Hawai`i 2004

One great thing about hanging out in Hawai`i, it's easy to talk people into coming for a visit. We had two empty day beds so I mentioned the possibility to Kathy Wingert, master luthier. She started shopping airline tickets and in no time she was joining us for a few days.

Kathy arrived just in time to add her playing and singing to a kanikapila with Kimo Hussey.

This was one of those peak musical moments, everyone in the house was transported. Kimo is a marvelous player with a very personal style. Here Kathy is singing one of her jazz standards while Kimo plays chord melody accompaniment and the rest of us soak in the music.

Kimo is a baritone ukulele enthusiast, and is on a mission to bring the bari to the fore. One of his ideas is this six string baritone, with octave strings on the lower two courses.

Kimo brushes these lower strings with his thumb creating a full, rich accompaniment to the melody he is playing on the top two strings. Until he explained it I could not begin to understand how he got such a full sound, but he generously showed me his techniques. Now I only need to pracice every minute for a few years ...

Kimo is also a terrific singer and slack key player. He was quite pleased with the tone and playability of the Wingert.

Kimo's slack key is beautifully nahenahe, and it flows naturally from his singing. Listening to him play was one of the great musical experiences of the trip. His guitar style is also related to his technique of brushing the strings of the uke rather than plucking them.

Kimo is one of the authors of "He Mele Aloha" and the book is part of his effort to bring back the Hawaiian tradition of kanikapila.

Here he's taking Kathy and me through "Hilo Hanakahi" and it's a true delight.

Inspired by all the ukulele fun going around, I tried a little experiment ...

A genuine handmade double-neck ukulele/guitar, inspired by Gibson's mandolin/guitar doublenecks from the 60s. This "proof of concept" prototype was pretty good proof that the concept is goofy, but it was possible to play this darned thing. I guess a serious version would have to use a higher strength tape, though.

Since Kathy had never been to the islands, we felt like we had to show her Waikiki.

She's out in the water trying to catch a wave on her boogie board, Adam is grumped because he's 16 and the world is just not treating him right. I'm completely content because I've got my pacifier, that sweet Ko`olau tenor.

Adam may just be entitled to his angst, because he's obviously a talented artist ...

This is the piece he came up with using his mom's collection of shells and glass from our beach adventures.

One of Jim's old Navy buddies has moved to O`ahu and married a local lady. Jay and Mel came over for a couple of enjoyable evenings.

It's hard not to smile when you're enjoying a lovely wine and the view across Lanikai Bay.

As usual, I was glad to provide a little musical entertainment ...

even if it means I don't get to enjoy the ocean view.

After Kathy left we still had a couple of weeks to enjoy O`ahu. One of the things the kids had to try was riding a jet ski.

There was a lot of waiting at the Jet Ski rental shack in Hale`iwa, but a little Kanile`a helped me pass the time.

After all the waiting it turned out that only one jet ski was available, so Jim took Paige out for a spin.

Looks like they got their money's worth.