Can Home Grown 1997 launch
By Burl Burlingame
a few more musical careers?
Star-BulletinFor a phrase that seems firmly entrenched in Hawaiian pop-music history, it's a bit of a surprise to learn that "home grown" comes from somewhere else. San Diego, generally. Linda Ronstadt, specifically. But first, a history lesson for our younger readers: "Home Grown" was a series of four albums featuring songs about Hawaii, selected in a kind of vox populi runoff. The project was a fund-raiser for Habilitat, and it was trail-bossed by disc jockey Ron Jacobs of KKUA. At the time, nearly a third of radio listeners in Hawaii tuned in to KKUA, and hundreds of entries were received every time "Home Grown" called for them.
The "Home Grown" recordings were the first place Hawaii heard now-established artists like Nohelani Cypriano, and the players included people who later became notable in the music field, as well as those who became notable in other fields, such as convicted killer John Kalani Lincoln and politician Terrance Tom.
1977
Now, Current Events: Jacobs has revived "Home Grown," still a Habilitat fund-raiser, and it's ground-zeroed at KRTR-FM 96 radio on Oahu. They're still looking for entries, so, if you're a budding musician or album-cover artist, get 'em down to the station by Halloween.The album will be released Nov. 28, and will cost $7.96 in CD or cassette format. Funds raised go to Habilitat, and Hawaiian Airlines is shouldering shipping costs.
OK, let's go to Modern Mythology for the story behind the "Home Grown" title: Like Ron Jacobs himself, it's kind of an involved shaggy-dog story, so bear with us.
After being a successful "Poi Boy" at KPOI in the early 1960s, Jacobs went to work in the Southern California market. "At KGB radio (in San Diego) we were putting together a 30-song, double-album special package called the Golden Album and the deal was YOU design the cover, and this was the '60s, man, and you wouldn't believe the stuff that came in, like a 4-foot-square deal with the Koran written in cool psychedelic lettering all around three-quarters of this PIZZA, man!" said Jacobs. "I took that one home.
1978
"Then we had a deal where you wrote the lyrics ... and Buffalo Springfield would put it to music, and of course we didn't tell the band, and they were all out sailing and stoned or something, and the entry that won was this thing called 'The Hour of Not Quite Rain,' and we paid the guy $1,500 plus royalties and we had to go out and drag in Steve Stills or Neil Young in and do the music, and the irony of it is that song is still on their Greatest Hits albums and the writer is still making royalties."Anyway, I'm in San Diego and there's this song called 'Chula Vista,' which is like the armpit of San Diego, but the song is real popular. Hey! Flash! Let's do an album of locally written songs about San Diego! Cool! There was a big jump in recording technology at the time that made it easier for garage bands to record. But we didn't have a title. Then we saw Linda Ronstadt's new record, her first solo since the Stone Poneys, and it was called 'Hand Sown, Home Grown.' Perfect!
"So we called the San Diego record 'Home Grown' and we asked for a pressing of 1,000 copies. The day it was supposed to be distributed, the line was three blocks long and we had to go back for more, then Tower started selling it and it eventually sold more than 60,000 copies, the biggest-selling album that year in San Diego.
"One of the guys who submitted but didn't make it was Stephen Bishop! And this kid who came down to the station to complain about the project wound up writing the liner notes, and it was a guy named Cameron Crowe (now a Hollywood screenwriter and director). He's done OK since.
1980
"But all the songs were about alienation. 'I want outta San Diego,' that kind of thing. And all I was doing there was earning money to go back to Hawaii, and I did, and it's more inspirational here, and I did the 'whodaguy' thing for KKUA, and we brought back the home-grown concept, but we had to sell Vinnie Marino (of Habilitat) on the concept, because he thought we were trying to hustle him, and the first album sold 67,000 copies and the second sold 78,000 copies, and that with a smaller population base than San Diego, but we had tons better songs than San Diego!"Take a breath, Ron; give us the punch line.
"On the second Hawaiian 'Home Grown,' there's a song called 'Fujimura Store' by Chip Hatlelid and Shave Ice. That Linda Ronstadt album was produced by Chip Douglas. They're the same guy. Cool, yeah?"
Raised in Waialua, Chip Douglas Hatlelid now lives near Hilo. He became a well-known songwriter and producer in Los Angeles in the late '60s, notably with The Monkees.
"I don't know why I used my real last name on that," Hatlelid said. "Now it's like I have dual identities. I was here vacationing, and I saw that the Fujimura Store was due to be torn down in Haleiwa, and that kind of bummed me. I used to go there all the time for shave ice. I was sentimental about it.
"So, while driving my car, I did this song. I got some old friends together, and we recorded and overdubbed it in a friend's living room. I rushed it down to KKUA to beat the deadline, and this little kid at the desk said, 'Mr. Jacobs isn't here, but I'll take that from you.' It was Dan Cooke, who does some sort of newscast now on TV."
The song made the cut, and Hatlelid remembers "the thrill of it. I mean, I'd been working with some of the biggest names in the music business, but I'd never done anything myself as an artist. It was a big, big thrill."
Nohelani Cypriano's techno-beat "Lihue" also made the second album, but she almost didn't enter.
"Dennis (Graue, her husband and producer) and I were working on my first album at the time, and the record company didn't want us to submit anything," said Cypriano. "And the stuff on the first album was so acoustic -- we didn't know if we'd be taken seriously. But, awwww, we said, let's go for it. And we made it, and the song did really, really well! It certainly helped launch my career, and I've been performing ever since. 'Home Grown' is great for kids breaking into the business."
For every winner, there were hundreds of losers. Every entry, though, got played on the radio at least once. Disc jockey Ed Kanoi suffered through the prescreening process, lying on the floor of the studio and listening to each painful submission.
"It took days," said Kanoi, now program manager and afternoon jock at KONG in Lihue. "Some had great, great lyrics, but were so poorly recorded ... others had good music, but didn't make sense. No matter WHAT, recording technology is so much better in the '90s that this year's batch will at least SOUND better.
"And I'm expecting good songs. These things come in waves. Nowadays, you suddenly see kids with ukuleles again, expressing themselves in song. That's a good sign."
There are other little connections with the classic "Home Grown" albums we could go into. Many of the musicians and producers have gone on to win Hoku awards.
Robi Kahakalau first heard Hawaiian music in Germany off a "Home Grown" album and was inspired. John Kalani Lincoln was the only writer to appear on more than one record, and his "Oh Akua!" is currently being performed by Palolo.
But this is the '90s. Since the winners are winding up on compact disc, about 50 percent more songs can be chosen. "We're hoping to get about 18 songs on it," said Jacobs.
On the downside, this is the '90s. Those glorious broad expanses of album cover art have shrunk to CD and cassette size. "I'm still expecting great, great computer-generated art," said Jacobs.
It should be remembered that the contest is two-fold -- music and art -- and the artists of the album covers are often unappreciated. So, Don L. Robinson, Dwayne De Corte, Wren and Bettina B. Jones -- drawn anything lately?
The rules
Songs and cover art: Must reflect the artist, composer or performer's feelings about Hawaii. Work must be original -- never before published and/or released publically.
