Oh, What a Night … !

Hmmm … isn’t that the lead-in line for a Jersey Boys’ song??  Anyway, oh what a night it was at last night’s Na Hoku Awards!  All of Hawai’i’s top musicians and entertainers were gathered together for an evening of music, fellowship, and honors!  It never ceases to amaze me at how much fabulous talent exists here in Hawai’i … probably as much, or more so, than any of the other 49 states!  My congratulations go out to our dear friends Pali Ka’aihue and Kama, Kekoa, and Kanai’a of Holunape for their multiple awards.  But the most special moment was when Kupao’a won Most Promising Artists … we’ve been close friends with the Hannahs family for decades and have known Lihau since she was a baby and it was great to see her and Kellen win the award.

We were honored to share last night’s stage with Tony Conjugacion, and together we rocked the house with a medley of Tony’s KA PILI OHA and KA BEAUTY A’O MANOA, and our DOWN IN PARADISE.  I think a lot of people in the audience were shocked at how well we pulled it off and some commented afterward that it was the best performance of the night!  The only scary moment for me came as I was warming up vocally right before we took the stage and realized that I couldn’t hit some of the high notes for DOWN IN PARADISE since we had modulated the key from E to F#!  Yikes!!  Anyway, after much stretching and retching, I was able to hit the notes … kind of!

If you want to see a video of last night’s performance, just click on the upper right hand screen.

Aloha,

dad