Tag Archives: photography

Whale Days 2010 Remembered – aka the Wolf Story

Posted by on February 18, 2011 No comments

Tomorrow morning, February 19, 2011, Maui’s music fans will converge in Kihei for the annual Whale Days Festival. Every year, the best in Maui music is represented at this open-air, family friendly, free concert. As MauiZan prepares for this year’s festival — we’re especially looking forward to Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers with Gail Swanson – we take a look back at last year’s event.

Anuhea was scheduled to play along with many other great musicians including John Cruz – a MauiZan fave.

The Tuesday before the festival, we saw a guy singing and playing guitar at Moana Cafe‘s open mic night. His talent was above and beyond most we had seen trip through the Paia café.

“Who’s that?” I whispered to my pseudo step-son, Chris. “His name is Wolf,” Chris said. “He’s one of the best bass players on the island.”

Let me share something with those of you who do not know Chris. He is a musician and he has very high standards when it comes to other musicians. Rarely do you hear him say something or someone is good, let alone, “one of the best on the island.”

When I inquired as to what band Wold performed in, Chris said, “He’s in a lot of bands.”

So I put it in the back of my head to find out who this Wolf was; I thought he was great and in light of Chris’s comments, I knew there was something special about this guy.

The following Saturday, we woke up early, rushed down Olinda Road and headed to Kihei to try to catch Anuhea at Whale Days. The Makawao-native was just breaking big and I had never seen her perform. We were running late and knew we had missed her starting time.

We zipped down a side-street, found a place to park — like magic — and hit the pavement toward the beach park. As we approach the grandstand, we see a young woman on stage. “Is that her?” I ask. Hearing a familiar tune, you hear four voices say, “Yeah, it is,” as we work our way to the front of the stage.

We find an open spot stage left, plop down our bags — and kids — whip out the cameras and get in position to shoot some photos. Enjoying the music but not yet looking up, I take my first glance at the stage.

Whoa, the guy playing bass with Anuhea is Wolf, the guitarist who sang at Moana Tuesday night. “Is that the guy we saw the other night,” I asked my 9-year-old daughter. “Yeah, it is,” she responds. Thankfully, her eyes are better than mine.

Anuhea, Wolf and the band played a selection of songs from her début album — and they sounded great. We were so thankful we had made it to the festival in time to catch the show.

Whale Day rocks with Anuhea and Wolf.

We were able to watch John Cruz, which was great as always, but had to leave the festival a little early; we had tickets to Ozomatli at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater. We head to Kahului, not having time to return to Olinda, and converge on the MACC. We indulge in some coffee — kind of necessary, it was a long day — just before the “5 minutes to show” announcement.

Cutting it to the wire, we enter the theater just as the opening act takes the stage. Erin Smith of the Throwdowns was expected to play solo.

We find our seats, take a nice breath, look at the stage and what do we see? Wolf! He was accompanying Smith during her opening set.

One week earlier, I had never seen this guy perform. Now, three times within five days, there he was, on-stage with some of the most popular female artists on the island.

We’re not certain if Wolf will be with Anuhea on stage at Whale Days 2011. It would be nice, but he has so many gigs these days, we’ll forgive his absence — if we must.

Love you Pacific Whale Foundation and all the artists who support this great event.

Distracted by Willie's Haircut

Posted by on May 24, 2010 No comments
willie 2 edit

Willie Nelson’s Haircut Takes My Mind Off The Music

As I prepared for my next Rhythm & Views blog, I began thinking about all of the things happening this past weekend on Maui. Slightly Stoopid was in Lahaina — and on my plane flight back from California. Jim Gaffigan was at the MACC — and on some plane flight from the Mainland to Maui. And The Reflectacles were going to play two shows — Friday night at Stella Blues and Saturday night at Charley’s — apparently flying in all the way from sunny Los Angeles.

I managed to make it to the MACC and Charley’s, hoping that a great blog idea would find its way into my brain before Sunday arrived.

I saw a good comedy show and several great bands between May 21-23; but the one thing that will always make the weekend stand out in my mind had nothing to do with comedy or a rock concert.

For me, the weekend — specifically, Saturday night at Charley’s — will always be memorable because it was the day I first saw Willie Nelson without his long braids.

Yes, Willie cut his hair. I thought of describing it like McDonald’s without the Golden Arches, Snoop Dogg not stoned or Courtney Love with a good attitude — but none of those capture the wallop upside my head when I spotted Willie without his long locks.

Maybe Bret Michaels without his bandanna would meet my needs.

As my mind processed the reality — it’s just hair, Zan — I think back on the music. There was some good stuff going down Saturday night in Maui’s little North Shore hippie town.

The evening opened with the Sugarcane String Band whose mix of bluegrass, country, rock, island and blues had people dancing and singing along as if they were listened to their favorite classic rock act.

Next up was Folk Uke, a duo that has not forgotten the importance of humor in music. The one song people kept telling me about, “S*#t Makes The Flowers Grow,” did not disappoint. With lyrics that explore the life-purpose of less-than-desirable people in our lives — Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson’s music has helped them carve out a niche of their own while growing up in the shadow of two very famous musician fathers, Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson.

You can read about The Reflectacles in my Rhythm & Views blog on Maui No Ka Oi Magazine’s website. They were pretty great on their own, and rocked when Willie joined them for a set.

By the way, Willie wails on the electric guitar. Having only seen him play his acoustic “Trigger,” I was delighted to see that Nelson can break out the rock chops on demand.

What a rock star, braids or no braids! His kids and their friends aren’t to shabby either.

You can find more information on The Reflectacles, Folk Uke and Sugarcane String Band on their respective MySpace. Facebook and web pages.

The Throwdowns Opening For Sammy Hagar?

Posted by on March 11, 2010 No comments

Rumor has it that The Throwdowns will be the opening act at Sammy Hagar‘s April 9 show at the Castle Theater in Maui. The band recently dropped a less-than-subtle hint on its Twitter page; the post, dated March 5, read: “sneak peek at the posters for Sammy Hagar. So sic! Heard a rumor that the opening band is pretty smart. And funny. And rhymes with slowdowns.”

The Throwdowns' Erin Smith chats with Sebrina Barron backstage at BarryFest. Photo by Joyce Chin

Today (3/9), another post flowed from Twitter land that apparently was a response to a question that was posted by @eggfooyoung. “Yes, we are blessed with stage warm up duties for Mr. Hagar,” the band tweeted.

The Throwdowns’ official website does not list a show with Hagar and the Wabos. However, the band’s MySpace page kind of confirms the rumor, if there was much doubt left at this point. According to the MySpace page, the The Throwdowns are scheduled to play “MACC Castle Theatre With Sammy Hagar! TBA.” TBA? Does that mean tentative or not officially announced? Probably the latter.

If it falls through, the band’s fans can catch Erin Smith, Kimo Clark, Ola Shaw and Ian Hollingsworth April 10 opening for 311 and Iration at Lahaina Civic Center. The band recently wrapped up a support slot on Matisyahu’s Hawaiian tour which included a February 28 show at the Lahaina venue.

Off island, the band is throwing a “National CD” release party April 30 at The Pipeline Cafe in Honolulu. The band’s debut album, “Don’t Slow Down,” originally was released in August 2009 but is gaining well-deserved national exposure with a re-release edition courtesy of a distribution deal with ADA/Warner.

In addition to Matisyahu, The Throwdowns have opened for The Fray, Panic at the Disco, Bad Brains and The English Beat.

So let’s shoot an email to Erin and see if she’ll confirm the Sammy Hagar gig. As if there’s much doubt.

Fine Art Photographer Turns to Music

Posted by on March 10, 2010 No comments

Maui resident Joyce Chin recently turned her photographic talents around to focus on live music and the results have been overwhelmingly positive for the photographer and her partner-in-musical-crime, Suzanne Kayian.

Suzanne recently launched a new column, Rhythm & Views, at Maui No Ka Oi Magazine and despite the fact that she considers herself a fairly good photographer, decided to bring Joyce into the fold.

“I love taking concert photos,” Kayian said. “But to be honest, Joyce is far better behind the lens. So I started asking her to bring her camera along when we go to shows and the result has been phenomenal.”

Joyce’s website, Joyce Chin Photography, showcases a wide variety of her photographic styles, in addition to her concert shots.

Both women also are working behind the scenes to help Maui singer/songwriter Sebrina Barron take her career to the next level. Sebrina’s new website, www.SebrinaBarron.com, will launch soon but until then, you can visit her Facebook page for more information on this talented young woman.

Videos of Sebrina performing also can be found at Suzanne Kayian and Joyce Chin’s YouTube channels.