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©2000 by Ely Music/Pub |
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Coconut Wire(reprinted from the Summer '97 Newsletter)
Life around the HSGA office has become an "E-mail Thing", now that we're on the Internet. Why did I ever think phone calls were faster? Your editor checks for e-mail messages around 6:30 a.m. every morning, Hawai`i time. Usually there are one or two from a far-distant HSGA member, for whom it's probably noon or late at night already -- sometimes the next day, if it's coming from Japan or New Zealand. Hourly time is no longer a factor; I write on my time, they answer on their time. For example, I have no idea what time it is for Jannie Van Zyl in South Africa, and it doesn't matter. Point of interest, HSGA must be doing something right, or maybe it's just "Hawai`i". Jannie said that in order to fly to convention in Hawai`i the most economical way, they had to fly to Hong Kong, then to Los Angeles, and then back to Honolulu! Took them 32 hours. That's commitment! Anybody out there know the whereabouts of a William Kaua`i, Jr.? Diablo William would like to know. He says WK Jr was an excellent `ukulele player, hula dancer and singer, and his folks lived on Maui. Please write us, if you know anything about WK Jr.. In March, John Marsden got home from the hospital and hoped he'd be able to write individual "thank you"s for all the nice cards HSGA members sent, but for now asks that you accept this "thank you" for your wonderful support. "It meant a lot to me". His operation was a success, but he says there's still a lot of life style adjusting to do after bladder removal and creation of a urinary by-pass. While you may have trouble finding Greg Sardinha at a Waikiki hotel gig, Japanese visitors know where he is: his group "Po`okela" plays for all their private parties! And Greg's off to Japan for gigs, too, when he's not busy engineering and playing steel on recordings for everybody else, in his neat home studio. Which is why, when a gentleman from Australia stopped by to listen to HSGA's gig at Ala Moana Center Stage in May, we had to search for an available group with steel to play at the new Challenge Airlines PR party. All our steel players with groups were already booked! Nice, yes? Meanwhile, in Europe, Frank Baum and his group seem always to be "on tour". He couldn't make it to Hawai`i in May. Gigs all over Germany, an Exhibition in Dortmund and some "Gala" concerts all of May. As we write, he's busy with the "Mauna Loa Hawaiians" making another Hawaiian music CD! See you in September, Frank and Ruth. We leave you with the best, true funny story to come out of the Honolulu convention. As you may know, if you've flown to Hawai`i, you cannot bring in fresh produce, flowers or plants of any kind; islands like ours have a fragile ecostructure that could be easily devastated by "visiting" bugs, diseases, etc. that are sometimes undetectable to the naked eye. On arrival, in luggage claim at Honolulu Int'l. Airport, Bo Bahret looked down to find a Beagle planted at his feet, sniffing his luggage. The dog wore a coat on which was clearly printed "Department of Agriculture." An inspector came over; Bo opened his suitcase; there were several apples he and Betty had brought in case they got hungry in flight. After giving up the apples to the Inspector, the Beagle still wouldn't move until his handler gave him a treat! So much for an apple a day. Go for it, Snoopy. 
HSGA * HAWAIIAN
STEEL GUITAR ASSOCIATION Homepage URL: www.hsga.org (hsga@lava.net) Last updated: 07/23/02 by Gerald Ross (gbross@umich.edu) |
