This past Saturday was the 11th annual Steel Guitar Festival. Normally this is a week long event. It was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, and this year was constrained to a single day’s event instead of the normal week. There were four professional steel guitar players in the morning, and four young players in the afternoon. Above, you can listen to Målie Lyman (age 17), one of the young players singing Sophisticated Hula. The camera club that I joined, Eyes of Hawaii, was invited to document the festival.
The first steel guitarist was Steve Cheney, seen above. Kaipo Asing on acoustic guitar, and Helene Woodward on upright bass remained on stage the entire day, providing accompaniment.
Next up was Kapono Lopes, playing the steel guitar seen top-left.
The third professional player was Jeff Au Hoy. His steel guitar was a dual arrangement, as seen in the rightmost image.
Greg Sardinha completed the morning session.
After a mid-day break for lunch, the festival continued. This time, there were a series of four young players, as seen above. with Enosa Lyman (12 – lower left), Tal Misailidis (13, upper left and lower middle), Pono Fernandez (15, top-middle), and Milie Lyman (17, right column).
Between steel guitar songs, we were presented with a hula dance by Kapuanani Greene.
The entire presentation was performed outdoors in the courtyard of the Royal Hawaiian Center. The audience wandered in and out during the day, with several tripods holding movie cameras that captured the entire day’s performances.
During the break, I walked out to the street and had my first shaved ice with ice cream. This shop is generally considered the best shaved ice in Waikiki, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually pretty good.
At the end of the day, hula dancers from Måanoa Elementary School and Stevenson Middle School entertained us.
Matt Felch performing Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Matt’s website is www.yesandnoband.comMusicians: Alla, Maria, Joanie and Mark Brown
After painting together en plein air at Three Tables Beach, some members of the group got together at Marina’s North Shore home on Sunset Beach just a few minutes away to eat and make more music. It was like paradise, as we got a chance to paint on a sunny day with no gale force winds blowing and knocking down our easels, while watching the surfers play all day. Our group is accustomed to hearing our maestro, Mark Brown, break out into song while painting, so we got a chance to hear him again accompanied by other singers and guitar players. We were also treated to the Russian duet with mother and daughter singing Russian songs.
Since our birth we are captives of Movement. Dizzy from the head wind, we are passing all those who are at rest.We want to know what is ahead of us, what is after that turn. Our trip is long, but our life is short.The main thing for us is to reach our destination, if only we had enough air!But it seems like the Universe is laughing at us, as there is another horizon after each turn.And only trees are crying and wishing us, Good Luck.* “Pegasik” – is diminutive from Pegasus.
Maria, Matt, Michael, Noel, Sandy, Alla, Marina, Mark and JoanieSurfers at Sunset Beach, Pupukea on North Shore
Sunset Beach is renown for its big wave surfing during the winter season. Marina informed us that this was a great place to enjoy the sunset, so we walked to the beach, just steps away. It definitely was a treat for us. We also needed some foreground for the sunset photos, so the the young surfers and Maria graciously posed as models for us.
Alla, Mark and Matt performing Simon and Garfunkel hit Bye Bye Love
After having dinner in Chinatown, Honolulu, we walked back to Alla and Michael’s home for a mini-concert. Chinatown, Honolulu has a lot of character, and enroute we walked around three homeless persons laying on the sidewalk, but the neighborhood appears quite safe. When we got back to the Parsons’ home, Matt retrieved his guitar and Alla pulled another guitar out of her closet. We didn’t know we had such talented friends, and wanted to introduce them to our Facebook friends. This was the first time that they played together, and agreed their voices and styles were well matched. Expect more music to follow in the future.Matt Felch performing Willy Nelson’s “You were always on our Mind”. Matt’s website: www.yesandnoband.comAlla performing a Russian classic “Моя Звезда” (“My Star”)
It was really a fun evening and you can find Matt Felch’s music on his website: www.yesandnoband.com. Matt’s band performs some covers as well as a number of original songs. Pay particular attention to one of my favorite original tunes he has written: “She’s the One”, which can be found in the albums section.
Waikiki Beach is the highlight for any first trip to Hawaii, with its white sandy surfing beach, turquoise blue waters, and numerous water activities. Lined with luxury hotels with Diamond Head as a backdrop, this is what you see in movies and TV series such as Magnum PI and Hawaii 5-0. We went to Duke’s on Waikiki Beach today for lunch, which is one of the iconic restaurants with an ocean view. They have live music playing mid-day (above, in 60 sec video clip). The restaurant is named after Duke Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing, aka “The Duke” and “The Big Kahuna“. Duke was one of the pioneers who earned his living teaching visitors how to surf and canoe at Waikiki. Hula Grill is another restaurant located on the second floor, sharing the same music and views, and serves the best loco moco on the island we’ve tasted.
Today is Halloween, so many of the staff were dressed up in costumes. As we approached the restaurant, The Ghost Bus (bottom-left) drove by.
Waikiki Beach is less than a 10 minute drive from our condo. We have been mostly avoiding the tourist scene since moving here a few months ago due to crowds, but thought it was time to explore this neighborhood which is probably the most renown beach on Oahu for tourists.
Fortunately, Waikiki Beach was not nearly as crowded as we expected. Yes, there are tourists here, but there were ample empty beach chairs, and plenty of room between families on the sand. Ige, the Hawaiian governor, asked tourists to stay away last month, due to increases in COVID overwhelming hospitals. It was pretty obvious here that many people took that request to heart.
Most people on the beach enjoyed being with small, private family groups. A few set up their own canopies on the beach (upper-left), while others ate at outdoor restaurants or mini-cabanas (right column). All the hotels also had pools for their guests, where many congregated (bottom-left).
The weather was perfect today, with small waves ideal for beginner surfers to learn the sport. While a few parents watched from the shore (top-right), dozens of younger souls practiced with their boards (bottom and top-left).
As you walk to the beach, you pass an alley where people chain and lock their surf boards (center). The boards come from a variety of manufacturers, some of which are small shops custom made for each surfer. The logos on the boards are an interesting collection (all except center).
Along the sand were periodic signs, enticing visitors to eat at beach restaurants, to relax under rented umbrellas (bottom-middle), take surfing lessons or to learn other water sports (right column), catamaran tours, dinner cruises.
The Apple store is nearby at the Royal Hawaiian, and we stopped in to visit the Genius Bar (this is the ONLY Apple store I know of where you can walk in and talk to a Genius with only a few minutes wait!). Inside was a new Apple fan, exploring an iPad (lower-left). Outside was a family dressed as the Ghost Busters for Halloween (top), who posed for me. Evelyn also stopped into one of the ubiquitous ABC stores to buy a couple of Hawaiian coffee mugs (lower-right). Kalakaua Ave in Waikiki and Ala Moana is the premier retail corridor in Honolulu, and is a major attraction for the tourist industry.
Most tourist guides say you Just Gotta Try Shaved Ice when in Hawaii. There are multiple locations to get these, but one near the Apple Store on Kalakaua Ave always has long lines waiting to get their treats. This woman agreed to let me show her treasure (shaved ice with ice cream) before she dug in.
Watch here for 60 seconds of people playing in the waves. In that short time, you see several surfers catch their waves, a paddle boarder heading out to deeper water, and a wave-boarder shoot from left to right, and then a bit later back right-to-left.
We visited the Bishop Museum in Honolulu today. For us, the most captivating display was easily the 10 animatronic dinosaurs, shown in the short 45 second video above. Watch to the end to see Evelyn’s reaction… ☺
The Bishop Museum is primarily comprised of three main exhibit buildings, plus a planetarium that was closed due to COVID restrictions. The museum was originally created in 1889.
Though this is not an art museum, there are a few scattered local art pieces around the grounds, including the excellent mural (right).
When first entering the museum, the Kahili Room is the first stop. It is mostly composed of paintings of past Kings and rulers of Hawaii. You can learn about feather standards here.
The next display focusses on historic Hawaiian cultures living with the sea. Being a series of small islands thousands of miles from other populated areas, they developed ocean-faring outriggers early, and the sea life has always been a primary source of food.
Surrounding the hanging displays of boats and sea life, were other cultural displays. These included busts of European rulers (top-middle and middle), scale models of boat styles used by pre-European Hawaiians (upper-left), and ceremonial masks (bottom-left and bottom-middle).
Moving past the static cultural exhibits, we entered into a display filled with interactive science exhibits for children. There was a box where kids could dig up fossils (upper-left), trace out dinosaur footprints (left-middle) and watch immersive films of what the prehistoric world was like (left-bottom and right).
Walking further brought us to a fanciful simulated undersea excursion. This area was filled with crude childlike florescent drawings of sea animals. I wasn’t really sure what the point of this specific display was, other than to possibly give a curious corridor of young art.
DINOSAURS! Yep, this was the exhibit we actually enjoyed the most, and returns to the area in which the opening video above was shot. This is a traveling exhibit that will only be at the Bishop Museum until January 23rd 2022, so be sure to go soon if you want to see all these animatronic creations. This exhibit explores the life and death of dinosaurs, and shows the impact of the asteroid that resulted in the massive extinction. As a kid, I memorized every detail of every dinosaur and was obsessed.
There were six main animatronic dinosaurs in the display, plus a few interactive models that children could climb through (such as the child in the mouth of the T-Rex lower-right). Each model was accompanied by educational plaques that were written in a style likely to engage the younger visitors (middle).
As you prepare to leave the science exhibits, a simulated volcano spews lava (actually hot water), giving a view of what a live volcano caldera looks like.
We spent the morning at the Pearl Harbor Memorial today. The upper image shows the most famous building of the memorial, which is a building sitting over the USS Arizona, sunk during the attack on December 7, 1941. We went during neutral tide, and the small piece of rusted stack (lower left) is the only part of the ship that could be seen. The entire ship is actually there underwater though, as the scale model shows (lower-right). Apparently much more of the ship can be seen if you visit during maximum low tide, which we recommend to anyone that makes this visit.
The USS Arizona Memorial is reached by taking a short 5 minute ferry from the main memorial grounds. While on the ride, a Navy Sailor (upper-left) gives a short introduction to the history and the courtesy rules for attending. Even though we were on the first trip of the morning, and the current COVID travel restrictions have reduced tourism dramatically, the ferry was still fully sold out (upper-right).
The USS Arizona Memorial building is actually not very large (bottom row), and the scheduled visit time of 15 minutes is sufficient to absorb everything that is available.
There is considerably more to be seen at the Pearl Harbor Memorial on shore though. As you enter the main museum, there are initially slide shows and films from the day of the attack.
As you continue through the museum, there are various annotated photographs, where more detail of the events, the ships, and the people can be explored.
The main grounds of the memorial include a tribute to the 4000 submariners who have lost their lives in service to the US Navy (middle and upper-left), plus some well done statues (lower-left) and ships that were damaged in the Dec 7 attack, but did not sink.
The overall feeling was one of appropriate somber reflection over an important event in US history. It does not have the impact of the World Trade Center memorial in New York City built 50+ years later though. If you decide to visit, order tickets from the official website and not the commercial sites (same experience at 1/10 the cost).
Just another day in Hawaii, where every day is picturesque. Above is a series showing very typical scenes for us. The upper image is sunrise from our living room and bedroom windows with a view toward Hanauma Bay — a pretty typical photograph that we can capture most mornings. The middle image shows a rainbow from Kaiser Bowl where we walked that afternoon. We see rainbows most days from our condo windows, and frequently double rainbows. The bottom image is sunset at the beach on Magic Island about 1-1/2 miles from us. Because the sun sets on the opposite side of our condo, we don’t see the sunsets from home unless we take a few steps into the elevator lobby.
Evelyn spent today painting en plein air (“open air”) at Kaiser Bowl, which has a great view of Diamond Head and a favorite hangout for surfers. Lunch trucks are common over the island (lower-left). After painting, Evelyn had lunch with her closest art buddy near the boat harbor, Alla (lower-right). Those two have become nearly inseparable in recent months!
We decided to wander over to Magic Island in the late afternoon to search for some Russian musicians who perform every Saturday after sunset. This is an artificial island created in the 1960’s for a resort that was never built. It has become a favorite park for locals, and is less than a 10 minute drive from our condo. Fishing, boating, bicycling, picnics, jogging are favorite pastimes for locals here.
No matter when you come, you will always find something new going on. This afternoon, we found a mother-and-son exploring a tide pool (upper-left), a beach wedding (upper-right), an engagement photo shoot (middle-right), a woman waiting for the sundown in a hammock (middle-left), and a group of witches preparing for Halloween (bottom row).
As the sun sets, silhouettes become my favorite subjects, and there were plenty of opportunities to capture them along the park.
I am always fascinated by skylines as the sun sets and the lights come on. The skyline along Waikiki was my final series for the night, before heading out for dinner.
The Honolulu zoo is also only a 10 minute drive from our condo. We have seen some pretty amazing zoos around the world, and were curious what the Honolulu zoo would be like.
Every weekend, there is a display of “Art on the Zoo Fence”, where local artists hang their works on the fence, and sell them to anyone passing by. We decided to visit on a Sunday morning, to see this exhibit.
As we entered the zoo, the first thing we saw were various sculptures. Some were rather good, with my favorite being the surfer and seal (bottom).
Surprisingly, there were very few animals visible at the zoo. The block above includes almost every animal in the zoo, other than a few behind glass so dirty that no photos could be taken. Many of the enclosures appeared empty, though possibly the animals were taking a nap in the late morning sun. Over all, it was a very disappointing zoo…
We read sad news yesterday too. The zoo had a single 13-year old male African lion, Ekundu, who died yesterday after contracting COVID-19. Ekundu had underlying conditions, including epilepsy.
The zoo is right across the street from a beach, where people were relaxing in the park, or playing volleyball (upper right). The water off the beach had shallow swells that were perfect for body-surfing, and was crowded with young people enjoying a warm Sunday in the surf.
Honolulu’s historic Chinatown is a 10 minute drive from our condo, but feels like another world. Evelyn has done some painting sessions there, but I had not seen it, so we decided to stroll through the area and see what shops are available.
There was a good variety of seafood available, some of it still alive and ready to be taken home for dinner. I was particularly intrigued by the live Geoduck, which I have not seen since we lived in Oregon in the 1970’s. Unfortunately, we had another stop planned for the afternoon, and I did not think the geoduck would survive the hot car that long. I will have to return in the future just to buy those and try them in a new recipe!
Chinatown is full of boutique restaurants, cafes, bars and art galleries, and is a very walkable neighborhood compared to the rest of Oahu. Chinatown hosts the First Friday art event, which is still trying to get back off the ground post Covid. While sitting at an outdoor restaurant, we felt we could have been in Thailand or Vietnam, with few English-speakers.
There were also many shops brimming with fruits and vegetables of various kinds — including Durian (lower-right), the fruit that is so smelly that it is banned from being taken on commercial flights.
When living on a tropical island, you quickly learn that there are some pests that are persistent, requiring the services of exterminators on a regular schedule. Sure enough, this little guy was seen on the floor of one of the seafood sections…
When lists are made of what tourists should do while on Oahu, going to the Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium is often on the list. Since coming to Hawaii a couple months ago, we have done very few tourist events, but decided to check this flea market out to search for a hat and napkin rings. This market is open on weekends and Wednesday only.
It quickly became obvious that the flea market is smaller now than it probably was a couple years ago, before COVID. Many of the stalls were empty, with the layout easily having room for twice as many stalls as were now open. Those vendors who are now operating tend to sell basically the same items as many of their neighbors. For example, there were dozens of hat and T-shirt sellers, many for ridiculously low prices that pretty much screamed that they were poor quality and would not survive long in normal use.
There were also many jewelry vendors, mostly selling their own designs. Again, there were dozens of these shops, but many of them did have attractive original designs.
There were also a few shops with relatively unique hand-crafted products. For example, there was only one ukulele seller (top-left), and one musical frog seller (middle) ☺
As with pretty much every flea market we have visited in the world, from Tibet to Oakland to Honolulu, there were vendors with tarps laid out brimming with various tools, golf clubs (bottom-third image) , fishing reels (bottom-right), and various pieces of household junk (bottom-second)
Of course, there was also a food section. We ate a rather delicious chicken skewer (top left), and Evelyn tried out some Hawaiian toffee (bottom)
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