Our Picks for the Weekend
Star-Bulletin staff
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MUSIC
Ima Robot to perform for O'Brien launch party
Whenever the winter's Vans Triple of Crown surfing event rolls around, mainland bands invariably come here to play. Besides ASG and Year Long Disaster coming here to show off their stuff (see inside feature on the latter), Los Angeles' new wave-with-attitude Ima Robot will be performing for pro surfer Jamie O'Brien's launch party for his signature sandals for Etnies. It all starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at Pipeline Cafe.
After their 2006 major label release on Virgin Records, "Monument to the Masses" (featuring the singles "Creeps Me Out" and "Lovers in Captivity"), the band severed ties with the label, but is working on a new album nevertheless.
Band member Filip Nikolic's side project Guns N Bombs will open for Ima Robot, plus Nikolic will also deejay after the bands play.
Tickets are free from radio station Star 101.9, bampproject.com or all Etnies retailers, or pay a dollar to Ticketmaster (all Times Super Markets, charge-by-phone 877-750-4400 or online at ticketmaster.com). All ages permitted, but those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
MUSIC
Honolulu Symphony heads back to Blaisdell
Missed the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra playing in the Blaisdell Concert Hall? They're baa-aack. Now that the straw has been swept up from "The Lion King," the HSO can stop being wandering minstrels.
This weekend, conductor Andreas Delfs and guest pianist Benedetto Lupo blaze their way through Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 4," a complex work requiring maximum effort from all 10 of Lupo's fingers. It took Felix Mendelssohn, no less, to tame this beast and, since the mid-1800s, the 4th has been a Beethoven workhorse.
Also on the bill: Smetana's "Vltava," also known as "The Moldau," after a Czechoslovakian river -- composers Smetana and Dvorak being Czechmates in creating hymns to their native countryside -- and Brahms' "Symphony No. 4," a gurgling waterfall of romantic melody. It was his last symphony.
It occurs at 8 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Admission ranges from $21 to $75, with military folks getting a 50 percent discount. Call 792-2000 or visit www.honolulusymphony.com.
LAST CHANCE
Nanakuli students put on benefit musical revue
"A Time of Giving" is an apt title for a special musical revue the Nanakuli High and Intermediate School Performing Arts Program is putting on as a benefit this weekend.
All proceeds will go to help the schools' office staff, who suffered an arson attack on Oct. 21; as well as senior Eulopa Te'o, whose family lost their home to fire ten days later; and toward a fund for Southern California brush fire victims.
The show will feature song and dance from the past and present and the holiday season.
"It gives all the cast members a sense of fulfillment to know that we can help others by using our musical and stage abilities and doing something we love," said Performing Arts member Shannon Peahi Ching.
The revue will be at the NHIS multipurpose cafe 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $5 presale and $7 at the door, with $3 for students and free to children under 12. Call 668-5823, ext. 266, for more information.
FOOD
Cafe Kaila
Market City Shopping Center, 2919 Kapiolani Blvd. / 732-3330
In seeking self-fulfillment through entrepreneurship, many restaurateurs have forgotten one of the basic rules of business -- that is, give the people what they want.
What we don't want is another high-priced, underwhelming restaurant. What we don't have enough of in Honolulu is basic, healthful foods at fair prices.
Cafe Kaila seems to have gotten the formula right. The aim is not to reinvent the restaurant or boost chef or owner's ego, but to simply give people what they want: decent fare at less than $10 per person.
Start the day with a trio of buttermilk pancakes ($5.50) or cinnamon French toast ($5.95) made of sweet bread, which doesn't really need a maple-syrup boost. You can get it topped with bananas, strawberries or apples for a dollar extra.
Three-egg omelets are just as tempting, and there's one for meat eaters (ham, bacon, Spam, Portuguese or Italian sausage and cheese, for $7.75), as well as the veggie-oriented, with your choice of three fillings, for $7.50. The omelets come with a choice of rice, or roasted, herbed new potatoes, as well as a choice of wheat, white or sourdough toast, or an English muffin.
You may get sidetracked by the lunch menu, especially when you see slices of a grilled filet of steak ($9.95) sitting atop a bed of spinach and mixed greens, with slices of sweet grape tomatoes and shredded carrots, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!
The homestyle salads, pastas and panini are nothing fancy, but at these prices, I don't think most people will quibble too much if that roasted chicken breast is a little dry and the marinara on a dish of penne pasta ($7; add $2 for chicken or small shrimp) doesn't have much zing. If ordering takeout, you can brighten it up at home with a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan and slivers of basil.
Dinner plans are in the works, and for the holidays, gift baskets of baked goods are being offered. Open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends. Prices run about $20 to $25 for two. -- By Nadine Kam
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