John Conover has two passions: producing high-quality wine — including a bottle enjoyed by a VIP in the White House — and surfing. Unusual? Not really, says Conover, adding that surfing and farming are both dependent on Mother Nature. He also is an environmentalist and strong supporter of sustainability.
Conover, 51, is general manager of PlumpJack Winery and a partner in the Odette and Cade wineries in Napa, Calif. He was in Honolulu and on Maui last week to promote his wines, carried here by JMD Beverages, a wine division of Paradise Beverages. He worked with David Nip of Paradise on promotional events. Conover’s partners in the wine biz are philanthropist Gordon Getty and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former San Francisco mayor. The White House is one of their customers, Conover said, thanks to first lady Michelle Obama enjoying CADE sauvignon blanc.
In 1997, PlumpJack was the first high-quality winery to use screw caps on its wines, some of them on cabernet sauvignon priced more than $100 a bottle. Screw tops are easier to handle but some traditionalists favor cork closers. PlumpJack uses both.
Conover, whose dad was an Army colonel, started surfing in front of Fort DeRussy and the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1973. Two years later, when he was 14, his parents let him come to Hawaii on his own during summer vacations to surf. He spent four summers here, staying at the YMCA on Atkinson Drive. Today he surfs in California regularly and makes trips to foreign shores besides Hawaii …
PBS HAWAII’S Monday pledge program will be "Let’s Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui & Friends" at 7:30 p.m. The live pledge program also will be available via live streaming at pbshawaii.org. It’s a backyard-jam tribute to Cyril’s dad, the late great slack-key guitarist and singer Gabby Pahinui. Besides Cyril, those included in prerecorded performances are: Roland Cazimero, Palani Vaughan, Kawika Kahiapo, Dennis Kamakahi, Mike Kaawa, Sonny Lim, Greg Sardinha, Peter Moon Jr., Jeff Au Hoy and Kunia Galderia. Cyril will be on the phone bank along with his wife, Chelle Pahinui, Roland and Lauwae Cazimero, Rhonda and Mike Burk, Greg and Sandy Sardinha and Vaughan …
HALAU HO‘OMAU I ka Wai Ola O Hawai‘i, a Virginia-based troupe that has entertained audiences for more than a decade, presented a program of music and dance Sunday at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian’s "Celebrate Hawaii" festival in Washington. The dancers and musicians come from diverse cultural backgrounds and live in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The halau, led by kumu hula Manu Ikaika, also took the audience on a journey to New Zealand and Tahiti. The program focused on voyaging in the Pacific. During the festival, visitors met Hawaiians skilled in voyaging and canoes. The annual Hawaii festival coincides with Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, held in May …
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII professor and former foreign correspondent Beverly Deepe Keever recounts her experiences in a recently published memoir, "Death Zones and Darling Spies: Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting"…
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Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
