith."I wanted to be part of this positive movement known as roots-reggae ...