Kaleponi

I love playing slack key in Kaleponi but somehow it’s just a little sweeter when we are in Hawai`i. While friends enjoy our home back on the mainland we’re enjoying our stay on the windward side of O’ahu. We try to pack light for these trips but I always have a bag of sound recording gear and cameras (and lenses and batteries and filters and adapters!) (more…)

We’re back in Hawai’i for a visit so I set out to find a new location for our video adventures. Since we were staying in Kane’ohe I looked there and found Kane’ohe Beach Park. Compared to the gorgeous miles of sandy beaches in Kailua and other locations around O’ahu, the beach in Kane’ohe is not too impressive, but the tradeoff is plenty of parking and plenty of quiet. After a little experimenting we came up with a pretty nice bit of video featuring this old waltz. (more…)

Moani Ke`ala is a Hawaiian classic from the monarchy era, composed by Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku, brother of King David Kalākaua and Queen Lili’uokalani. I first heard Gabby Pahinui’s uptempo arrangement and that has been my inspiration when I’ve played the tune. I think Ledward is thinking of Gabby when he plays it as well. (more…)

When we talk about influential slack key players the late Leonard Kwan is sure to be part of the discussion. From my earliest days of trying to learn slack key I was told to listen to Uncle Leonard. His compositions are standards, his licks are savored, his recordings are cherished, he even has a tuning that bears his name – Leonard’s C is a common term for the drop C version of C wahine. We call this tuning “Drop C” because it’s a single string away from taropatch open G, and that string, the sixth or lowest pitched string on the guitar, is dropped from D to C to create the new tuning. (more…)

I hope folks have been visiting my YouTube page because I’ve been quite remiss in updating here. It’s way past time that I share a couple of videos I shot while Ledward Kaapana was visiting Walnut Creek back in October of 2017. (more…)

We’re back in Kailua, O`ahu, enjoying views of the Ko`olau, the gorgeous skies of the windward side, and the beaches, lakes, and streams all around us. And on those lakes, streams, and beaches we see paddlers – stand up boarders and kayakers and outrigger canoe racers pushing themselves and their conveyance along.

Lena Machado wrote a song about paddling, Holo Wa`apa, which tells us to row forward then back, and feel the gentle swaying of the waves. She was clearly quite a fan of boats (grin). The chords are a classic swing progression, rolling around the circle of fifths on its way to a traditional Hawaiian vamp. I’m not sure how the song popped into my head, but once I tracked it down I knew I needed to catch some canoe video with some slack key guitar. (more…)

I was taken by surprise when I realized that I haven’t posted a video since we left Hawai`i last year, and now we’re almost ready to go back. So I set up the gear in the guest bedroom to take advantage of the interesting light and the tropical pattern cover on the futon, and played a taropatch slack key version of Beautiful Kaua`i by Randy Farden. (more…)

Our stay here on Enchanted Lake is coming near its end, and those last couple of weeks tend to get very busy, so this may be the last bit of video from Ka `Elepulu this year. (more…)

Lynn has always been our travel manager, choosing the destinations, getting the best deals on flights, and finding places to stay. She has found us some wonderful residences over the years and she just keeps getting better. (more…)

We’ve been visiting Kailua for quite a few years now and we’ve made some wonderful friends. This year some of those friends invited us to a celebration of Easter Sunday at Kailua Beach, and it turned out to be one of those special days. Local folks are known for their hospitality and it was certainly on display this day. Combined with the dramatic scenery and perfect weather, this one will be hard to top. (more…)