Stories

"Summer's End" by Mackey Feary Band. Part of my "Mellow Mood Aloha" playlist of Hawaiian music I recently curated on YouTube.

Aloha Got Soul was founded from two big musical motiviations: Mackey Feary Band's debut LP, and DJ Muro's "Hawaiian Breaks" mix. Back in August 2010, no tracklist for Hawaiian Breaks could be found on the internet. None. Coincidentally, the guys over at SoulStrut wondered about the song titles the same time I started compiling the track list. Lo and behold, less than one year later and the DJ Muro Hawaiian Breaks song list---originally posted on Aloha Got Soul---has made its way around the internet. Discogs.com picked it up (and even linked back here!), and justfunked.com recently posted it to their...

I remember that old local TV commercial like it was yesterday, when really it was like 15 years ago. A bunch of kids proudly sharing their ethnicity with viewers and relating it all to one big message: "I am Hawaiian Filipino, I am Hawaiian Chinese, I am Hawaiian Samoan ... We are Hawaiian, Use your library!" And guess what, the first thing I did upon returning to Hawaii this March was to, well, use my library. Believe it or not, the Hawaii Public Library offers the chance for patrons to borrow vinyl records. I kid you not. Real Hawaiian music...

Honolulu's 70s Nightclub Reunion is having one last celebration before bowing gracefully off stage! Don't miss this show! It's the final reunion, and it's gonna be a blast! But get this: Phase VII and Aura will be performing that night! Never mind me being the youngest guy there—even if everyone will be twice my age*—this is my first and last chance to ever see these bands play live. (*Local baby boomers are lucky they lived through Hawaii's nightclub era! I really missed out. Thanks to Robin Kimura for being the mastermind behind these reunions!)     Grand Ballroom tickets are...

I've been craving this culture for so long, it's a shock to be submersed in it again. Yup, I'm back in Hawaii and it's sun, sun, sun! And Hawaiian music, all kines. True, much of Hawaii's culture is wide out in the open: hula dancing, surfing, ukuleles, the shaka. But dig a little deeper and you'll find people willing to share a part of paradise that so many miss out on. I recently walked through the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center to take photos of people wearing Aloha Shirts. I came across were two men casually performing music outside of an...