The film What About Bob? posits, “There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t.” Maybe, but the likes win by a landslide: Diamond has sold over 115 million albums, placing him third in Adult Contemporary after Sir Elton and Barbara Streisand. In 2011, he outshone himself: He was named a Billboard Icon, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and honored at Kennedy Center.
In this modern generation where everything is hurtling forward, people rarely take the time to stop and look back. But some consider it an art form to collect and treasure the possessions belonging to history.
Be Mine It’s that sweet, overly sentimental time of year; birds are singing and everyone’s drunk off of chocolate truffles and Sweethearts candy. But Valentine’s Day can often place one in a precarious position, if not readily prepared.
Extras / Now in its eighth year, GiRL FeST hosts the annual female empowerment festival at a different time of year than usual–during legislative session. “I’m never scheduling GiRL FeST during session again,” says non-executive director Kathy Xian, half-jokingly.
Literary / As the title implies, Memory Cards, from Susan Schultz’s newest collection of poetry, is a book of cards representing a place where an event, a phrase, a thought triggers a memory which then triggers another memory until the poem ends, with or without resolution. At the heart of it is a layered look at memory’s many tones.
Stage / Recipe for a play: take one book of poetry, preferably plump and fully-grown, with a crop full to bursting. Grasp it by a wing lest it escape, squawking, back onto your shelves.
Galleries / For youngsters growing up in Honolulu before the Hawaiian Renaissance revived an eye and an ear for our own traditions, Paul Gauguin’s “Two Nudes on a Tahitian Beach” in the Honolulu Academy of Arts made art relevant to our daily lives. If the models in this large oil painting had been wearing bikinis, they could, with the sandbar and shorebreak behind them, have been contemporary girls in Waianae or along the North Shore.
The seductive singer-dancer-actor Ben Vereen won back-to-back Tony Awards for his unforgettable roles as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972 and as the lead in Pippin in 1973, and was recently on Broadway in I’m Not Rappaport and Wicked. On TV, he played Chicken George in the series Roots and Wayne Brady’s father in How I Met Your Mother.
Music / As a local radio DJ, I am fortunate to have access to a large collection of Hawaiian music. I’m either checking out a newly released album or admiring an old favorite, whether on vinyl, on cassette or on CD.
Concert Review / There’s something really wonderful about the acoustics of the Hawaii Theatre. The sound always seems huge and lively, but you never leave the venue with that annoying ring in your ears from having been exposed to high sound levels.
What’s it take to win the Honolulu Weekly Fiction Contest? Nothing short of an intriguing, beautifully crafted story with a local edge.
How will you spend your New Year’s? Getting together with old friends and creating sweet new memories?
A small, red-lettered sign leads guests into a driveway where a single lantern stands, illuminating a charming pale-pink house with a white fence. Stairs traverse a wide, high-ceilinged space.
Art / The Honolulu Academy of Art is famous for the quality of its Asian art collection and the shows it puts together, so it’s easy to take “Masterpieces of Landscape Painting from the Forbidden City” for granted. That truly definitive art from China’s Forbidden City is on display for regular people in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a kind of satisfaction in and of itself–but only if you make the visit.
Holly Jolly Garments! It’s an unwritten rule: Buy someone clothing, be sure it comes with a gift receipt.
Cheers Couture Diane Von Furstenberg, Aloha Rag, milk & honey The occasion: “The Cocktail.” In this economy, it’s natural for someone to want to get glam and Occupy Bar once in a while, right? Go all out in high fashion style with haute shops like the new Diane Von Furstenberg or the exclusive boutique collections at milk & honey and Aloha Rag that are sure to turn heads (they did on the Parisian runways, anyway).
Soak Up The Sun Local Motion, Pualani, Hawaiian Island Creations The occasion: “The Beach.” Okay, living in Hawaii, it’s something of a strain to consider going to the beach an “occasion.” That’s why getting dressed for it is akin to slipping on a pair of socks. Going to the beach is like any other thing.
Sweat Some Style Lululemon, HNL Fight Shop, American Apparel The occasion: “Da Gym.” Between treadmills and bench presses, they won’t really need you to look good, thankfully. But you can still help them in the process.
DJ Paul Oakenfold deserves his own star sign. Right there in between something fierce like Leo and Scorpio–his sonic gravity is just that powerful.
Philanthropic gifts are those that truly keep on giving. They can’t break, go out of style or be exchanged for a different size.
Explore. Enjoy.
Walk the Walk Honolulu Aids Walk Volunteer with the Life Foundation, a local organization that provides services to those living with HIV/AIDS, (as well as free HIV testing and education), during the 21st annual Honolulu AIDS Walk at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Performances, food, prizes and family fun follow the 5K.
Clean a Beach Local Foundations Take your family and friends to participate in a beach cleanup: There is a cleanup almost every weekend if you explore opportunities with the Surfrider Foundation, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Adopt-A-Beach Hawaii and Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (B.E.A.C.H.). Surfrider’s offering a Holiday Gift Member Package that includes a one-year membership, a bar of Matunas natural wax, a bamboo wax comb and six issues of Making Waves.
Gift Guide / There are many amazing local non-profits. Here are just a few inspirational organizations that could use your physical or financial gifts.
Holiday Gift Guide / Just Brew It Homebrew in Paradise If you’ve ever worked in a brewpub, you might’ve hoped you could one day fill the shoes of the brew master. Thanks to Homebrew in Paradise, you can find supplies and ingredients for making your first batch–over two-dozen types of hops and over three-dozen kinds of grains.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
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