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On the Scene John Berger |
Putting the wraps on
a rapper’s private labelLOCAL "old school" rapper Lionel Wright says that naming his new clothing line Black Hawaiian was a no-brainer since he is, you guessed it, half black and half Hawaiian. Wright's Black Hawaiian T-shirts and beanies were a hit backstage at the recent "98.5 Bomb Bucha" concert ... People who think of kumu hula as strict traditionalists don't know Sonny Ching. He prefers wearing stark basic-black when performing rather than traditional hula attire ... Makana needed 30 minutes to remove the red stage make-up he wore in Peter Rockford Espiritu's "Mareka me Venuse" dance concerts and so decided both nights to go partying in full costume before going home to scrub it off. A friend says, "The street denizens of downtown who bumped into him must have been questioning their supply." ...
Birthday greetings to Dennis Kamakahi (whose big day was Tuesday) ... and to security guard/lingerie model Elaine Codilla, who celebrates Saturday...
"Deutschland Uber Alles" as a Latin dance tune? That's just one of the surprises on "Classic Meets Cuba," a Sony Classical release by a quintet of three classically trained German musicians and two Cuban percussionists. The group -- Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion -- rework 16 European classical melodies Cuban style. The album won the German equivalent of a Grammy in 2003 ...
Rex Gregory, checking in from Houston, says "You can take the guy out of the islands, but you can never, ever, take the Islands out of the guy." He'd like to hear from musicians he worked with here on the local club scene in the late '70s and early '80s. Reach him at www.videorex.com or rex@videorex.com ...
Congratulations to Paul Ogata, who beat out seven other comics to win the TakeOut Comedy contest on Sunday ... and to John Kolivas and the Honolulu Jazz Quartet, whose debut album, "Sounds of the City," is getting play on 32 mainland radio stations. Not bad for a jazz group on an indie label out of Hawaii ...
Looking back to April, 1975, Don Shane & The Country-aires was Hawaii's top country band and playing five nights a week at the Aquarium Lounge in the Waikiki Grand Hotel. Shane was a great front man, and Country-aires Rex Churchill (steel guitar), Janet "Cookie" Cooke (bass), Desi Kraft (drums) and Bill Spilliard (guitar/fiddle) were excellent musicians. Vocalist Sheila Tilton added talent, charm and sex appeal. Her first nationally released single, "Brass Buckles," was hit bound today in 1975, and she would become the only artist from Hawaii to have a hit on the Billboard Country Music charts ...
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
John Berger has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972. Contact
him at jberger@starbulletin.com.