From all of the ads, PR announcements and websites I’ve read recently, it seems that we have about 20 winners of the Grammy for Best Hawaiian album, and perhaps 50 Grammy nominees. It seems that people either don’t know the criteria that are used, or do know and consciously try to deceive others. I feel like I should write a book entitled “How To Tell If You Are a Grammy Winner or Nominee For Dummies”. People, it’s really simple:

Grammy Winners:

• If you are a solo artist or member of a group that has recorded a CD, you or your group are a Grammy winner when your name appears on the final ballot and is called when they announce the Grammy. As all of the Grammy Awards for Hawaiian Album have gone to compilations, there is not a single artist who can call himself, herself or themselves a Grammy Award-winning artist.
• For compilations, only the producers may call themselves Grammy winners, no one else. Their names also appear on the ballot and are called when the winner is announced. You are not a Grammy winner simply because you recorded one track and ran up on stage with the producer(s) and flashed a “shaka” sign when the winner was announced.

Grammy Nominees:

• Same rules apply. Artists are Grammy nominees if they as solo artists or the groups they perform in appear on the final ballot.
• If you perform on a compilation and are not listed as a producer on the final ballot, you are not a Grammy nominee. Only the listed producer(s) is/are considered nominees.

You see, people, it’s not that difficult. I could put up a list of people who are and are not Grammy winners, but think this is easy enough for everyone to comprehend. Labels, artist mangement and PR departments – please take note of this. There is no shame in saying “I performed on a Grammy-winning (or Grammy-nominated) release”, and it is more accurate than claiming to be a Grammy-winner or Grammy-nominee when you are not. I will not post any PR sent to me which wrongly credits a performer as a Grammy nominee or Grammy winner when they are not. I will not be a party to the continued dissemination of hyperbolic disinformation.

The Recording Academy Pacific Northwest Chapter presents MusicTech Hawaii in partnership with the State of Hawaii, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Creative Industries Division and Outrigger Waikiki Beach Hotel. Please join panelists

Dave Allen (Director, Insights & Digital Media at Nemo Design)
Tom DeSavia (Sr. Vice President, Membership at ASCAP)
Steve Mack (Owner, LUX Media, PNW Chapter President)
Tim Quirk (VP Music Programming, Rhapsody)

Learn how you can better market your music on the web, build a larger audience and discover new ways to make money in the digital world.

Saturday June 7, 2008
Event: 11:30am – 4pm MusiCares Post Reception: 4 – 6pm
Outrigger Waikiki Immediately following event
2335 Kalakaua Ave , Honolulu, HI 96815

Free for Recording Academy® and GRAMMY U® Members, $50 General Public; Admission price can be put towards membership to Join The Recording Academy® at www.grammy.com. To RSVP or purchase tickets, please contact the PNW Chapter office by calling 206.834.1000. Due to space limitations, we will require a credit card number for all reservations (including members). Preference will be given to PNW Chapter members. A 48-hour cancellation policy will be enforced in order to accommodate as many members as possible. All no-shows will be charged full admission, member no-shows will be charged $50.

I’ve received a few emails asking why I haven’t posted any thoughts on the Grammy Awards. Well, I’ve been up to my ears in reading, research and meetings here in New Zealand and haven’t had much time to think about it, but I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Herbie Hancock for taking “Album of the Year.” Truly deserving. Better luck next year, Kanye.

About two weeks before our family left for Aotearoa, I received a call from Keola Beamer. During that conversation he informed me of his decision not to participate in the Grammy process and not support his own nomination in the Best Hawaiian Music Album category. As he explained his reasons to me I could not help but be filled with pride for my dear friend, his courage, honesty and integrity. We were boarding a plane for Auckland when the stories were published, and I chose not to try to scoop the printed articles, but wait until we got settled in to link to them and discuss this development.

When you consider his body of work, I don’t believe there is a single living artist more deserving of being awarded a Grammy for Hawaiian music than Keola, however, I also realize that it is not a lifetime achievement award either. If the Hawaiian Grammy had been established in the 1970s, he would probably have eight to ten on his shelves right now. However, Ka Hikina O Ka Hau, by his own admission, is not a Hawaiian music release. And while he is far too diplomatic to “rain on someone else’s parade” (as he put it to me), he is clearly not happy with the current Grammy process either. The fourth Hawaiian Grammy will be awarded in about a month, and I am prepared to be disappointed yet again. I truly hope that KB does put out a release which deservse to be in this category, and have little doubt that he would stand as good a chance as anyone to win it.

Voting members of the Recording Academy should be receiving the final ballot for the 50th GRAMMY Awards within one week following our mailing date of December 12, 2007. Please ensure that your ballot reaches the offices of Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles by the Wednesday, January 09, 2008, deadline. If you do not receive your ballot within one week of this e-mail broadcast, please contact the GRAMMY office via e-mail at ballot (at) grammy.com or by phone (310) 392-0439.

The Recording Academy has, over the past 4 years, endeavored to provide a way for Academy voting members to digitally access nominated music during the final voting period. This year, a password-protected member area has been created on iTunes where full streams of nominated music will be available in those categories where master rights and publishing rights for all nominated recordings have been cleared. This area will be accessible by all Academy members in North America, and this application will work across both windows and Mac platforms.

The iTunes listening area will be available to members beginning Friday, December 14, at 5:00 AM Pacific Standard Time/8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time and will remain available during the balloting period. Academy members should have received an email from the office with explicit instructions for accessing this area. If you are an Academy member and have not received such an email, you should contact the chapter of which you are a member ASAP.

• “Ka Hikina O Ka Hau (The Coming Of The Snow),” by Keola Beamer (Dancing Cat Productions).
• “Hawaiiana,” by Tia Carrere (Daniel Ho Creations).
• He’iea,” by Cyril Pahinui (Dancing Cat Productions).
• “Hawaiian Blossom,” by Raiatea Helm (Raiatea Helm Records).
• “Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar,” by various artists (Daniel Ho Creations).

Just a reminder to all members that your preliminary ballots for the Grammy Awards are due this coming Wednesday, November 7. They must be received by the accounting firm by that date, not posted that date. Make sure your vote counts! Mine went in the mail Saturday.

I’ve been chatting with some friends off-line, and we’ve come to the conclusion that it is extremely screwed up. Example: Two years ago Keola Beamer released “Our Beloved Land” with Native American flutist Carlos Nakai. The music was heavily traditional Hawaiian songs and originals with distinctly Hawaiian melodies, with Carlos’ flute playing a supportive role and provide a mood. Not to trivialize Carlos’ contribution, but it was a Hawaiian album. The anonymous Academy committee that vets the entries moved it into the ” Best Contemporary World Music Album” category without consulting Keola or his label. Last year he released “Ka Hikina O Ka Hau”, which features mostly classical compositions, albeit using slack key tunings. It’s in the Hawaiian category when it should be in Classical. Keola himself pointed this out to me. There are a couple of very questionable entries on this year’s ballot as well, as there have been in years past.

As far as the Hawaiian category goes, the Recording Academy has has no credibility in the local music community, and will not until we get people on the selection committee that know what they are doing. The Academy refuses to say who is on the committee, or even confirm to us whether or not anyone from Hawai’i is actually on the committee. There needs to be credibility and accountability and there is not. Let’s not even get into the fact that not a single performer has won a Hawaiian Grammy for his, her or their musical peformance, and odds are this will happen again next spring. This is nonsense. I’d like to use stronger language but prefer to keep this blog in the “PG” rating whenever possible.

Mahalo to Pali Ka‘aihue for pointing two other Hawai‘i releases found in the “Pop” category on the Grammy Preliminary ballot.

• Caz Christmas: Brothers Caz
• LT Smooth: Freedom

Voting members of the Recording Academy should be receiving their nominating ballot for the 50th GRAMMY Awards soon, within one week following the mailing date of Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Please ensure that your ballot reaches the offices of Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles by the deadline of Wednesday, November 07, 2007. Final Nominations will be announced at the Academy’s December 6th Nominations Press Conference.

If you do not receive your ballot within one week of our mailing date, please contact the GRAMMY offices via e-mail at ballot(at)grammy.com or by phone (310) 392-0439.

Update: I just received mine. Here is the list of 48 entries in the Hawaiian Category. There are some other Hawai‘i acts on the ballot in other categories:

Contemporary Folk/Americana: John Cruz (One of These Days), Peter Apo and the Rainbow Band (My Back Pages The Folk Years) are in the category.

Traditional Pop: Matt Catingub Orchestra Of Hawaii & Various Artists (Return To Romance). You got my vote, Matt.

If anyone knows of other Hawai‘i artists in other categories please drop me a note. I’ll go through the others a bit later.

From the PNW Chapter office:

“The Governor Election ballots were inadvertently sent via bulk mail postage which caused some of our Members to receive the ballot 3 days before the due date.

In order to ensure that all of our members have a chance to vote for this important position, we are going to re-do the election. Please note: The replacement ballot must be used if the old ballot is submitted your vote will not be tabulated.

The replacement ballot will be mailed early next week via First Class postage and is due on Monday, June 13.”

Three days before the due date? I checked my mailbox yesterday and still have not received my ballot, four days after the due date!

I got an email from a fellow Hawai‘i member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of NARAS that he received his ballot for Board elections last Saturday. Problem is that the deadline for ballots to be received was last Friday. I still haven’t received my ballot, and I checked my mailbox this morning. Are there any other Hawai’i members of the PNW Chapter, and can you email me (use the contact form in the right hand column) and let me know if you did or did not receive your ballot. I just received an email from the office saying, essentially, “sorry, but weʻre already counting the ballots.”

Just as upsetting is the fact that I wasnʻt notified of upcoming board elections either, and apparently I wasnʻt the only one who wasnʻt notified. Iʻm miffed, and considering transferring my membership to the LA chapter.

I contacted our two Hawai’i board members nearly six months ago regarding NARAS promise to have a Hawaiian language speaker on the Hawaiian category selection committee, and still have not heard back from either of them.

I thought that having more Hawaiʻi members in the PNW Chapter might increase our clout. The LA chapter members I talk to are much happier with their board and chapter office, so I guess Iʻll make the move myself.

The Star-Bulletin’s Gary Chun and Daniel Ho will be the lead segment on WNYC’s music talk show Soundcheck, which starts tomorrow at 9 a.m. Hawai‘i time.

Update: I missed the show, however, it is podcast. Gary mentioned my name and our discussions, but I don’t think he was very clear in his characterization of our discussion, and got cut off before he could complete the thought. Otherwise it was quite well done, and both sides presented their opinions well and respectfully.

Derek Paiva’s feature on the Hawaiian Grammy came out this morning in the Advertiser, as did my first column in Kauakūkalahale. While Derek did his usual outstanding job and gave fair coverage to both sides of the issue, it did not touch on the issue of producers and not artists receiving the Grammy, but I understand the constraints on article length. I would like to make one thing perfectly clear that wasn’t in the feature – I don’t favor elimination of the Grammy at all, but if NARAS refuses to talk with us about clarifying the category’s criteria and selection process I would favor it. No fault on Derek’s part, I looked at my email to him and I forgot to explicity state that position.

In the spirit of moving on, I’ve closed the poll that asked for reader responses to the Hawaiian Grammy issue, and won’t do any more on the topic.

The third Hawaiian Grammy was awarded last weekend, and once again the flames are raging. I’ve become privy to a number of email exchanges among members of the industry, the press, fans and even some of the winners of the award. It is pretty clear that maintaining the status quo is going continue to cause division and hard feeling among members of the industry and fans alike.

I wrote an two part article for Kauakūkalahale, the Hawaiian language column that appears in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin every Sunday. The first part will appear tomorrow. In it I discuss the history of the award’s establishment, and how that contributed to the current issues. Next weekend’s installment will discuss what has happened since the inaugural Hawaiian Grammy was awarded, and what can be done to quell the controversy. I was also interviewed (along with many others) by Derek Paiva of the Honolulu Advertiser, and these comments will appear in an Advertiser feature soon. I also composed my final public thoughts on the Hawaiian Grammy issue. From this point on I will avoid making further public comment, but will restrict my comments to those in the industry in the hopes that NARAS will reopen discussion with us on the criteria for the award.

Check this breaking news feature from the Advertiser from the Honolulu Advertiser if you want to see who won the 2007 Hawaiian Grammy.

I have a prediction: within two years we are going to see a) a redefinition of the criteria for eligibility for the Hawaiian Grammy or b) elimination of the category altogether. Personally, I believe option B is more likely.

Congratulations to part-time Maui resident George Benson for his win in the Pop Instrumental category and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance along with Al Jarreau.

Henry talks about his release “The Wild Hawaiian” its reception in the Hawaiian community, and the upcoming Grammy Awards in this feature from today’s New York Times.

This article from the L.A. Times sums up the a lot of the frustration felt throughout the Hawai‘i recording industry regarding the Hawaiian Grammy Award. I’m biting my tongue for now.

Grammy Award nominees Ledward Ka’apana, Daniel Ho, Geroge Kahumoku, Amy Hanaiali‘i Gilliom and others will perform at the Live from the Lawn concert at the Hawai’i State Art Museum from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m today. Learn more about First Friday at www.firstfridayhawaii.com.

On Monday, December 11, 2006, the Pacific Northwest Chapter of The Recording Academy will present the 2006 Annual Membership Meeting and Holiday Celebration. The holiday event will be held at the Paramount Theater Lobby in Seattle. The event will include a silent auction, which will raise funds for MusiCares.

Category 70 – Best Hawaiian Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

• Generation Hawai’i
  Amy Hanaiali’i
  [Hanaiali'i Records]
• Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar
  Ledward Ka’apana
  [Rhythm And Roots Records]

• The Wild Hawaiian
  Henry Kapono
  [Eclectic Records]

• Hawaiian Slack Key Kings
  Various Artists
  Chris Lau & Milton Lau, producers
  [Rhythm And Roots Records]

• Legends Of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar — Live From Maui
  Various Artists
  Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku, Jr., Paul Konwiser & Wayne Wong, producers
  [Daniel Ho Creations]

Poll open in right hand column: Please vote for the CD you think should win the 2007 Grammy for Best Hawaiian Album, not necessarily the one you think will win. Remember, this is just for entertainment purposes. Only voting members of the Recording Academy get to vote for the winner. I was going to add a “a release not on the final ballot should have won,” but am trying to keep things in perspective.

The Advertiser’s Derek Paiva beats me to the punch: nominations for the 2007 Grammy Awards will be announced tomorrow morning in Los Angeles. I’ll have to get up early to post the list of nominations before he does. Of course, he’s at the mercy of the webmaster at the Advertiser and I’m not

I don’t disagree with his assessment regarding continued domination by “Slack Key”-titled releases, but I still hold out hope that the nominations will better represent the breadth of Hawaiian music than last year’s finalists did. And of course I’m rooting for a particular release I worked on.