Tulba’s humor clean,
crisp and original
Da Comedy Kahuna!: Augie T. Standup Kah-M-D-N (KDE)
AUGIE Tulba has come a long way since his early efforts as one of I-94's Local Boyz and his 1995 album, "Augie Style." Most local comedians are still exploiting the ideas of Booga Booga and Rap Reiplinger, but Tulba has stuff here that isn't a knockoff of the others' work.
Tulba's musical numbers aren't the usual comic song parodies either. Several are original and imaginative. "Choke Filipinos" salutes prominent island Filipinos. "Cherish the Moments" is a comprehensive catalog of local childhood trivia.
Tulba often displays a satirist's keen eye. A song about toilet use mocks vapid "kanakafarianism" while playing to the public's insatiable appetite for jokes about bodily functions.
He also includes some of his old comedy club bits and a few fresh character sketches. A recurring bit has a group of guys trying to impress each other with improbable tall tales.
The most problematic bits are crank phone calls, a form of juvenile "comedy" now illegal. Even those are cleaner than Da Krank's Jerky Boys ripoff of last year. Except for the toilet humor Tulba is clean throughout.
The Bill Noble Trio: The Bill Noble Trio (BLB Productions)
REEDMAN Noble made a good call by reinforcing his trio with drums and bass when recording this album of pop standards. The extra instruments provide textures unobtainable with synthesizers and add up to delightful arrangements.
Vocalist Betsy Curtis enhances the oldtime magic in songs like "Stardust" and "That's All." Originals by keyboardist Loren Wilken add diversity without diluting the ambience. Including one Beatles song is an oddity.
Hulas of Hawaii: Genoa Keawe (Genoa Keawe Records)
GENOA Keawe's career spans more than a half century. The liner notes here don't say when this album was originally released, but it is a perfect introduction to Keawe and her music.
The title has a bit of kaona, or double meaning, because most of these "hulas of Hawaii" are "of" specific places. Jean "Kini" Sullivan's annotation provides much valuable information for listeners not fluent in Hawaiian.
See Record Reviews for some of John Berger's past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.
John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Home Zone
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.