Kokua

The music carries a message as Jack Johnson brings his friends and his eco-friendly vibe to the third Kokua Festival at the Waikiki Shell

Even within the eco-friendly vibe surrounding Saturday night's Kokua Festival, Jack Johnson and Henry Kapono made their political stances known, both in comment and in song.

During a pre-concert press conference also attended by British, Japanese and Puerto Rican media, Johnson used a question about the tremendous sewage outfall caused by recent rain to speak about proposed expansion plans at the Turtle Bay Resort in his rural North Shore home community.

"I think it's a good time to scale back," the low-key Johnson said. "I'm personally opposed to the plans."

A little later, he said he had actually met with representatives of land-lease owners Obayashi Japan, a meeting arranged through the Japanese branch of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit environmental organization that Johnson actively supports. He said he offered a proposal under which the corporation would allow for the repurchase of its lease so the property could be converted to a public land trust.

Johnson tried to deflect follow-up questions and return the emphasis of the press conference to his and wife Kim's Kokua Hawai'i Foundation, beneficiary of the concert, but he did make an onstage gesture that night that brought back the issue.

During his concluding set, carrying an acoustic guitar bearing a green-and-white "Keep the Country Country" sticker, Johnson asked what the audience thought of the Turtle Bay expansion plans. A cascade of boos and thumbs-down gestures was the result. "Well, I'm glad we're all in agreement here," he responded.

WHILE the third annual festival at the Waikiki Shell delivered on its promise of crowd-pleasing music mixed with an environmental theme, one welcome surprise was the debut of Henry Kapono's "wild Hawaiian" musical direction.

Opening his set by first asking the audience to stand for "Hawaii Ponoi," Kapono then ripped through the state anthem a la Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. It was the first hint that something's changed.

Kapono debuted songs from an album due for release in about a month, and the audience warmly responded to the activist-based tunes, all sung in Hawaiian. While the music was '60s-Santana-inspired, slam poet Kealoha was there to help anchor the music in the here and now. Kealoha, a mainstay of the local spoken-word scene, was probably playing to his largest audience ever, and not only did he spit out political verse with an assured flow, but he was inspired to bust out an occasional break-dance move or two.

The earlier easy Jawaiian groove of Paula Fuga and the jammy Animal Liberation Orchestra (with a guest appearance by Johnson on the band's latest single, "Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down," that had gleeful fans rushing the stage with their digital cameras) didn't prepare the audience for Kapono's aggressive, classic-based rock music.

ANOTHER surprise came later that evening, after Fuga guested with Johnson on a cover of Bob Marley's "Stir It Up." She was told to stay onstage -- and to the crowd's delight, out strolled a dreadlocked Damian Marley from the wings. The man was already in town for a concert at the Shell the next night.

He, Fuga, Johnson and the band then proceeded to tear through an impromptu version of Marley's hit song of sufferation, "Welcome to Jamrock."

The response to Ben Harper and Willie Nelson nearly rivaled that of Johnson's. Harper and his Innocent Criminals band-mate Michael Ward did an acoustic set that mixed up songs from Harper's latest album, "Both Sides of the Gun," and earlier favorites, especially the pro-marijuana "Burn One Down."

Occasional Maui resident Nelson brought along his island-based Planetary Bandits band, which not only includes a couple of his sons, but also fellow resident and local-born alto saxophonist David Choy.

The iconic Nelson's set featured tried-and-true Texan blues rock and ballads. He easily trotted out hits such as "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Crazy," "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," "On the Road Again," "Always on My Mind," and TWO songs with whiskey references, "Whiskey River" and his hit with Toby Keith, "Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses."

As Johnson ended both the festival and his lengthy "In Between Dreams" tour with the disarming songs for which he's beloved, his growing confidence as a singer-songwriter and a headlining performer was much in evidence. I was impressed -- knowing that he is still basically a quiet, unassuming surfer dude who's using his celebrity to publicize the environmental causes he loves.

Plus, you can't deny his sex appeal. As a friend standing next to me said, "The chicks dig him."