Kaleponi

Our visits to Hawai`i bring an opportunity to get together with Ledward Kaapana and shoot some videos that feature the local scenery and lifestyle. With our buddy Pat La`a scouting locations and operating one of the cameras I think we’ve done some of my all time favorite clips.

We have passed the signs to the Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden many times, it’s right on the main road through Kane`ohe. And we’ve said many times that we should visit, but somehow never made the trip. But Pat finally dragged me to garden and gave me the tour, it was a far different experience than I had expected. This place is much more a park than my usual idea of a botanical garden, and serves as a flood control zone as well. My favorite aspect is the unobstructed view of the magnificent Ko`olau Range which frames garden.

Seeing this gorgeous setting I knew we needed to bring Ledward over for a video shoot. The result was better than I had hoped. Here’s our version of Kolomona Slack Key from the Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden.

There’s a regular weekly party on the lane where Ledward and Sharon live, often at their home, sometimes at one of the neighbors. We set up on the lawn just outside the garage/lanai and plugged our guitars into the recorder so the party noise wouldn’t drown us out. Once again Pat La`a is operating the moving camera for this version of Salomila:

And speaking of gorgeous settings, the little Kailua suburb of Lanikai has earned fame around the world for its vistas. Once again Pat La`a found our location, the family of home of one of his childhood friends high on the ridge at the entrance to the little valley occupied by Lanikai. We shot several tunes here with Pat La`a panning the view and decided on Nanea Ko Ma Ka Ika Le`ale`a as our keeper:

It’s always an honor and a privilege to play alongside Ledward Kaapana, it’s very generous of him to allow me to shoot these videos. Thanks a bunch to Pat La`a, Lanikai kid and exemplary Kailua host, for his location scouting and camera operations.