Since 1994 – Hawaii’s First Online News Source
Art
‘Taste of the Arts’ Turns Alternative on Oct. 9
Sep 21st
On Friday, October 9, 2009 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., The Arts District Merchants Association and Honolulu Culture and Arts District present the third annual “Taste of the Arts†Street Festival featuring the food, music and drink of The Arts District, produced by Tim Bostock Productions. This year offers a different slant with a new title: Alternative Taste Street Festival; and a fresh twist for the program.
This Street Festival is a celebration of the alternative styles always present in the Arts District downtown. The Festival is presented in association with the Honolulu GLBT community, and with artists of all persuasions. The GLBT culture has never before been celebrated with a downtown street festival. This event is not exclusively gay but does provide programming for those audiences, especially along Hotel Street, one of the homes of the drag and transgender community for many years.
Alternative Taste will celebrate MANY alternatives, and will provide an exciting and eclectic program for all ages. Over five thousand people are expected to enjoy the Festival through the evening. Nuuanu Avenue will be closed from Chaplain Lane above Marks Garage to King Street, and Hotel Street will be closed from Bethel to Smith. Pauahi Street will be closed from the Marks Garage exit to the Smith -Beretania lot exit. The three music stages and one separate DJ stage will provide continuous entertainment from 6pm to 10pm.
The Main Stage at Pauahi and Nuuanu features hiphop-klezmer-funk mix from Haberdashery, hard local punk from 86List, driving celtic rock from Doolin Rakes and headliners Rolando Sanchez Salsa Band. Next to the main stage will be the ING Direct Café and Otto’s cakes (downtown denizen and cheesecake baker Otto is the mainstay bassist of 86List – also celebrating its CD launch that evening).
The stage at Hotel Street and Smith Street will feature a full Chinatown Follies drag show featuring groups such as Lip Gloss, Paper Dolls and Gender Bender as well as Brandy Lee, Linda Brown, and emcee Raquel (detailed participants to be announced). The Miller Lite DJ Car at the stage will host DJs from Hula’s Bar and Lei Stand. Nearby will be a dedicated wig stand from Roy Venters and LGW Institute of Hair and Design – The Iggy-Box.
At Nuuanu and King Street the Solo Stage will feature Millicent Cummings, Hope Mayo, and others, alongside poets from Youth Speaks Hawaii, improv artists, specialist fire dancers from Hawaii Fire Artists and a large bamboo rig featuring astonishing solo aerial performances from members of Samadhi Hawaii.
Latin DJs including The Lion of Judah will be spinning at Hotel and Nuuanu on the Red Bull DJ stage; mask and stilt walkers from Monkey Waterfall will be moving through the crowd; psychic readers will be setting up folding tables on the sidewalks. The Alternative Market will include information booths on many alternative lifestyle issues, offering activities and sharing materials on cultural and community services. Blue Planet Foundation, Lesbian and Gay Business of Hawaii, Pride Alliance Hawaii, Black Cat Tattoo, Dr. Ray Yoza and Land of Organica Sorbets will be part of the Alternative Market. Temporary tattoos and massages will be provided alongside other alternative healing and alternative energy tents.
Food booths from local restaurants Indigo, Brasserie Du Vin, Murphy’s Bar and Grill, Balé, Café Joy, Tea @ 1024 and Soul de Cuba will be joined by newcomers India Café with vegetarian curries and Hale Kealoha with healthy Hawaiian food, or ai pono. All menu items will be paired with a premium beer, with selections on offer including Blue Moon, Killians, Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, Miller Chill and Peroni. Draught Miller Lite will be available for $3. Bacardi Mojitos, 1800 Silver T Margaritas, Bombay Sapphire Tom Collins, 42 Below Vodka Bull and other mixed drinks also available from $5.
Alternative Taste Street Festival celebrates the unique character of the Arts District. The street closures will create a large outdoor venue with historic and cultural atmosphere perfect for a community celebration for the whole of Downtown Honolulu. Most of the favorite First Friday galleries will be open. All downtown parking will be open including Marks Garage lot. So stroll through exhibits of fine art, enjoy unique performance and music, taste incredible food and partake in an atmosphere that is part of Honolulu’s trendiest neighborhood.
Alternative Taste 2009 is presented by local nonprofits, the Honolulu Culture & Arts District Association, together with the Arts District Merchants Association, and is sponsored by Miller Lite and Blue Moon Beers, ING Direct Bank, Bacardi, 42 Below, Jack Daniels, 1800 Silver T, Bombay Sapphire, Honolulu Weekly, and Star 101.9 Radio. The City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii Tourism Authority support HCAD. Alternative Taste is produced by Tim Bostock Productions. For more information about the event as it approaches, including program detail, a site map, menus and beer pairing details, please go to www.alternativetaste.com.
ALTERNATIVE TASTE 2009
Live Entertainment
Main Stage—at Nu’uanu Avenue and Pauahi Street
- Haberdashery 6:00 pm
- 86List 7:00 pm
- Doolin Rakes 7:30 pm
- Rolando Sanchez Salsa Band 9:00 pm
Solo Stage—at Nu’uanu and King Street
- Millicent Cummings 7:00 pm
- Samadhi Aerial 7:30 pm
- YSH Poets 7:40 pm
- Millicent Cummings 8:00 pm
- Samadhi Aerial 8:15 pm
- Hawaii Fire Artists 8:25pm
- Samadhi Aerial 9:00 pm
- Hope Mayo 9:10pm
- Samadhi Aerial (Andrea Torres ~ Ring Solo) 9:45 pm
Follies Stage – at Hotel and Smith Streets
- Hula’s DJs 6:00 pm
- Red Carpet Promenade
- Chinatown Follies 6:30pm
- Hula’s DJs 7:30pm
- Red Carpet Promenade
- Chinatown Follies 8:30pm
Parking at:
- Chinatown Gateway Plaza (Bethel Street, turn left from King Street)
- Mark’s Garage (Nu’uanu Avenue, turn left from Beretania)
- Smith and Beretania Lot (Beretania Avenue, turn left after Nuuanu)
Honolulu Celebrates Mardi Gras
Feb 23rd
On “Fat Tuesday,” February 24, Nuuanu Avenue transforms into a whirl of percussion, samba and smiles. Parades with floats, samba dancers and Brazilian percussion groups will march thru the crowds on this historic street at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. as the Honolulu Culture & Arts District presents “Mardi Gras – Carnaval 2009.†The event, now in its ninth year, showcases authentic Carnaval culture with food, music and dance from New Orleans, Brazil, Cuba and beyond (don’t miss Du Vin’s King Cake, or Murphy’s Alligator Chili).
Three stages will be set up along Nuuanu Ave.: Pauahi St. outside ARTS at Marks, at Hotel St. outside Louis Pohl Gallery, and near King St. outside Tea@1024. Headline entertainers include rising star Dj Sabo from New York (Brazilian Beats) and hardline N’Awlins funk from Delta Skelta with DeShannon Higa and David Choy making a righteous horn section.
There will be a craft fair along Hotel Street, with tattoos, jewelry, gourmet bread and beads galore. Nearly all the art galleries stay open too, and you don’t want to miss free malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery (courtesy Target).
The event is free, and runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and beyond. There will be several after parties to choose from at Indigo, Epic, Next Door, and the drinks will flow all night at O’Tooles, Murphys and JJ Dolans. There’s even a pre-party option: Du Vin hosts the Alliance Francaise dinner and wine tasting early that evening. Sign up at www.afhawaii.org.
And don’t forget to dress up! Costume contestants join the float parade at 9 p.m., then strut the King Street stage for great prizes. Wear a mask, too, and who knows what you might find yourself doing. After all, you’re heading for 40 days of temperance. Don’t you deserve a fling?
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/nuuanuavenue
‘Souvenir’ Opens at Diamond Head Theatre
Jan 6th
Diamond Head Theatre proudly presents the Hawaii premiere of Souvenir, opening on Friday, January 30, 2009. A fantasia on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins by Stephen Temperley, Souvenir is a unique and special story of two people finding friendship.
Although the characters and situations are fictional, Souvenir is inspired by the real-life collaboration between pianist Cosme McMoon and soprano Florence Foster Jenkins. Jenkins was a wealthy dowager who perceived herself to be a great soprano when in fact she couldn’t carry a tune. Still, she had so much confidence and love of what she was doing, crowds found her kind of irresistible. Souvenir finds her pianist McMoon some two decades after Jenkins’ death, performing in a Greenwich Village piano bar and reminiscing.
Souvenir, directed by John Rampage, features Stephanie Smart as Florence Foster Jenkins and Laurence Paxton as Cosme McMoon. The show will run from January 30-February 15, 2009 with shows at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 4 p.m. on Sundays. Saturday matinees at 3 p.m. are on February 7 and February 14. Single tickets are priced from $12 to $42, with discounts available for children under 18, full-time students, seniors 62 and older, and active-duty military. Call 733-0274 to charge-by-phone or purchase tickets online.
Renown photographer to lead UH workshops
Jun 20th
Chris Orwig — professional photographer, interactive designer, author, conference speaker, and faculty member at the world renowned Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara — will be leading serveral workshops at the Pacific New Media at the University of Hawaii–Manoa. Topics include “Getting up to Speed in Photoshop CS3,” and “Creating a Compelling Digital Portfolio.”
Arts programs get $140,000 from NEA
May 6th
Three arts organizations in Hawaii’s second congressional district will receive a combined $140,000 in federal grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Rep. Ed Case announced today. “These matching grants will promote vital arts education throughout our community, especially among our keiki, and also perpetuate Hawaiian music and hula as well,” Case said in a statement.
Olympic trials thwart theatre
Apr 14th
While the island athletic community is buzzing with excitement over historic Olympic triathalon trials scheduled for Sunday, the news was less than uplifting for the thespians at Diamond Head Theatre. The triathalon course runs right past the theatre and its parking lot, meaning it won’t be easy for ticketholders to get to its last, sold-out performance of “Swing!” Theater staff scrambled to get the word out, contracting a valet parking service and directing drivers to use the theatre’s back entrance on Alohea Avenue. Looking on the bright side, Managing Director Deena Dray said today, “Think how entertaining intermission will be, watching these Olympic-caliber athletes whiz by!”
Play helps kids explore environmental issues
Mar 18th
Saturday will bring the final performances of “The Last Paving Stone” by the Hawai`i Theatre for Youth. With music composed and performed live by renowned musician Henry Kapono, “The Last Paving Stone” is the story of Ito, a young girl with enormous ears who can hear the sound of the Ground, and her quest to save the earth.
Digital art exhibition planned
Jan 28th
A small coalition of local artists who are more likely to work in pixels than paint is planning one of the state’s first juried exhibitions of digital art. “Digitally Charged Entities,” organized by the Digital Art Society of Hawaii (DASH), is seeking submissions that will “challenge viewers to question the current status quo” of digital creations and provoke dialogue about the differences and similarities between new and traditional media.
Academy to host Islamic art symposium
Jan 6th
“Islamic Art in Paradise,” an event aimed at exploring current issues in the study and collecting of Islamic art, begins on Thursday at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The symposium is hosted by the Academy as well as the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA), which gave a substantial grant to the Academy to support art programs and educational activities that focus on Islamic and Hawaiian art and culture.
