Kenji Matsuda and Erin Chang strum along with Jason Scott Lee. Photo by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin

Along with Kalani High grad Kenji Matsuda, Chang co-hosts "Eazy Tunes" - a tall-story type program for teen-agers who want to learn the basics of guitar playing.

When Erin, 18, interviewed Keli'i Kaneali'i, of Hapa, she asked if he would wear a red dress and sing "Lady in Red" to her. He sang the song but declined the wardrobe suggestion.

When members of the University of Hawaii women's basketball team appeared on a cooking show Erin hosted, "Eazy Grinds," she asked their shoe sizes and if it was difficult to find shoes that fit.

"All my life I've asked lots of questions and on the show I get pretty wound up," Erin said prior to the taping of the show with actor Jason Scott Lee.

"No, you've never been quiet," Kenji , 17, joked to his partner.

"For this show I'm going to give Jason my autograph," Erin jumped in.

"See what I mean," Kenji said.

"Eazy Tunes" - the brain child of the DOE's Instructional Television director-producer Ann Marie Kirk - was created to attract teen-agers who want to play the guitar with simple instructions by popular local musicians. The six 30-minute shows were filmed in a week last month.

In the program with Lee, Erin plans to teach him - since he's a beginner - while she also sings. That was the plan until after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting Lee to play, the co-hosts began interviewing Lee about things unrelated to frets and chords.

The shows are taped 30 minutes straight without editing, or "stopping down" as it's called so mistakes, miscues, giggles and pauses are all there.

"That's why I keep talking," Erin says. "It's tough when a guest isn't very talkative. So me and Kenji throw jokes at each other.

"Performers are a lot easier to work with than athletes because (entertainers) like to ham it up."

Lee is no ham but he does like to have fun. Before he arrives Erin says "no way" is she nervous about meeting him but on the back of her guitar she's taped a piece of paper with "seven sample questions."

"So Jason," Erin says with a smile during the show's introduction, "how about showing us one of those big scenes from your Bruce Lee film."

"Sure," Lee answers. "You mean a love scene?"

Lee and Kenji laugh; Erin giggles and blushes.

Now Erin tries to get serious. She tries to get Lee to strum a few chords and sing but he refuses.

"I'll sing this at your wedding," Erin says as she sings the words to "Let It Be Me."

"I'm sooo confused," Lee says as he tries to follow Erin's lead.

"So what's your musical background?" Kenji asks.

"I sing in the shower," Lee jokes. "Really, very limited."

Erin then asks advice on how aspiring actors can break into the movies, what Lee's hobbies are and his favorite film location.

"Follow your dreams," Lee suggests. "I like surfing; I'm learning how to free dive; loved the Arctic because of the unique landscape."

"When you do a love scene do you ever fall for the girl?" Erin says.

"Haven't yet," Lee says.

"Have there been any who are Chinese-Irish? (like Erin)," she asks, smiling.

"Uh, no there haven't been," Lee says.

Earlier Erin says that when she watches herself on tape she realizes that she "always" embarrasses herself.

"I just say things out of the blue ...You know I get a different reaction every time I do something weird. I throw out things people don't expect."

When Na Leo Pilimehana member Lehua Kalima told her the group was going to be marketing signature towels, Erin asked how they felt about people wiping their bodies on their names.

"Tell him the rest," Kenji urges.

"Well, uh, I asked if there was going to be Na Leo Pilimehana toilet paper? Then people would say 'I wiped with Na Leo!'"

Kenji likes the relaxed style of local news anchor Joe Moore and the intensity of ESPN's SportsCenter team.

Erin says she mimics no one.

"I just do my my own thing I guess," she says.

What: "Eazy Tunes"
When: Channel 25 on Oahu; Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m., Oct. 16 through Dec. 18; series will be broadcast twice
Guests: Oct. 16, Uncle Harry Koizumi; Oct. 23, Lehua Kalima of Na Leo Pilimehana; Oct. 30, Kelly Boy Delima of Kapena; Nov. 6, Keli'i Kaneali'i of Hapa; Nov. 20, Jason Scott Lee