Aloha kakou!
In today’s newsletter:

• Island Breeze Band – Aptos, CA
• Free holiday concerts – O’ahu
• Rell Sunn Aloha Jam – O’ahu
• Faith Ako in concert – Sacramento, Whittier, Santa Rosa, CA
• Darlene Ahuna and Daniel Ho – Grass Valley, CA
• Bill Tapia – Los Angeles
• Pūlama – Berkeley
• Ho’okena & Maila Gibson – Whittier
• Additional Guests for Mike Keale/Timmy Kukia Hunt concert – Felton, CA
• Stephen Espaniola – Gardena and Torrance, CA
• Kauai Music Festival, 2010 – Lihue
• Pakele Live! with Tony Solis – who would you like to see?
• Submitting items for this newsletter

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The Island Breeze Band will be playing its brand of Hawaiian & Rock’n, Tropical, Surf Music from 8 pm until midnight on Saturday Nov. 28 at Severino’s Bar & Grill in Aptos, CA (7500 Old Dominion Ct.) There is no cover charge. For info call (831) 688-8987.
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‘Tis the season for free concerts on O’ahu, especially at the malls! Amy Hanaiali’i performed in concert last night at Windward Mall, Maoli is at Windward Mall today from 1-2pm and Sean Na’auao is at Kahala Mall from 2-3pm, and Hapa will perform tomorrow (Sunday 11/29) from 1-2pm at Windward Mall. There will be other concerts at the malls throughout December. (Last year as part of the annual Lōkahi Giving Project drives, there were day-long concerts at both Ala Moana Center and Windward Mall…)
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The Rell Sunn Aloha Jam takes place Sunday November 29 on the grounds at Waimea Valley (59-864 Kamehameha Hwy., Hale`iwa). Doors open at 6 pm. And the show is from 7 to 11 pm. Entertainers include: Henry Kapono, Kaukahi, Paula Fuga, Rob Machado, Jake Shimabukuro, Cyril Pahinui, and many other special guests.

There will be opportunity drawings, and silent and live auction items. The Jam is a benefit for the Rell Sunn Educational Fund and the Bronze Memorial Statue.

VIP Seating is sold out, but General Admission (tent) tickets are $25 and are available here.
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Faith Ako will be in concert at several California locations in December:

Dec. 4 - A free concert and signing at Borders Sacramento (2339 Fair Oaks Blvd). 7 pm in the café.

Dec. 11 – A special “Hana Hou” series concert at the Shannon Center at Whittier College concert. 8pm, Tickets are $20.

Dec. 12 - "A Hawaiian Evening of Christmas with Faith Ako" at the Harry Merlo Theater in the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa (50 Mark West Springs Road). 7:30pm, tickets are $22.
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Darlene Ahuna and Daniel Ho will perform at the 5th annual Holiday Concert "Me Ke Aloha...With Love," presented by Ka Hale Hula o Pilialohaokalani o Hilo at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in Grass Valley, CA (255 South Auburn St.) on Saturday, December 5 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $15 advance/$20 door and are available at the Briar Patch in Grass Valley, Yabobo in Nevada City or by calling (530) 478-1407. Children under five get in free. Doors open at 6pm.

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Uncle Bill Tapia is turning 102 years old! To celebrate, there will be a lu’au and concert from noon to 4pm on December 5 at Stevens Steak House in Los Angeles (City of Commerce). Bill remains an active musician, teacher, and entertainer, even traveling to Japan earlier this year, so don’t miss this chance to honor him and celebrate his 102 years.

Tickets are $48 each and are personally signed by Bill. You may mail a check to:
Bill Tapia
15831 Norwich Circle
Westminster, CA 92683
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Hawaiian music duo Pūlama will celebrate the release of their debut CD, “The Song Within the Song” with a concert at 8pm on December 12 at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (1924 Cedar St, Berkeley). There will be music, hula, goodies and special guests.

Tickets are $10 and are available at Brown Paper Tickets.

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Ho’okena (with special guest Maila Gibson) will perform December 12 at the next installment of the Aloha Series at Whittier College. Tickets are $40; show times are 3pm and 8pm.
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I previously mentioned that Mike Keale and Timmy Kukia Hunt will play a concert at 7:30pm on Dec. 16 at Don Quixote’s in Felton (Santa Cruz area), but I wanted to let you know that also playing will be Vern Fernandez, Stan Meidinger and Patti Maxine.

For those unfamiliar with their names, Vern, as part of Huna Wai, has opened for and shared the stage with a number of legends in Hawaiian music, including: Eddie Kamae, Makaha Sons, Darlene Ahuna, the Lim Family, Ledward Kaapana, Dennis Kamakahi, Gary Haleamau, Uncle Richard Ho'opi'i, Uluwehi Guerrero, Aunty Genoa Keawe, the Brothers Cazimero, Natalie Ai Kamauu, Hoku Zuttermeister, Ohta-San, Herb Ohta, Jr., and Keoki Kahumoku - to name a few.

Stan and Patti are both members of the Island Breeze Band, and are a big part of the vibrant music scene in the Santa Cruz area. Patti in particular is known well beyond Santa Cruz for her expertise on steel guitar.

(Mahalo nui loa to Kaukini Norm of KAPU fm for the additional info!)

Tickets for this concert are only $10. Don Quixote’s takes cash only for ticket sales, and seating is first come, first serve. (Get there one hour early for good seats!)
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So. Cal peeps - Hawai’i Music Award winner Steven Espaniola is finally coming your way again, and this time he’s bringing friends! Joining him on January 16 for an evening of Hawaiian music at Happa Restaurant (1641 W. Redondo Beach Blvd, Gardena) will be Bobby Santos (percussion), Kawika Loo (bass), Brian Hill (guitar), & from One Groove, the ki ho'alu artistry of Kris Kanoho. (There may even be a few surprise guests!)

The concert is from 7-10 pm but the doors open at 5pm, so go early for drinks and ono Japanese/Hawaiian cuisine. Tickets are $20 and are available online. (SEATING IS VERY LIMITED, so get your tickets early.)

In addition to the concert, Steven will be teaching an ‘ukulele workshop the following day (Jan. 17) from 9:30-11 am at Island Legends (2120 W. Artesia Blvd., Torrance). The workshop is geared towards beginning to intermediate level students, and will focus on various "Hawaiian" strumming and rhythm techniques. Steven will cover a broad range of strums that emphasize the beauty & complexity of traditional Hawaiian rhythm patterns. He covers all of the strums used on his CD "Ho'omaka."

The workshop is $20. You may register at the same link as above (the page contains one link for concert tickets and one for the workshop).
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The dates for the 2010 Kauai Music Festival (KMF) have been set: Weds. July 28 – Sat. July 31, 2010. The venue will again be the Kauai Beach Resort in Lihue. The KMF website has been updated (as much as possible) with the dates, preliminary schedule, and other information. KMF will begin announcing the 2010 staff in early 2010.

In the meantime, please consider signing up now! If enough people sign up early, KMF can plan to bring even more high-quality staff to the event than in prior years. You can sign-up here.

Because of continued funding from the County of Kauai and the sponsors (BMI and the Kauai Beach Resort), the cost will remain the same as last year - $125 for the Festival only or $150 for the Festival + Concerts. (FYI, almost everyone signs up for the Festival + Concerts... don't be left out!)

For more information and to register for the KMF Songwriters' Conference, visit the KMF website.
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We are currently booking musicians for Pakele Live! with Tony Solis for 2010, and we’re wondering – who would you like to see on the show? We can’t guarantee that we will book everyone you request, but we’d like to hear from you! Please email me at lynn@pakelelive.com, and keep in mind the show’s general format of traditional and contemporary Hawaiian music.

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And finally… I encourage you to continue sending me information about your Hawaiian events (lu’au, concerts, ho’ike, paddling, CD releases, etc!), but I do have a request: PLEEEZE don't send me PDF files! Print media don’t accept them (if it’s something I’m going to do a press release on), and they’re very difficult to work with second hand. A word file is preferable, especially since I often need to edit for length. (People tend to have very short attention spans, especially when reading something online.) Also, photos in jpeg format are easiest – I have to convert bmp files to jpeg - and PDF files are often unusable.

Send your event info to me at: mkaloha@gmail.com Mahalo nui loa!
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Pau for now – and a quick reminder: events are sometimes changed or cancelled, so please be sure to check in advance, especially if you’re traveling some distance to attend something!

E malama pono a hui hou!