One of my favorite Brazilian restaurants, Tudo de Bom, has closed. They served delicious varieties of meat for four years at the McCully shopping center. Due to the slow economy, they have decided to close their doors. This is too bad, since I really enjoyed their meat buffet, and the variety can’t be beat. Where else can you get unlimited amounts of Brazilian meat for such a reasonable price? My thoughts exactly.

Hopefully the owners will open up elsewhere, maybe a location where the rent is cheaper or perhaps a smaller restaurant. There has been a slew of restaurants that I’ve enjoyed that closed forever. Chef’s Table in Hawaii Kai closed its doors after 10 years and On Jin at Ward never came back. Despite these closures, many are still thriving, and others have opened. Take Tanaka of Tokyo’s new opening at the Ala Moana Center, whose location took over Jackie’s Kitchen, whose rent is probably extremely high. Chef Mavro (one of my favorite restaurants), whose set menus can go up to $150 with wine per person, is still making money and is constantly booked. I guess it all depends.

Still, it’s sad to see good restaurants go.

On May 26th, my girlfriend and I went to Las Vegas to watch and support Hawaii’s own BJ Penn, defend his UFC Lightweight Championship belt against Sean Sherk. It was a memorable event, and to watch how many people flew over to support the champ amazed me.

Now you can see BJ Penn next Saturday, on June 26, at Barnes and Nobles in Ala Moana. He will do a signing at 10am. He will probably sign his book “Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge”, where he showcases his techniques that he uses in his UFC fights. I own this book, and I have to say it is the best MMA book I have ever read. It is very comprehensive with lots of pictures at different angles, and with very detailed explanations. I know I will bring my book for him to sign on Saturday.

Make sure you make it out to show your support if you are a fan of MMA, and bring a camera! I know I will! See you there!

All of you MMA (mixed martial arts) fans out there, get ready, as next weekend there will be a MMA Expo at the Blaisdell! What is it? It’s an expo that will include local fighters like BJ Penn and Niko Vitale, MMA schools, MMA stores, etc. There will be over 200 MMA and fitness exhibitors combined. This is definitely one of the largest expo’s I’ve heard of here in Hawaii, and dedicated to MMA.

This is also a good chance to check out the seminars, demonstrations, and competitions if you are thinking of being an active MMA athlete. They will also have a jiu-jitsu tournament with and without gi’s. Big names will show up including BJ Penn and his students, UFC’s Kendall Grove, Jeff Monson, Ross Tha Boss, and Egan Inoue. Several clothing lines are also attending such as Throwdown, Fokai, Da Hui, and Quiksilver, just to name a few.

The expo will be held at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall on June 27, 28, and 29. Admission will cost $7 for adults, $5 for military, $3 for kids 7-12 years old, and kids under 6 is free. You can also go to the entire 3 day event for $18, in case you want to visit each day for their individual events.

Stop by and support the first ever MMA Expo in Hawaii!

The City and County of Honolulu is looking to ship out its trash to Washington.

Why not? We already ship our prisoners to Texas and Oklahoma. Why not send what’s ours away for other communities to deal with?

And of course it makes sense! It costs twice as much to ship it away then it does to take care of it here. Money well spent if it’s out of the way…

Seriously, I’m at a loss here. The ideas that come in to solve the challenges we face do not seem like they are adequately debated and/or thought through.

Look the rail situation. It gets more clouded each day. You got a 4 billion dollar legacy project that none of the current elected officials are going to have to with deal the endgame repercussions as it’s not going to be fully operational for another ten years. I predict that an Oahu Councilmember will run for a state elected office and get it and then hypocritically come down on the City when the **it hits the fan. Every week, almost daily, something new comes up with the rail. You got landowners that will now be forced out and “given fair market value” which I’d guess is no where near what they’d make if their business stays put and/or they were sell to a private investor.

I suppose that is the nature of politics. Again I ponder and ask, how does the community really get to weigh in? How does the Average Joe and Jill Da Kine’s voice concerns and remain in the know on it all? I never wanted to be a community watch-dog as Malia Zimmerman likes to call herself . But maybe that’s what it takes. More of us voicing our concerns in all media ways possible. I’m willing to bet myself and others in the community could connect better with the everyman and everywoman than some of the douche bags that be.

But then again, maybe I’m just an angry pedestrian.

Shoots.

JMAW

Well, I guess if I can’t make it to the summer concert of the year (the American Idols Live 2008 tour — David Cook rocks!), I will have to settle for Bayfest. The lineup is surprisingly good this time, though, and I might actually make it to Kaneohe this Fourth of July weekend to check out Live and Everclear on Sunday.

This summer will mark the 19th annual Bayfest concert, and while there is always a country star playing (this year it’s Rodney Atkins), there’s always a rock band in the mix.

Little Big Town and Rodney Atkins will play on Friday ($24)

Three Doors Down will play on Saturday ($29)

Everclear and Live will play on Sunday ($29)

Two day passes are just $48, and the three day pass is $58. Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster. Visit the Bayfest web site for more details.

Hallelujah!  The ugly black pipe that creeps along the Ala Wai Canal in Waikiki will be gone by the week’s end — hopefully.  Back in March 2006, the sewer line burst, causing nearly 100 million dollars to repair.  The big bonus here is that parking will be restored in a much needed area of town.

Now I’m wondering when, if ever, that old, ugly pipe that runs above ground on the median of the Kalanianaole Highway will disappear.  I have a feeling that project will be held off for quite some time, as there are no real problems with the Kalanianaole pipeline right now…

A recent article in Fortune Magazine Online sparked my interest in a new trend on The Big Island, sustainable farmed fish. Especially after going to the Kokua Festival this last week and soaking up the energy of the “green scene,” I thought it would be a good idea to do a little more research and pass this article onto our readers.

It turns out, whether we like to admit it or not, the waters in Hawaii and around the world are being over fished. Yup, that big blue ocean is being messed with, and it’s not just the global warming that’s giving it problems. Too many people trying to catch too many fish and not doing so in a sustainable way.

That’s where a company off the Kona coast of The Big Island comes in. Kona Blue Water Farms grows a special breed of yellowtail tuna dubbed Kona Kampachi. The nets are a half mile off shore in some 200 feet deep water. This is a big difference from farmed fish which usually reside in man made reservoirs causing the fish to be lower in nutrients, lack flavor, and be susceptible to diseases in such close corners.

Kona Kampachi on the other hand is claimed to be very flavorful and richer in omega-3 than any other fish in ocean. It’s not genetically engineered. It’s not treated with antibiotics of any sort, or any other growth hormones. It’s also claimed to be of sashimi-grade (which I wasn’t aware there was such a grade of fish.)

The fish are bred on the island in special breeding stations, the eggs are grown up to inch long fishes, and then those fish are taken to the nets until they’re about 4 to 6 pounds. One of only down sides to the growing of fish like this is that the feces could create potential problems for local aquatic life. However, I see this as a much more solvable problem than hormone injected fish, or depleting our oceans.

If you’re interested in the fish you can order right from their website for $17 per pound plus shipping and handling, or you can head to your local Whole Foods which carries the fish for $20 per pound. Kings Supermarkets, Kroger and Costco are all carrying the fish in selcet locations as well.

I think it’s an interesting idea and with the population growing and more and more people looking towards our oceans for food, we’ll need to have ideas like this help keep our oceans from being depleted.

You can read the Fortune article here.

Check out this blog from the Honolulu Advertiser site.  Capitol Journalist Derrick DePledge reported on some bad blood brewing in the House of Representatives amongst the staff of all people.  It’s amazing to see the response and feelings of the people there, not to mention the names being thrown around.  I won’t go into details, as you can read it for yourself.  This is my comment on it all.

In my opinion, it’s obvious that politics has itty bitty nasty bits but the way that people are talking on these blogs, it’s obvious to me why Kimo Public feels like we stay taking it in the behind from the government.  

This is my second session at the Capitol.  I’ve seen so much in such a short time and still believe there is room for change but it’s the fact that people are getting so worked up over BS that’s frustrating.  I can see both sides of the coin.  I always try to take the middle path, it just makes no sense that there’d be such a fuss over a party.

Why would someone have to be forced to do anything?  Perhaps it’s the lingering effects of Hawaii’s illegal occupation or the martial state that was here in WWII.  Perhaps, it’s the effects of having one political party that’s too big for it’s own good.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

I wanted to run for office this year.  I live in House District 24, University and Manoa area.  I was still at UH, when the current Representative, Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell was elected.  I never saw him once.  He had 3,000 potential voters there and not once did he come to us.  I heard this from the Horse’s mouth so to say, but that is beside the point.  I wanted to run because I love this area, I love the students.  

I thought, I could be young, and inject some new blood, energy into the process if you will.  As much as I believe that, the current culture there, man, ugly.  And there are some amazing people working there, on both sides of the aisle, from Representative to Senator, to Permanent and Session staff, really amazing people, but the true challenge is the culture.

How do we change the culture?  How do wash away the sand so it doesn’t get in the places it has no business in, like a party for example…

Shoots.

JMAW of Hawaii

If you’re a regular traveling back and forth over the Pali you might have noticed an increase in a certain group of civil servants. I’m not talking about the group that’s put up the netting to prevent mudslides on the eastbound side of the Pali, or those that are doing the weed whacking and lawn maintanence.

No, I’m talking about all the police vehicles that are lining the roads these days on the town side of the Pali Highway. Mostly I’m noticing all the police motorcycles and the cops that are standing next to their bikes firing their radar guns your way as you speed around a corner.

Next thing you know, a half mile up the road is either another motorcycle cop or another cop car waiting for the radio from their other half about who was speeding (or at least I think that’s the way it goes.)

I’m not sure if there have been a lot of accidents on the Pali Highway lately that I haven’t heard of or what the deal is but the cops seem to be cracking down. Maybe it’s that the speed limit changes from 45 to 35 to 25 in spots on the highway and these cops are just taking advantage of all the sudden speed changes.

Whatever it is, slow down when you’re driving on the Pali.

Living close to Iolani, I was realy surprised to hear of a shooting that happened pretty close to where I live. A few days ago, a 20-something year old male was shot half a dozen times at his head and body, stabbed a few times, and dropped out of a car near Washington Intermediate school in McCully. Neighbors did not hear the shots, so they presumed the shooting took place elsewhere and then somebody dumped his body off in the residential area.

How scary is that? The vicitm remains in critical condition, and to be honest, I don’t know how he survived. I actually drive on that road going to work, and it looks like a nice peaceful area. To find somebody left out to die over there makes me think twice about the area I live in. I also run to the gym and run back around 8 or maybe 8:30pm. Now, I think I’d much rather drive instead just to be safe.

This is just getting too crazy folks. I don’t know what prompts people to do such insane things. It just boggles my mind.