41 Days and 41 Nights

It was reported earlier today on our local news station that today is the 41st consecutive day that it has rained in Hawaii.

And wouldn't you know, its pouring right now. I'm over it!

Coming Soon: Jazz Ensemble & Farewell Matthew

311

Last Saturday Tyler, Nate, Matt, TeAnna, and I went to the 311 concert at the Waikiki Shell. For those who don't know the Waikiki Shell, its an outdoor amphitheater similar to the Hollywood Bowl.

Getting down there was challenging enough. Tyler and I were to meet the rest of the group down at Matt's house and drive from there to the Shell. Needless to say, things didn't go according to plan. After driving about 15 minutes down Kam Highway, the truck we were borrowing from Tyler's cousin broke down. Luckily, Tyler had another friend that was heading the same direction, who was only another 15 minutes down the road. Thankfully, he turned around and saved us from missing probably most of the concert, and were again on our way. The rest of the group had to take the bus down to the concert, but they were only about 20 minutes behind us, so they did well in getting there in a timely manner.

The concert started with Pepper, a local rock-reggae fusion band from Kona, who are now somewhat popular. I really like their music, but wasn't too impressed with their performance because they concentrating more on "rocking out" than playing their music clean. That's okay though, I didn't come for them.

311, on the other hand, was outstanding. I've been a longtime fan of this group, and so naturally I like their older music more than their new stuff. I think they understand this concept because a large majority of the music they played were that of their older material. It did manange to down pour on the concert right in the middle of their set, but no one was going anywhere. Everyone got soaked and a little muddy, but didn't lower the morale of the event. We eventually migrated up to the front and center row, where we enjoyed a majority of 311's set.

I was pleased with 311's level of performance and showmanship. They were a great group, with really good stage presence. They sounded awesome, played all the songs I wanted to hear, and took solos to really dig into the music. During a drum solo, the stage crew brought out four sets of auxiliary drums (toms, snares, etc), and all the members of the group did a drumline segment with the drummer of the group. You have to give them credit for creativity with that one! After seeing that, I was convinced they were a bunch of band geek friends in high school that formed a band. Just don't quote me on that.

Getting Soaked:

311:

Matt and Me:

Crowd shot:

We had a great time to say the least.

Coming Soon: Jazz Ensemble Concert

Laie Storm Watch 2006

This winter has been nothing less than crazy when it has come to the amounts of rain we've had here in Hawaii, and more specifically in Laie.

I have this theory about Hawaii, and so far its been conclusively true. Winters in Hawaii alternate between heavy rain seasons and heavy surf seasons, and this year just further proved my theory. It alternates back and forth like so;

Rainy Winter (winter '02-'03) -> Rest Winter (Winter '03-'04) -> Surf Winter (Winter '04-'05) -> Rainy Winter (Winter '05-'06)-> Rest Winter -> Surf Winter -> etc...

This rain season is by far the gnarliest one I have ever seen, and the community agrees. They claim this has been the rainiest season they have had in a decade. The last part of February of all of March has been covered by clouds. We've experienced weeks at a time without seeing the sun, which drives a little me crazy at times. The surf is garbage during that time on the east shore because its too stormy, so that eliminates a lot of normal surf time. And getting rained on almost every morning going to school or work sucks even more!

On March 2nd we had 2" of rain a hour (after it raining for three days straight), so they closed the school because of the flooding that was threatening the homes of local residents, which I think is somewhat the fault of the great minds that decided to build the town of Laie in a swamp below sea level (what is it with Mormons and swamps?). This meant a "rain day" for the town of Laie (as opposed to a snow day for the rest of the world), where students and community members alike got to go out to the field in front of BYU to play football in knee deep rain runoff.

My friends and I took it another step further and brought over an ocean kayak that we paddled all over the field and some of the rain gutters as well. After a short time, the kayak was overthrown by local kids who wanted a turn, which was fine. We played football out on the field for probably 2 hours, which is quite a work out when you have to lift your leg up high to get it out of the water to run. Tackling was encouraged and praticed during these games, thanks to all the water.

We had a great time to say the least.

Clair & Clairissa ready to go:

BYU Lake:

Clairissa, Me, and Clair:

Downstream:

Flood Prevention on Campus:

Things are finally starting to mellow up now. We've had a few nice days and it seems like the weather is only getting better. Finally!

Coming Soon: 311

Winter Ball Gig

After four years of attending BYUH, I had never been to a school formal ball until now.

About a week ago when we were coming home from our Maui tour, Kaimi and I were both asked to play with a jazz combo during dinner at the winter ball. The agreement was they would give us couple tickets for the ball (which included dinner and a dance). We both agreed to do it, and after only two practices this last week we had enough songs down to play for the hour dinner.

The people who were coordinating us to play were suppose to have a sound system ready for us that night. Turns out, they had contacted the school sound department only the day before to find out that they wouldn't work off campus. Luckily, Kaimi works in the Sound department and was able to talk his boss into lettting us take a PA system to the ball. Basically he saved the day.

So it then turned into our job to transport, set up, and break down all the sound equipment. This forced us to get there earlier, and to not be able to drive over with my date.

We ended up playing for almost two hours. We went through all the music that we had rehearsed and then took requests from the guests, and it went really well.

The Group:

Kaimi and Me:

Aaron on drums:

Jake on bass and Ryan on piano:

Clair and Me:

After the dinner portion of the ball was over, it was then time for the dance. They started things out with a 70's funk band playing covers from bands like Earth Wind and Fire. I thought it was pretty awesome, but I don't think was very well accepted by everyone else. They eventually changed things up and had a hip hop dj play the usual, which kind of made me loose interest. By that time, both Clair and I were really tired, so we called it a night, packed up the equipment, and went home.

The Ball was at the Ko'olau Golf Course Clubhouse, by the way.

Coming Soon: Laie Storm Watch 2006

Snow Day By Way Of Screenshot

While its a balmy 80 degrees here in Hawaii (and finally not raining), the rest of the world has a different weather agenda. My mom sent me a video from Beth and Jake, way up on the other pole of the globe (practically), of my niece Maci eating and playing in the snow. She reminds me of Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story" with all those layers she has on!




She just needs a snowboard and she'll be all set.

As adorable as Maci is, the real reason why I created this post is because I was attempting to capture a still image of the video via a screenshot, but didn't couldn't get it to work at first. After a little research, I was able to figure it out.

Capturing Screenshots with Windows Media Player:

Open the player
Select Tools --> Options from the pulldown menu
Select the Performance tab
Slide Video Acceleration control bar over to the "None" selection
Select Yes to the Changes prompt
Replay your movie and press the PrintScreen, PRTSCN, or Alt+PrintScreen (depending upon your keyboard)
Paste the screenshot (Control+v) into an image editting program (Photoshop, Paint, etc.)

Capturing Screenshots with RealPlayer:

Open Player
Select View --> Preferences from the pulldown menu
Select the Performance tab
Unchecking the box labeled "Use optimized video display" and select OK
Restart player
Capture image with screenshot
Paste the image in an image editting program

Hope you guys find some good use from this!


Coming Soon: Laie Storm Watch 2006 and Winter Ball Gig

Maui Tour 2006

Last weekend, I had the privilege to embark on a journey with the BYU-Hawaii Jazz and Brass Ensembles on a university performance tour. This was my third time participating in such a tour (and second time to Maui), and after everything had been said and done, I can once again conclude that I LOVE MAUI! The landscape is amazing. The people are so happy and friendly. It's truly and amazing and special place, where people actually do practice the spirit of aloha.

We played all over the island from all the way over in Hana on the east shore, to Lahaina on the west. I could talk about this trip for hours, but I will let the pictures do that for now...

Tour press release photo:

On the road to Hana:

Sight seeing around Hana:

BYUH Jazz Ensemble playing at The Ocean Fest in Lahaina:

Banyon Tree Park:

Channel One Suite solo:

About to go out to with a rental to Lahaina harbor:

Sunset in Lahaina with Lana'i in the distance:

After the fireside, eating a cream puff:

Krispy Kreme Doughnut run right before heading home:

Coming Soon: Laie Storm Watch 2006

Getting Started

So, after much anticipation, I finally started a blog entitled "Paradise Found", which only seemed appropriate. My hope is to add new entries at least once a week, and if that doesn't happen I give everyone consent to get on my case.

Right now I'm just working on the blog formatting to my liking...I love CSS!

Coming Soon: Maui Tour & Laie Storm Watch 2006