‘Slack Key’ stays
strong on charts

The Grammy-winning album
remains at the top of the New Age
Music Chart

For the second week in a row, Hawaii's first Grammy-winning album, "Slack Key Guitar Volume 2," holds the top spot on Billboard's New Age Music Chart.

The achievement for Big Island-based Palm Records follows on the heels of securing the top spot on the Billboard World Music Chart a week ago.

Plus, the album has just reached No. 8 on New Age Reporter, the national radio chart which measures the number of plays on world and New Age music stations.

The music and celebrations haven't stopped since the Grammy win last month.

On the Big Island, friends hosted an oceanfront luau to honor all 10 of the artists on the Grammy-award winning compilation. Present were producer Charles Michael Brotman, Charlie Recaido, Randy Lorenzo, Ken Emerson, Keoki Kahumoku, John Keawe, Jeff Peterson, Sonny Lim (John Cruz and Bryan Kessler did not attend).

The record label presented each artist with a plaque honoring his performance on the album. Each also received a personalized, congratulatory letter from Ted Liu and Judy Drosd of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Last weekend, Brotman made a surprise appearance at Michel's at the Colony Surf, joining Peterson -- who has a regular gig there -- for an impromptu performance.

Brotman was in Honolulu at the time to perform at the Hawaii Academy of Recording Artists Lifetime Achievement Awards luncheon. Later that day, he performed at the Hawaii Music Expo as a warm-up act for Jasmine Trias.

Brotman will be back in Honolulu tomorrow for Brunch on the Beach, where he'll perform solo and also as part of a duet with Recaido, who's also a member of Brotman's acoustic guitar trio Kohala. Cruz also will play, preceding Brotman and Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom.

The Hawaii Music Awards on April 3 will honor Brotman with a Producer of the Year Award.

Brotman has several projects under way. He is working on a new Kohala CD scheduled for release this summer in Japan and a on new CD featuring a solo artist to be announced soon. He's also putting together a summer tour to Asia and the mainland featuring artists from the Grammy-winning album.