FRIDAY-SUNDAY
>> ‘Supernatural’ to hold convention
“Supernatural,” the long-running television show about two brothers crusading against demons and other evil beings, holds its official convention this weekend at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
The show, which began airing on the CW network in 2005, doesn’t have a massive following, but its followers are particularly devoted, contributing their own plotlines on fiction websites and gathering around the country at conventions.
“Fans appreciate the show’s complicated plotting, its rich world of details and its unanswered questions,” said a 2014 NPR story. “That’s all fodder to argue about on message boards and explore in fan fiction. What kind of powers does a fallen angel have? What were the main characters like as children? Is a sexy demon a good sexy demon or a bad sexy demon?”
‘SUPERNATURAL’ CONVENTION
>> Where: Hilton Hawaiian Village
>> When: 10-11 a.m. to 6-7 p.m. Friday through Sunday, depending on celebrity availability
>> Cost: Single-day admission, general and preferred, $50-$160; three-day package $270
>> Info: creationent.com/cal/supernatural_hi.htm
Stars Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins and Mark Sheppard have already sold out their autograph sessions, but supporting cast members Richard Speight, Matt Cohen, Rob Benedict and others had some availability as of press time. Check creationent.com/cal/supernatural_hi.htm for details.
Cosplayers can don their naughtiest outfits for Saturday’s costume contest, which invites participants to combine “Supernatural” characters with Hawaiian themes. Or watch the best in fan-produced music videos based on the show, which will be on view throughout the three-day convention.
FRIDAY
>> Bluegrass Hawaii guitarist Rowan’s aloha for islands started at young age
Although he didn’t visit Hawaii until he was in his 30s, Peter Rowan, has been in love with the islands since he first heard Hawaiian music on the radio as a child in Massachusetts following World War II.
“I listened to Arthur Godfrey ‘live from the beach at Waikiki,’” the Grammy Award-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter said by phone last week from his Northern California home.
The islands further captivated the young Rowan, he said, “when my Uncle Jimmie came back from the Pacific war playing an ukulele he bought in Honolulu.” There’s a song named for that uncle on Rowan’s new album, “My Aloha,” recorded with Douglas Po‘oloa Tolentino (ukulele), Jeff Au Hoy (steel guitar, upright bass), Mike Souza (electric bass) and Kilin Reece (rhythm guitar).
PETER ROWAN: ‘MY ALOHA’
Presented by the Honolulu Museum of Art
>> Where: Honolulu Museum of Art
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
>> Cost: $30-$35
>> Info: 532-6097, honolulumuseum.org
>> Note: Rowan appears at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center; $30-$60, mauiarts.org
Rowan, Tolentino, Au Hoy and Reece will perform tunes from “My Aloha” Friday, along with hits Rowan, who started out as a bluegrass guitarist with Bill Monroe, wrote in the 1970s while playing with Sea Train, the New Riders of the Purple Sage and Old & in the Way. That rollicking neo-bluegrass quintet featured Jerry Garcia, late lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, on banjo.
“Once you hook up with Garcia, it’s like a comet’s tail. It went very fast,” Rowan reminisced. He treasures a lesson he learned after one disappointing gig, when the band was obsessing over what went wrong.
“Garcia just took a deep breath and went, ‘No thoughts.’ He was like a Zen master.”
Hawaii audiences can look forward to hearing Rowan classics such as “Panama Red” and “Midnight Moonlight” along with his new songs, such as “My Aloha Appalachian Home,” that swing with a mellifluous, old-time beachboy/bluegrass lilt.
— Mindy Pennybacker, Star-Advertiser
SATURDAY
>> Gamelan concert to honor founder of UH ensemble
The trancelike tones of gamelan music will echo through the University of Hawaii-Manoa Music Department on Saturday as the UH Gamelan Ensemble pays tribute to founder Hardja Susilo, leader of the group for 35 years, who died two years ago.
UH GAMELAN ENSEMBLE
A tribute concert in honor of founder Hardja Susilo
>> Where: Barbara Smith Amphitheater, UH-Manoa Music Department
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
>> Cost: $8-$12
>> Info: manoa.hawaii.edu/music/events
Members of his family will perform in the concert, which is being held approximately 1,000 days later in keeping with Indonesian custom.
Gamelan is the name for a mostly percussion ensemble that plays on instruments ranging from drums to metal gongs to xylophonelike instruments, which are played according to a strict rhythmic pattern that creates a hypnotic effect.
It first came to prominence in the West in 1889 at the Paris World Fair, resulting in composers like Debussy, Satie, Cage and others basing works on gamelan music.
TUESDAY-NOV. 26
>> Anuhea to play Blue Note for 6 nights
When you’re as talented as Anuhea, you tend to have a lot of friends in the music business. And when you’re as generous as she is, you’re willing to share the stage with them.
That’s what the Maui-born Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning singer will be doing during an extended Thanksgiving gig at Blue Note Hawaii next week. She starts off the series Tuesday with teen rocker Lana Kei, continues Wednesday and Thursday with jazz/R&B artist Kimie Miner and follows up on Nov. 24 with Kamakakehau Fernandez, who’s an expert in Hawaiian falsetto.
ANUHEA
Presented by Blue Note Hawaii
>> Where: Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort
>> When: 6:30 and 9 p.m. Tuesday-Nov. 26
>> Cost: $21.25-$45
>> Info: 777-4890, bluenotehawaii.com
On Nov. 25, pop artist Mahi Crabbe joins her, with soul singer Paula Fuga finishing out the event Nov. 26.
Anuhea has just finished a mainland tour with Australian singer Sammy J after the release of her sixth album, “Follow Me,” which “really pushed my style limits in the best ways,” she said in her blog. The album’s title track, for example, combines a synth-pop sound with an R&B vibe. There are some souped-up island contemporary tunes as well, such as “Like the Way It Feels” and “I Won’t Settle.”
The sweet-voiced artist calls herself a “pop” singer, though she doesn’t really like the word, and counts Jack Johnson, Alicia Keyes and Bob Marley as her inspirations. She’s taken her mellow, acoustic sound from coffee shops to island venues and radio stations and beyond, becoming one of Hawaii’s best-known singers on the mainland.
She’s performed the national anthem at several sporting events there — one suspects the quality of her voice is enough to get everyone standing — and performed by request for the Dalai Lama.