Young musicians get to rock out
Does your kid want to be a rock star?
Hard Rock Cafe in Waikiki is offering talented local youth the opportunity to showcase their skills at its Youth on Stage Sundays.
The cafe showcases young musicians on its stage every Sunday at noon. The concerts have no cover charge and are open to audiences of all ages.
"The whole goal is to support youths’ passion for music and give them a great platform to practice on and build confidence," said sales and marketing manager Jill Gilboy.
To date, seven bands and a few individuals, ranging from ages 9 to 17, perform gigs regularly at the cafe on Sundays.
Among them are ukulele prodigy Aidan James, EMKE, Chaotic Five and Isabelle DeLeon.
The selected young musicians get to perform with a full audio stage setup, and receive complimentary meals and merchandise from the cafe’s Rock Shop.
COMING UP
The Hard Rock Cafe, 280 Beachwalk in Waikiki, hosts the following musicians at noon through its Youth on Stage Sundays program:
>> Sunday: Wahiawa Middle School Jazz Band, performing rock hits
>> July 22: EMKE (Isabelle DeLeon to open)
>> July 29: Chaotic Five
>> Aug 5: To be announced
>> Aug 12: Aidan James
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The program is only available at Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu.
"I know a lot of public schools here don’t have music programs, and felt this was the perfect opportunity for Hard Rock to help these kids get to the next level in their musicianship," Gilboy said.
To qualify, performers must be under the age of 18 and have musicianship, harmony and melody skills along with a passion for rock, Gilboy said. They must be able to perform at least a 30-minute set with musically established cover songs or original songs.
The cafe is currently looking for more acoustic-style bands and artists.
Aspiring musicians should contact Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu’s marketing department at 921-2244 or send a YouTube audition video (including the biographies and ages of each band member) to Honolulu_sales@hardrock.com.
‘Eva Afta’ redux hasn’t lost any of its charm
Lisa Matsumoto’s pidgin fairy tales have been entertaining local kids ever since she created the first one as a college theater class project in 1989.
Her recipe is timeless: Take familiar European fairy tales, mix them up in the style of "Fractured Fairy Tales" and Mad magazine, "translate" them into pidgin and then add some stock ethnic stereotypes and a touch of Abbott & Costello. Kennedy Theatre’s revival production of "Happily Eva Afta," the third play in the series, has all those proven elements.
Add the insights of director Tamara Montgomery, and the new choreography of Ka‘ohi Yojo and Anthony Tsang, and it is one of the all-time best stagings of a Matsumoto play to date.
Eddy Gudoy (Menehune Who) leads the six menehune through tightly synchronized crowd-pleasing dance numbers and comedy routines. The Dancing Princesses benefit from new choreography and cute costumes that give them a distinct K-Pop look that complements their Valley Girl speaking style.
Ron Encarnacion (Manuel) and Gino Pascual (Miguel) are instant audience favorites, and Clint Sekioka (Prince Chah Ming Won) and Devon Nekoba (Prince Won Cute Guy) put a fresh spin on the physically demanding roles of the Chinese kung fu princes.
"Happily Eva Afta" contains no "toilet humor" and no heavy-handed preaching on trendy social issues. It’s simply clean, kid-friendly entertainment.
Folks new to the islands will also appreciate the handy glossary in the playbill that explains some of the basic pidgin phrases heard in the show. All things considered, "Happily Eva Afta" is the best children’s theater show of the 2011-2012 season. — John Berger
‘HAPPILY EVA AFTA’
» Where: Kennedy Theatre, UH-Manoa
» When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through July 22; also at 7:30 p.m. July 19
» Cost: $30, $25 (seniors, military, UH faculty/staff and all college students) and $15 (children 17 and younger). Save $3 per ticket by buying at least one day in advance.
» Info: 944-2697 or www.etickethawaii.com
Get a taste of chocolate shop on tour
Madre Chocolate in Kailua is offering the opportunity to find out how chocolate is made with a tour of an organic cacao farm, followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of its shop on Aug. 5 and 12.
The farm is just 30 minutes away from the shop, and visitors will see firsthand how cacao trees produce their pods. Visitors will also learn how to tell when cacao pods are ripe, taste cacao pulp and help harvest cacao, plus see how it’s fermented and dried.
After a lunch break, head back to Madre’s shop to see how cacao is roasted, cracked and winnowed to make a traditional Mexican chocolate drink or grind and temper chocolate into bars to take home.
The cost is $30 for the tour, which runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is suitable for kids 5 and older. Madre Chocolate is at 20-A Kainehe St. Visit www.madrechocolate.com and click on classes to register. Call 377-6440 or email info@madrechocolate.com for more information.
