Has their been any good music from the state of Hawaii? Ever?

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As a (somewhat) proud resident of the crappy little island of Kauai, I would like to know.

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

bette midler.

― pfeffernuesse (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

you live in hawaii? i never imagined you lived in hawaii.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

walter becker.

― pfeffernuesse (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Xpost
Why not?

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

There was this guy called Israel Kamakawiwa'ole. I believe that's how his name was spelled. He died kinda young, I think about 40 years old. He had a really powerful voice. He wasn't ever really that particularly popular really, but just about everyone will recognize the first 30 seconds or so of his "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World" medley, thanks to it's prominent placement in at least two major TV commercials somewhat recently.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, I know him. Most people, where I live, really love his music. I'm not a fan.

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno. just somehow surprising.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, Kauai is fuckin gorgeous. I'm jealous. Tho it didn't seem like there was any music scene (or even any music stores) to speak of.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sc4geography.net/geography/Hawaii/don.ho.jpg
http://www.sc4geography.net/geography/Hawaii/don.ho.jpg

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

isnt don ho from hawaii?
also, is don ho any good?

my dads friend has been a long-time fan of slack-key guitar.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

doh!
how do you make pictures show up?
i can never make it work

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
When you've lived here long enough, the charm starts to wear off. And pretty much everyone on the north shore are junkies.
I just wish there was a record store here...

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

when I was there, seemed like all anyone listened to was reggae and slack-key guitar. all well and good, but pretty boring. so did you grow up there...?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Eric Oblivian is from Hawaii.

― , Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I've lived here for about six or seven years. Hell, maybe even eight, I don't remember. I wasn't born here, though. Thankfully, years ago, we left before the big hurricane. Hurricane Iniki or something. Everyone just listens to reggae...it's so boring. Even my mom doesn't like it, and she usually vibes with the locals so well.

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

It might not be the kind of thing you'd appreciate right away, Nowell, but hopefully someone will weigh in here who loves Gabby Pahinui and the whole slack-key guitar style. There's a lot there to dig into.

Merrell Fankhauser (sp?) was a trippy, surfy Hawaiian-based guy who made albums under a variety of guises (Fapardokly, HMS Bounty, MU) that are highly-regarded in some circles. Surely the influx of stoners and slackers to the islands has produced some other psychedelic artifacts of note.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

oh yeah - fankhauser is otm - good call, briania.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm fairly certain Raised In Black are from Hawaii.
Whether they're good or not is debatable.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

The Dambuilders were from Hawaii before they moved to Boston. They even have a song called "Kill Haole Day."

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not the man for the job, but surely there are those around here who would defend Poi Dog Pondering, Susan Voelz, et al.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Though they're not from Hawaii (rather, they're from NYC), Medeski Martin and Wood once recorded two VERY fine albums in a solar-powered shack on (IIRC) Oahu, called Shackman and Farmer's Reserve.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

YA HO WAH 13 moved to Hawaii for a spell, but truth be told they're not that great outside the "Penetration" LP.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I deliberately didn't mention Poi Dog, either, although I met some of them recently and they were very nice.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

And, hey, Jack Johnson.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

That new Jack Johnson guy is from Hawaii. I dunno how good he is, the one song I heard kinda sounded like Dave Matthews.
shit x-post

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Paradoxically, Randy "California" spent a good deal of his life in Hawaii. Went there to live on Molokai where he worked as a gardener/groundsman on time-out from Spirit. Died there, too, by drowning, body never recovered.

I believe Pat Benatar now resides in Hawaii with her husband, guitarist Neal Geraldo.

TKO, a heavy metal band from Seattle, recorded their first album in Hawaii. There were also HM bands from Hawii in various US poverty metal indie comps from Combat, Shrapnel and the like in the Eighties. One of the bands was even called ... Hawaii.

The more you dig the more you find.

― George Smith, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

jack johnson is awful.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, yeah? Well why are Ken Burns and Wynton Marsalis collaborating on a documentary about him, then? Jack Johnson obviously rules!

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought poi dog pondering were from california. berkeley, to be exact. or did they just move here? or did they just play here all the fucking time when I was in college to annoy me?

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think there's something good to be said about albums & concerts people not from Hawaii do there. Jimi Hendrix's Incident At Rainbow Bridge, that Santana/Buddy Miles live-from-the-center-of-whatever-volcano shit, etc.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Poi Dog moved from Hawaii to Chicago -- which is how I met them. AFAIK, they've never lived in California.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Weren't the Angry Samoans from Hawaii or am I on crack?

― darin, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

weird! I swear to god they played here all the time. (x-pst)

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

jack johnson should play in the center of a volcano.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Bikini Kill wrote a song about playing Hawaii.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a killer fuckin' Stones bootleg from Hawaii in '66 - the last date of a long U.S. tour, and they just let it rip.

― briania (briania), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Nobody's mentioned '20s slack key guitar stuff yet? How crazy! A lot of it was really great, lots of rhythm and energy and very very catchy and rocking and rolling. I have an excellent CD compilation at home (on Yahoo or Arhoolie or whatever; came out in the early '90s); I'll try to remember to dig it out so I can pass on its name...

― chuck, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

The Jets. Not

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I also recommend "Hawaii" by the Young Canadians, though they were not Hawaiian.

― chuck, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)

The Jets as in "Crush on You"????

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Right-o. I believe they were Poi Purveyors.

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

And what the hell's wrong with Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles"?

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, then, The Jets win. That's an awesome song.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't linda perhacs from hawaii?

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

yes. and These Trails!

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

ah, but question says "good music," not "great music." never mind.

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

the jets are from minneapolis, mn.

they aren't even hawaiian, they're samoan.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Roy Smeck!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

the angry samoans were from southern california.

― pfeffernuesse (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Tau Moe Family is brilliant, I am in love with trad HW music.

Also, seek ye (former Workdog) Rob K's newest platter the End of the Earth. He lives in a place called Lava.

Also, all TV shows set in HW have ace themes. Except maybe the new one, I wouldn't know.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

BOO, Death!

http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/001114.html

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

for good news see:

http://www.bobbrozman.com/taumoe.html

― Huk-:L, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

By the way, I'm not Hawaiian, but you probably already know that.

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

sol hoopii!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Liz Damon's Orient Express, an obscure lounge act from the early '70s that had a minor hit called "1900 Yesterday."

Have you ever been to a Society of Seven show? (Someone please post a .jpg of their "Flashback" album ... please?)

[3rd attempt at posting this, sorry if it's a repeat]

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Society of Seven? WHO?

― Nowell, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

King Ben Nawahii
other slack key guitarists.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

YES, at last, someone mentioned Liz Damon's Orient Express!!!

― reo, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 23:12 (twenty-one years ago)

My band played a show once with a Hawaiian duo called Tinklepotty, which I certainly recommend. Sort of a schizo-prog math punk band. Their drummer is a karate instructor, and he plays like it. Funny lyrics too.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 October 2004 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

An Italian reissue (Arkarna? Akarna? sp?) label just reissued this crazy surfer guy named Bobby Brown's record, in the late 60s early 70s he built a hobo percussive keyboard contraption and rants about God and alien energy and spirituality and sings in a high keening multi-octave voice. It's not the "My Prerogative" Bobby Brown obviously, but it's from Hawaii and it's very, very weird.

― Drew Daniel, Thursday, 7 October 2004 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Yvonne Elliman! Can't believe I almost forgot her.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 7 October 2004 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Chokebore is from Hawaii

― todd (todd), Thursday, 7 October 2004 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone mentioned the SLIDE GUITAR? That technique comes from Hawa'ii.

― leadbelly, Thursday, 7 October 2004 02:30 (twenty-one years ago)

dude, search old hawaii threads. lots of great music from hawaii. i posted about some of it.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

that was to the guy who started this thread

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Was it actually developed in Hawaii and then it migrated? Or was it just developed in two places simultaneously?

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:05 (twenty-one years ago)

The University of Hawaii offers a Ph. D. in composition. I don't know if the profs are any good or not since they don't host MP3's but I'm really tempted to apply just to be able to spend 5 years in Hawaii.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:09 (twenty-one years ago)

That Bobby Brown guy is Californian, I think. I know he lived in Santa Barabra in the mid 70s.

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

that was to the guy who started this thread

Amateurist, a 15-year-old girl started the thread!

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Still, between Fankhauser, Yah Ho Wa and Bobby "Enlightening Beam" Brown, Hawaii must be a real haven for psychedelic misfits. Randy "Kaptain Kopter" California must have seemed positively normal.

― briania (briania), Thursday, 7 October 2004 03:19 (twenty-one years ago)

well this 15-year old girl can use the search function as well as i can:

hawaiian music
Pre-1990s Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar recommendations?
Music FROM Hawaii

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 7 October 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

well this 15-year old girl can use the search function as well as i can:

This has yet to be determined.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 7 October 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The JackLords
Magnum

― dave q, Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

go jimmy go

― theophilus jones (theophilus), Monday, 11 October 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

'Waikiki Surf Battle' is classic. A crude slab of live surf mayhem from various local 60s bands. Energy levels approximating to gabba or death metal.

― Soukesian, Monday, 11 October 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

So I was wrong; the compilation I referred to above wasn't slack-key at all, apparently. (In fact, I'm not even sure I could recognize slack keys if I heard them.) The comp is *Hawaaiin Steel Guitar Classics,* on Arhoolie, recorded 1927-1938. And it's really good.

― chuck, Tuesday, 12 October 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I _like_ Iz.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I have Vintage Hawaiian Music: Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934 and Sol Hoopii Master of the Hawaiian Guitar Volume 1, both on Rounder and both good (though I like the multi-artist one best). I especially like "Lady Be Good" as performed by the Sol Hoopii Trio (which is on the first collection). I've always been afraid of digging more deeply though because I suspect I will soon hit things I don't like. (I can only listen to so much of this to begin wtih, even though it's good.)

My father always used to say Hawaiian music was the only type of music he didn't like, but when he heard some of the Sol Hoopii playing, he liked it. (Of course, it's very jazzy.)

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Which I mention on every Hawaiian music thread, which is one reason I hadn't mentioned them yet on this one.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

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