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Zanuck Lindsey Live

Guitarist extraordinaire Zanuck Lindsey has regular gigs again – Monday at The Hyatt Regency’s ‘The Elegant Dive’, 6:30-9:30PM, and Tuesdays at the Westin Moana Surfrider’s ‘Banyan Terrace’, 5:30-8:30PM.

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By keola – September 30, 2007

Review of John Cruz "One Of These Days"

John Cruz “One Of These Days”

It’s been over ten years since John Cruz released his debut CD “Acoustic Soul”, and fans have been breathless with anticipation for his second release, “One Of These Days”. Was it worth the wait?

I can’t think of any sophomore release that has been more highly anticipated that John Cruz’ One of These Days. His debut release, Acoustic Soul (1996) was one of the most popular contemporary music releases in the history of the Hawai‘i industry, and firmly established John among the elite of Hawai‘i’s singer-songwriters. A documentary film on his life, “Made of Music – The Story of John Cruz,” debuted at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival in 2006, and documented his personal and musical trials.

The title track “One Of These Days” opens the CD and John’s warm but weathered vocals instantly reconnect the listener to his previous success. His guitar performances and arrangements are impeccable, as are the performances of the many guest musician on the release, including percussion legend Paulinho Da Costa, Imua and Tiff Garza and Nir Z.

Highlights include “Hurricane”, “Angel” and the closing track “Be There”. I don’t hear a song that will become an anthem in the way that “Island Style” did for him in 1996, but the quality of the songs and performances is very high. His Hawaiian pronunciation on “Hi‘ilawe” missed the mark, and seemed to mimic some of the classic but also poorly pronounced renditions of this Hawaiian standard.

While “One Of These Days” doesn’t quite reach the heights that “Acoustic Soul” did, it does not miss by much. John Cruz fans will undoubtedly rejoice, and I have no doubt it will win him many new fans as well.


Rated 4/5 on Sep 26 2007 by Keola Donaghy
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By keola – September 26, 2007

Amazon Selling Unprotected Digital Downloads

Amazon.com Inc. launched its digital download music store today with nearly 2.3 million songs, all sans copy protection. Songs cost 89 cents to 99 cents each and albums sell for $5.99 to $9.99. Universal Music Group and EMI Music Publishing will sell their tracks on Amazon, as will thousands of independent labels. Here is the New York Times feature on this development.

I did a quick search using “Hawaiian” as a keyword, and it returned 1,336 results. A lot of them were old-time recordings. Keali‘i Reichel’s Ke‘alaokamaile is in there ($6.99 for the entire CD!), but nothing else. None of Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole’s releases in there as downloads, but the store does conveniently show that you can still buy it on plastic. A number of Mākaha Sons releases are in there. I’ll do some more digging tomorrow.

Posted in Recording Industry vs. The World.

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By keola – September 25, 2007

Believe It Or Not, We're Back

Aloha kākou. We’re back in Hilo and will be here for at least a few months, perhaps for good. Our family was denied entry into Ireland two weeks ago for reasons that are still difficult to believe. If you are interested, you can read the entire saga as it unfolded on my Culture Hack blog. I’m not up to talking about it anymore than I did there, nor am I interested in answering anymore questions about the ordeal. I will be reviving Nahenahe.net, at least until such time as I figure out what I will be doing in regards to Ph.d. studies. There is an outside chance we’ll try to return to Ireland in the spring, but not sure at this point. In the mean time, I’ll try to start digging up some new Hawaiian music news to post.

Posted in Falling Bits and Bytes.

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By keola – September 23, 2007