Ukulele Night at Coffee Gallery

Uke Night at Coffee Gallery
May 30, 7pm

Featuring Abe Lagrimas
with Jason Arimoto
and Mitch Chang

Two-time Na Hoku Hanohano nominee and Hawaii Music Award recipient Abe Lagrimas is kicking off the very first Uke Night at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. Abe tours throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe and has performed with such notable artists as Eric Marienthal, Michael Paulo, Gabe Baltazar, Benny Rietveld, Jake Shimabukuro, James Ingram, Valery Ponomarev, and many others. His latest CD "Duo" is a contender in this year's Hawaii Na Hoku Hanohano Music Awards. Click here for directions to the Coffee Gallery website and see you there!

Author Alan Brennert at South Pasadena Library

The other night I had the privilege to meet Alan Brennert, author of Moloka'i and Honolulu, at the South Pasadena library. I love going to Pasadena! The library had heard about me from the El Segundo library (who had heard about me from the Carson library who heard from Manhattan Beach) and invited me to come play some Hawaiian slack key guitar and ukulele to start off the evening featuring a book signing and reading by the author. Since we were in a library, I tried to throw out a little history I thought some people less familiar with Hawaiian music might find interesting, like how the vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) first brought the guitar to Hawaii and how contemporary rockers like George Harrison fell in love with the ukulele (which came from Portugal, originally) so I played songs like "Aloha Oe" and "Here Comes The Sun" on the ukulele as well as "Amazing Grace" and one of my all time fave songs "What A Wonderful World" on slack key guitar.
Alan did a little reading from the newer book Honolulu then entertained some questions from the audience. Best part was learning he lived right here in Southern California and I look forward to getting together for lunch or a cup of coffee with him soon.
Check out his books - Moloka'i and Honolulu on Amazon here. Alan Brennert is the author of the best-selling historical novels MOLOKA'I and HONOLULU, as well as the contemporary novels TIME AND CHANCE and KINDRED SPIRITS. He has also written short stories, teleplays, screenplays, and the libretto of a stage musical, WEIRD ROMANCE, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by David Spencer. His work on the television series L.A. LAW earned him an Emmy Award in 1991, and his short story "Ma Qui" was honored with a Nebula Award in 1992.

Jeff Peterson, Favorite Entertainer of the Year Nominee

Favorite Entertainer of the Year Jeff Peterson

Congratulations are in order! Hawaiian slack key guitarist Jeff Peterson has been nominated for the 2010 Na Hoku Hanohano "Favorite Entertainer of the Year." by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts. Please click here to vote for Jeff and please tell your friends and family to vote too!

Don't miss Jeff Peterson's return to the Lord of the Strings acoustic guitar series this Friday in Dana Point and Saturday in Mission Viejo! Lord Of The Strings is a guitar series that has been bringing the finest musicians in the world to Southern California since 2003. The Orange County Register called President & Founder Tim Johnson the "Guitar Hero" and it's his guitar series after which I've modeled my own Wood & Wire Acoustic Guitar Showcase in El Segundo (June 6 artist: Jim "Kimo" West). Click here for tickets and directions to Lord Of The Strings.

Ukulele Workshop, performance

Please join me tomorrow, Saturday, May 15th 2:00 - 4:00pm for an Ukulele Workshop in Redondo Beach
All levels welcome!

It'll be a different kind of workshop - fun and real hands-on! Whether you've been playing for a few months or a few years, there will be something for you! Give it a try and bring a song that you like and think might be fun for a group to play. Send a message to happymeyoga@gmail.com to reserve your spot today (Only $25, space is limited to 20 spaces).

Happy Me Yoga
1908 Artesia Blvd, Redondo Beach

Also, tomorrow night, I'll be at the Coffee Gallery playing some background gellin' slack key and ukulele music for Kamaka Brown's original Hawaiian pidgin English stories in "Wot? Boddah You?"

Check out the Coffee Gallery website here. Save the dates and hope to see you there!

Coffee Gallery with Jim "Kimo" West

Had a great time playing with Kimo last night at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. I opened up with a few ukulele solos in the first set then rhythm uke with Kimo in the second set. Aya got up to dance a few numbers which really put a lot of smiles on the faces in the audience - I personally like it when people dance hula in "street clothes", same for flamenco. Seems more fun and natural than a costume. Kapo Ku sang a few songs too and even Diana, Kimo's wife, got up to sing Amy Hanaiali'i's Palehua.

It was definitely nice to find a lot of audience members who had been to, or know of, the Southern California Slack Key Festival as they yelled out the answers to "What's the Hawaiian word for slack key", "What's the most common slack key tuning", and "Where and what month is the annual Festival held?" to which the correct answer-giver was awarded a 2010 t-shirt.

Hope to see you back at the Coffee Gallery this coming Saturday the 15th for Kamaka Brown's pidgin English storytelling with me playing slack key and ukulele backdrop music for his stories.