On Friday, April 22, Earth Day is in full bloom. Community organizers, volunteers, local businesses, government officials and council members are putting on events big and small in commemoration of the world around us.
Nobunny / About 10 years ago on the outskirts of Tuscon, Ariz., Nobunny was born from the oppressive and sweltering desert heat. The nature of Nobunny remains somewhat mysterious–instead of picturing Nobunny as a character created by Justin Champlin, it’s easier to imagine Nobunny’s explosive appearance as something that arrived spontaneously from another world, the way a graboid erupts from the ground in Tremors.
The Vengeful Sword / The floating world of old Japan comes alive in The Vengeful Sword, a kabuki performance at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Kennedy Theatre. The tale is told in the stylized costumes and motions of traditional kabuki, cleverly translated into English and adapted for shorter attention spans: The all-day event of kabuki here fits into a mere two hours.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses / HPU’s Paul and Vi Loo Theatre brings us Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, better known to movie fans as Dangerous Liaisons with John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, and better known to Generation Y as Cruel Intentions with Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Itself adapted from the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Dangereuses deals with two bad people doing very bad things to other people as well as themselves.
Taking off your shoes before entering a house. Ordering a saimin from McDonalds.
Kathy Griffin / Hide your Bristols, comedian Kathy Griffin’s coming and no celebrity encounter is left on the mainland. The Weekly had a hard-hitting conversation with the comedian about her tabloid-style humor–and went on some pop-culture tangents along the way.
art / Sustainability even applies to our festivals these days. Instead of deep-fried Butterfingers, we’re buying soy burgers (on a stick).
The King and I / The word to describe Diamond Head Theatre’s production of The King and I is “lavish.” Four monks sit silently as the audience files in and the quartet are framed on the stage by sliding walls depicting giant red elephants. Once the show begins, we find ourselves on a boat with extras scaling the masts.
Arti Grabowski / “Because it’s something unusual. Indefinite,” says Arti Grabowski on why spectators may be uncomfortable with his brand of artwork.
Film / Spring is here and that means one week of film-y goodness with the 2011 Spring Showcase from the Hawaii International Film Festival. Beginning this Friday and running till Thursday, approximately 27 films are being screened and there is surely something to please even the most discerning cine-phile.
Drinking by yourself at home is just no fun. Sure there’s something vaguely, romantic in the melancholy image of sitting in the dark, brooding and holding a tumbler with two fingers of Jim Beam.
Mo’Nique / Start with five seasons of the UPN hit The Parkers. Add success as a standup comedian and best-selling author.
Sylvia Browne / Sylvia Browne is a New York Times bestselling author and a celebrity psychic who will soon be lecturing at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall. Her latest book, Afterlives of the Rich and Famous, is making headlines and causing a stir among non-believers.
Avenue Q / Perhaps no play on the island this season has been more eagerly anticipated than Manoa Valley Theatre’s Avenue Q–its run has already been extended into April. What’s not to look forward to, really?
Civilization V / The popular turn-based strategy game, Civilization V, ransacks another culture for the sake of letting players become computer-bound conquerors. The latest downloadable content update is the “Polynesia” scenario pack and the leader is–check it out, local gamers–Kamehameha.
The One More Girl project / Why would two young men make a documentary about women’s health? For brothers Ryan and David Richardson, who live in Honolulu, the personal became the political.
The English Beat / Originally from the UK, The English Beat formed in the midst of a social and political uprising that set into motion the epochal punk revolution. The Weekly spoke with lead vocalist Dave Wakeling before he arrived in Hawaii.
Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i / The goal of a critic is to figure out whether a work is worthy of study. In other words, the reviewer says to the public, “You should buy this book” or, “You should see this movie” or, “You should eat or not eat at this particular restaurant.” But what happens when critics are resistant to critiquing a work of art despite its worthiness?
Touching the Hearts and Minds of the People: North Korean Art on Paper / It’s probably an understatement, maybe even a cliché, to say that North Korea is a secretive enigma. A simple mention of this country draws a strong reaction or a blank stare.
Without love, what are we worth? According to M*A*S*H’s Hawkeye, “Eighty-nine cents.
EK mixtape release / Alex Samori is just a skinny kid with a mop of black hair, but the unassuming 21-year-old Kamehameha Schools grad is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to emcee battles and original lyrical content. Known in the music world as Everybody Knows, or EK, Samori came up with the moniker “to troll people,” he says in his quick vocal cadence that comes across not only in his music, but in everyday conversation.
I Hate Hamlet / In I Hate Hamlet, the season opener at Diamond Head Theatre, Andrew Rally is an out-of-work television actor from Los Angeles who moves into the New York residence of the late John Barrymore. In addition to living in the brownstone itself, the young actor also has misgivings about taking on the role of Hamlet in a Shakespeare in the Park-like production.
HAWAII OPERA THEATRE / The English poet and playwright Hannah More said, “Going to the opera, like getting drunk, is a sin that carries its own punishment with it.” We’ve come a long way since then. Like women wearing pants and people buying liquor on Sundays, the opera has evolved for better or worse.
Goo Goo Dolls / Lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls John Rzeznik has a lower voice than you expect from the man who asked, “Do you wake up on your own and wonder where you are?” in the hit single “Slide.” That little vocal surprise aside, Rzeznik and the rest of the Goo Goo Dolls will be here for the Pro Bowl pre-performance. Before arriving on the island, Rzeznik called the Weekly and we learned what exactly a goo goo doll is, his candid thoughts on the canceled series The Next Great American Band and who he thinks is gonna take the Super Bowl.
Da Kine Space / When Da Kine Space begins, disappointment sets in because one thinks it will be about a creative individual whose girlfriend doesn’t support his endeavors–familiar ground for playwright and short story writer Lee Tonouchi. Once the 15-minute mark hits though, everything changes.
There’s a swell on the horizon. Listen closely and you’ll hear it…AUDIO INVASION 2012.
It’s been a while, but a man donning dresses and surgical gowns, spouting rap-rock assaults over a bed of crunchy guitars, has drifted back into the sunbeam of MTV like a forgotten fleck of light. With the spastic delivery of a fallen patient from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Matt Shultz, lead singer of Cage The Elephant, is channeling the preeminent poster-child of grunge–Kurt Cobain.
Boys, beaches, bags of weed. In 2010, Best Coast blazed onto the music scene with a sealed Zip-lock of 7” singles that led the indie pop duo to roll out a fatty debut record called Crazy For You.
So what do you do if you’re a band who made it big in the L.A. hardcore-punk scene with several critically acclaimed self-titled albums under your belt?
Last Thursday, Foster the People sent news through their publicist that they won’t be performing at Audio Invasion 2012 due to “unforeseen circumstances.” (They’ll return to Hawaii on March 18.) Rumors are their two Grammy noms for Best Alternative Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance led to their cancellation. What a let down.
On Jan. 26, members of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART) Finance Committee mostly sat in silence while listening to an earful from Wynnie Joy-Hee of Mililani, who said that she had taken the bus all the way into town at 7am to address the issue of how her tax money is being spent.
HART intends to hire an executive director as early as March 1, 2012. The semi-autonomous agency is currently headed by interim executive director Toru Hamayasu, who is also a candidate for the permanent position The ED’s salary has been estimated to be within the range of $150,000 to $350,000, and HART has allotted $300,000 for the position thus far, Vice Chair Ivan Lui Kwan told the City Council Committee on Transportation on Jan.
Poor communication between the union and the teachers themselves, on top of a general sense of mistrust, were blamed for the overwhelming rejection of the Hawaii State Teacher’s Association (HSTA) contract last week–an unprecedented two-thirds voted against the union-backed contract. The president of the teachers’ union, Will Okabe, quickly took the blame, stating in a Jan.
The “war on terror” has taken a bite out of beach access on Kauai, where the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) has kept five miles of westside shoreline off-limits since Sept. 11, 2001.
A bill that would require bags of roasted coffee sold in Hawaii to list the place where each type of coffee it contains was grown, and its percentage by weight in descending order, was introduced to the state legislature by Sen. Josh Green.
In September of 2011, the Weekly ran a piece highlighting one of Hawaii’s most dangerous invasive threats: the dreaded brown tree snake. Following up on Gov.
HART Board: The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit will meet and take public testimony before convening an executive session. For more info, contact the project hotline at 566-2299 or e-mail [email: info].
[Jan. 18: “Cheap Advice”] Robert Kiyosaki did not talk, or attend.
[Dec. 21: “Underground Railroad”] The anti-rail pundits are right of course.
I propose that President Obama devote the remainder of his presidency to doing something useful, which would be to seek out all the crooks on Wall Street and Washington who have contributed to the sorry state of the economy in this country. Obviously he has not lived up to the expectations of a president and continues to perform as if Saul Alinksy was a member of his cabinet and the United Nations was his political platform.
[Dec. 21: “Underground Railroad”] Traffic follows commercial development.
[Dec. 21: “Underground Railroad”] To all those opposed to the “rail.” You are the very people who will be in gridlock on the freeway, not able to move.
I was delighted to read the new USDA guidelines requiring schools to serve meals with twice as many fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sodium and fat and no meat for breakfast. The guidelines were mandated by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act signed by President Obama in December of 2010 and will go into effect within the next school year.
[Jan. 25: “Kyo-Ya-Ya”] Making an exception on zoning sets a dangerous precedence that will undoubtedly be followed by other properties.
The protests last year of Turtle Bay’s expansion plans highlight the challenge facing us in Hawaii. We need to find a way to balance the need for new, upgraded hotel and timeshare offerings that visitors are increasingly seeking with the desire by nearly all residents to protect the remaining undeveloped areas of the island.
[Jan. 25: “Gridlock”] If the plan is to create a second city in West Oahu, I would consider that to be an urban center.
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