"I asked Will, Bonnie Prince Palace, or Whatever, What Do You Think About It?"

..."Is it worth being an indie rock star or are you better off without it?' A line from the classic Jeffrey Lewis "Will Oldham Williamsburg Horror," does not describe to any degree the complete starstruckness that hit me when speaking to the man at his concert two nights previously. As anyone who used to be with me on past radio shows can tell you, I get completely starstruck around people I respect. My friend Alec remarked that he could never see me getting tounge-tied, being that I'm so very talkative, and I laughed and said it was because I didn't respect him that much ;)
But joking aside, thanks to a certain DJ friend of mine I was able to actually go into the KTUH station and speak with him and Emmet Wylie, a country singer from L.A. that he's currently recording with. Mr. Oldham was wearing an orange shirt and shorts that showed his belly and bald head. He seemed strangly at odds with the persona he had crafted over the years: a mysterious, dark, and tortured soul. Rather he was laughing with everyone, smiling broadly at us, "shooting the s--t" with his Mom and me and Davey, whose capo he had used for the in-station show. The new music he played was beautiful: "Beware," and "For Everyone" were among my favorites. The next night he played a lovely subdued gig at the Mercury Bar, where I must admit there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I meekly opened my mouth and squeaked, "Can you play 'A Sucker's Evening' for me, please?" as though I was in the third grade. Perhaps it was the pre-gig meeting at KTUH, but for whatever reason, he complied, and he and Emmett played the best version I have ever heard... wandering, strange, and far more country and howling than the orginal.
I have been to many, many, a show in my young life, but I'd never expected to see the best one here in Honolulu, among the palms and the sand. Another reason to be greatful for life bringing you where you should be, even if sometimes its hard.

A Whale of a Tale or Two (On Valentine's Day!)

Tis a rare, rare occurence, Blogworld, that I have no date on Valentine's Day. I say this without a trace of arrogance, for I'm well aware of the stupidity of such a holiday. I simply seem to have had throughout my life a certain propensity for romance and the desire to please and be pleased... let's just say that in seinor year, my best friend Amy Garcia and I bet who could would have a boyfriend first so that we would have a date for Valentine's Day, and I won.
But all ancient slaggery aside, I have found my true love, fairly far away Danville and even from Edinburgh (even though we grew up nearly on the same street together) in San Francisco. The Gods decreed that this V day our whale-watching plans would be thwarted, due to the economy sucking and more money needing to be saved for Glenn to move in. So I decided to ask my roomates, the Asterisk Krew, to come with me instead! The results were amazingly wonderful and unexpected.
On the whale cruise, we saw not one, not two, but THREE whales! They were all humpbacks, a mother and baby, as well as the lone escort, helping them make their crucial journey through the Hawaiian waters. And then something wonderful happened. The mother and baby of them actually jumped high in the water, as though dancing, breaching, leaping, and showing us all of their massive bodies in tandem. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my entire life. Alec, Charlie, Sarah, Luke and I smiled and cheered, and felt almost the same the kind of exhiliration one feels when falling in love.
Afterwards it was indie dancing with my other set of friends, including the awesome Lauren, Ryan, Isa, Elegance, Mish, Dean, Matt, and Steph, among others. I simply love dancing with them because they are so unselfconscious, and allow a ditz like me to recite all the lyrics without moving away quietly. Their dancing reminds of the Egg, some three or four years ago, when it was totally OK to just bust a move without feeling like an idiot while mouthing 'House of Jealous Lovers." That song in particular holds a meaning for me, having seen them play it at the top of a ferris wheel when my best friend declared his love for me while on mushrooms... a very surreal experience indeed.
And so that brings us all back to love, my friends. Whether you care for a lover or for a friend, know that this is all you have to do on this Earth, and that you are contributing to the sum of good as opposed to badness.

I've Loved You So Long...

I have some new readers and viewers to this worldsphere of mine, so I'd like to do more reviews of things I've done in Honolulu.
Ever since I left my boyfriend and all manner of old friends behind in other parts of the world, I've become a little bit more introspective. Don't get me wrong, I've made lots of friends and have had wonderful times with them on the island. But sometimes, between work and school and music, I need a little bit of "Rach time," corny as that sounds.
Hence, my Kahala 8 Sunday Showtime. I love Kahala 8 theatres because they always show smaller films that the other theatres in Honolulu don't show, and unlike Doris Duke, no one ever goes so its never crowded. I consider Kahala 8 Honolulu's best kept secret... and I love it. Every Sunday I endeavour to see a film, on my own, and to absorb it completely. Normally gregarious, I totally eschew any company that might want to come along, it just seems right to have this time to myself.
Last night I watched "I've Loved You So Long," which was probably my favorite film I've seen this year. I loved it because I intend to be a forensic psychologist, and to work with felons. Here I saw an intimate portrait of a person who is literally stigmatized forever for a decision that she made. A mistake? Perhaps... but one that she must continually suffer for. Her estranged family attempts to be there for her while she tries over and over again to go on living, albeit as self-contained as possible. I don't think very many people understand what it means to never be able to be free of the past. But for the people I worked with, it was the complete sum total of their lives. Hope is so difficult, and desperate, but they still held on... I want to be able to aid this process of recovery as much as possible. I was glad that Juliette had a family to go to, and a social worker (albeit one that she makes fun of), but I was still wondering about the "halfway hosue" situation in France... perhaps they don't have any? Halfway houses help to ease the transition between prison and home, and I fully and totally believe in them. I hope to start a program like that on Hawaii one day, as we currently dont' have one.
But I digress... back to the film at hand. It touched me because the dialogue was so real, and the arguements so universal, but the characters and people brought emotion and love to the story. Of all the reasons to "go on," it seems that love is still the greatest one of all... even though is never even mentioned until the end of the film.

Tent Communities in Waianae...

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/sep/24/news/adna-oahu24

I found this article fascinating. For the first time, yesterday on a hike to Keana Pt, I saw these communities for myself. Living in San Francisco, I had plenty of experience with homeless people and even worked with them for periods of time. However, I had never seen anything like this. The sheer number of people living on the beaches, or in huts, astounded me, as though I were living in the slums of Johannesberg rather than a U.S state. The tents were sometimes held together with cords, other times there were small huts made of wood and advertisements of 'free soda.'
What would make someone join a tent community? Is it really as terrible as it sounds? What would it mean to be a part of this community? Would someone who had a native ancestry perhaps feel closer to Hawaii, to their people, if they were far away from the cities and towns?
Or is it all about money, all due to the huge crisis of a 10 year high in joblessness that makes families unable to support themseleves and leave no other option?
I really, really want to know what it means to live this kind of life. I am not coming at this from some preachy desire to 'live like common people' or even a voyuerisitc tendency to festishize this other life. Rather I want to know what this culture is, their struggles and necessities, their ability to live and work and the stigma that must come with it. However, I want to do this without acting like some tourist haole who just wants to condemn all homeles for messing up her vacation (I swear, these people exist, read the Advertiser.)
I think I am going to find a way to talk to some people in this situation at Wainae, just so I can learn what it is like.