UH MANOA Kyohei Miyairi is eager to share his compositions with like-minded performers at "Manoa Coffeehouse: An Open Mic Event."

UH staff has talent
beyond book learnin’

Open mic event builds community
while creating a stage
for faculty and students

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By Shawn 'Speedy' Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.com

He is a well-mannered troubadour with an elfin grin, but when Kyohei Miyairi absorbs the spotlight, guitar in hand, he is transformed. "It's my life," he says with a polite chuckle. The Japanese singer/songwriter and University of Hawaii student pauses to find the right words.

"Before on stage, I'm so nervous. Once I stand on stage, everything ... black out?" He nods, assessing his own thoughts. "But I concentrate on my performance and after I'm on stage, my feeling is so good ... so great."

A wistful singer/songwriter from the Bruce Springsteen-Jackson Browne school of American rock, Miyairi is eager to share his compositions with like-minded performers and a local audience tonight at "Manoa Coffeehouse: An Open Mic Event."

When the UH's Chancellor's Office announced the first-ever community-building event at UH's Campus Center Ballroom through a brief poster and e-mailing campaign several weeks ago, Miyairi was among the first to sign up.

Manoa Coffeehouse: An Open Mic Event When: 7 t0 10 p.m. today Where: Campus Center Ballroom, UH Manoa campus Admission: Free Call: 956-6145

"We wanted to find a way to bring a sense of community here," explains Wendy Pearson, interim Program Officer for Academic Affairs. In a few days, Pearson says the office received calls of interest from about a dozen musicians, poets and performers, all looking to showcase their talents and connect with the greater Manoa community.

The participants are culled primarily from the university's faculty, student body and staff, and include a singing Dean of the College of Education, a school administrator-poet and a student group of contemporary Hawaiian musicians. There's even talk of a UH dance ensemble making an appearance at the ballroom. "We're just concerned about space," Pearson says with a laugh.

For Doug Torney, it took a complicated living situation and the prophetic vision of a Hawaiian woman he knew in Seattle to become convinced he needed to uproot and find a new life in Honolulu.

"I left a really good job, a group of good friends and came to Hawaii not knowing a soul," said the 45-year-old UH custodian.

It is here that the amateur wordsmith has found a new beginning and new outlet for his craft. While tending the first floor area of Webster Hall last week, Torney spied a flier soliciting talent for tonight's open mic session. Although he had dabbled in poetry from time to time, Torney had never considered himself a poet in the conventional sense.

"I'm not well-read and I'll confess to that," he says. Still, he has come to recognize the brilliance of Shakespeare over the years and has studied the techniques of history's great writers and poets, dating back to Chaucer. "Man, it gets profound," he says.

Torney now finds satisfaction in sharing his own words with others and is considering reading a very personal composition tonight called "A Bright and Shining Door," currently in its seventh revision. "I may not be a famous poet but I think I have something to share," he says. "I think we all do, really."

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