Links

On our family home page we post various picture essays to share with our friends and visitors, including travel tales and recaps of our semi-annual guitar get-togethers.

I maintain a YouTube page where I post performance videos. I also participate in the Vimeo video community.

I learned a lot and had some great musical fun with Kawili, a band playing traditional Hawaiian music. We created a YouTube page for the band as well. The future of the band is uncertain since the death of our lead singer and band leader, Shaun Gavagan. Currently the web site and YouTube channel function as tributes to him.

I'm a fan of many Hawaiian music artists, and you can visit some of them on the Internet. When you visit their sites, be sure to look for their performance schedule and their CD sales.

Dancing Cat Records has information on several artists, detailed CD notes and music samples, a history of slack key, and much more.

Keola Beamer is a magical artist and also a comitted teacher. His site includes online lessons and often has sample lessons and tabs available. He tells good stories, too.

Ledward Kaapana has been a major influence on my playing and I cherish every moment I spend listening to his music and playing with him. He often invites me to open shows for him when he plays near the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ozzie Kotani was instrumental in helping me learn the basics of slack key, through his wonderful book, Guitar Playing Hawaiian Style. He has since created two tutorial DVDs, and produced some lovely CDs as well. Ozzie is a spectacular player with a deep feeling for slack key as well as an exemplary teacher.

Patrick Landeza has been my mentor, influence, and friend for a number of years. He's an artist who always surprises.

Herb Ohta, Jr is an `ukulele master with a dry wit. His CDs and performances are filled with satisfying music.

Mike Ka`awa is a master of the 12 string guitar and a great vocal and instrumental stylist.

Kawika Kahiapo plays magnificent guitar in several styles, and sings with a rich, emotional baritone.

Kevin Brown is the living embodiment of nahenahe, the sweet gentle feeling that is at the heart of slack key.

Ray Sowders is another mainlander like myself who fell in love with Hawaiian music and adopted it as his style. Ray performs around Honolulu, teaches, and has two CDs available. His web site includes some terrific free slack key instruction videos.

Steven Espaniola is a marvelous falsetto singer, `ukulele player, and slack key guitarist. His first CD does a great job of showcasing his unique style.

Andy Wang has created a wonderful resource for those of us interested in Hawaiian music and slack key. His Taropatch.net includes a discussion forum, reviews of instructional material, links to artists and other related sites, and a very active and supportive community of visitors, including many Hawaiian music performers.

When I want to buy a CD, check for upcoming performances by my favorite artists, or research a song or artist, the first place I turn is Mele.com The site is rich with information, including sample clips for most of the current CDs and many out-of-print CDs and cassettes.

"He Mele Aloha" is a wonderful book of Hawaiian songs, one of the first places I look for lyrics and background information when I want to learn more about a song. Robert Mondoy maintains a web site with musical samples and supplemental information to make this book even more useful.

The Hawaiian Music and Hula Archives is another resource with song lyrics and background information.