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Stay True

by Christa Wittmier | Oct 31, 2012

If there’s anything I would want to enunciate to you this week, it’s this: figure out who you are and be that. If you’re a little weird, it’s totally ok. I mean, look at Tyler the Creator. He makes no excuses for what comes out of his brain. He squiggles and jerks around the stage at The Republik, rolling obscenities out of his mouth in a packed house after raking in thousands of dollars in merch before his show with Odd Future even happened. Why? Because he is one smart dude. He makes what he wants to make, be it bright colorful trunks with OF donuts on them or horrifically amazing beats that accompany the most shocking lyrics possible. When you are honest with yourself and do what truly matters to you, and if it’s good, people will respond favorably.

While not a whole lot of my own peers were too excited to see the notoriously rambunctious OFWGKTA perform on Saturday night, they all wound up seeing them anyway, because The Safehouse and the Republik were two of the very few destinations that didn’t get shut down by the HPD, due to that tsunami warning. I was tweeting my heart out to whoever would read: “Safehouse! It’s truly the safe house tonight! Get here!” as hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost in Chinatown. My heart sank for not only Mark Tarone and his Hallowbaloo team but the surrounding bars counting on their much-needed extra cha-ching to pay their bills. Upwards of 7,000 people flooded the streets before they were told to evacuate. Every time Philip Pendelton from BAMP walked through the bar where we were sitting and started talking to his staff I was sure that was the moment they were going to say the show was not going to happen. Meanwhile, next to me, poor Tiffany Tanaka of Fresh Café and Loft in Space was frantically texting back and forth with Aly Ishikuni, who pulled together the official after-party hosted by Odd Future, featuring their friends Trash Talk and many local acts that were beyond excited to share the stage with them. This all-ages show had the venue’s managers a little worried about possible damage, but also had attendees preaching respectful behavior on the Facebook event page. At least Odd Future got to hit the stage–and they hit it hard. The group performed one of the most hyped shows I’ve seen. Sure, there were many who caught on to Frank Ocean’s rapid rise to fame, probably disappointed not to see him jump on stage, but hopefully they were turned on to a solid crew. The show was amazing; even those friends of mine who stopped by because The Republik was the only place open were impressed. Meanwhile, if there’s anything any of us can do to support the loss Chinatown took from the snooze-nami’s non-devastation, it’s as easy as going out. Do the same next week. And the week after. You know, Wednesdays are still happening in Chinatown. With residents like DJDelve at The Manifest and Soundcheck at Soho Mixed Media Bar, you know the music’s fantastic. Let’s do our best to support these guys and celebrate the fact that we are all still safe and sound.

Check it out
[www.manifesthawaii.com]

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This week

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