Posts Tagged ‘Maui’

The road to Hana is long, beautiful and has its challenges. At the end of it you’ll find an oasis with the laid back flair of a small Hawaiian town, full of history and that special something that can only be found in the remote areas of these islands. A flavor of the old Hawaii is still present, preserved by the lack of highways, ABC stores and large hotels. About 700 people call Hana home. Some of them were born and grew up here, like generations of their families did. Others came here to find peace and enlightenment in a tranquil environment that tries to make time stand still.

Hana is located about 52 miles along a mostly narrow and winding road from Kahului. That doesn’t sound very far, is everyone’s first thought. It was mine too and little did I know when I headed onto that road to find out. It can be very, very long if you are not prepared. Some of the essentials are a full tank of gas, refreshing beverages and a snack, lots of patience, love for nature, good music in the car and friendly passengers with even more patience and love for nature.

In the beginning the road has two lanes that narrow more and more until only one lane is left, interrupted by wider sections that don’t last too long. Get ready for a driving time of about 3 to 4 hours and put yourself into a relaxed, contemplative state. However the driver should never relax too much because every now and then a tour bus or a dynamic local driver could approach. In that case it is a matter of non verbal communication and courtesy to decide who pulls over to the side and lets the other pass. The curves are often very narrow and approaching vehicles cannot be seen.

You should get along well with your fellow travelers as you will spend a lot of time in a small space with each other and better have something to talk about. There are rumors that one or the other marriage found its end on that road.

On the good side you will be surrounded by the immense beauty of a tropical rainforest for most of the way, occasionally broken up by breathtaking views of the ocean.  There are more than 50 bridges and about 620 curves and sooner or later you will break into singing “The long and winding road”. It is inevitable and all comes together as an unforgettable experience even though the amazed “ahs” and “ohs” will become less audible after the first hour; soon to be replaced by an “is it still far?”

Around the time when you have fully surrendered to believing that “the journey is the destination” the walls of thick green foliage around you will open up and the wonders of Hana will be welcoming you. Grab a sandwich at the old Hasagewa General Store and stretch out your limbs at Hamoa Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the islands, highly praised by the author James Michener.

Heaven is close in Hana, especially when you check into the historic Hotel Hana Maui. Expect island luxury galore! But even for smaller budgets there is a great range of accommodations from island style bed and breakfasts to vacation rentals of all sizes. The adventurous ones will find their piece of Eden under the canopy of huge trees where they can count the stars from a romantic tree house. Or perhaps a spiritual retreat away from all the hustle and bustle is the getaway of choice. Heavenly Hana has it all and whether you only spend one night or a whole month there, you will return with a few new stories to tell and the memory of a rare and very special place whose magic will stay with you forever. That is, if you ever will return…

Since the winds have been 20+ miles per hour for the past month, it only seemed right to visit one the best places in the world for windsurfing on my recent trip to Maui.  Located on the north shore of Maui off the Hana Highway in the town of  Paia, Hookipa Beach is where to go for excellent windsurfing.  This is also the site for two major world class windsurfing competitions.  Hookipa Beach is ideal for windsurfing because of the large well-shaped waves and strong winds.  Because of the powerful winds and strong currents this beach is not a place for beginners.

There are four distinctive surf breaks on Hookipa Beach.  The two breaks on the left closer to the lifeguard stand are  H’Poko and Lanes.  These breaks are reserved for the windsurfers.  Pavillions and Middles are usually reserved for the surfers off the lookout parking area on the rightside of the beach.

On my day as a Maui tourist, I got to see both windsurfers and surfers going at it.  The waves were chest high for the surfers there were lefts and long rights to be had.  On the otherside of the beach there were about 8 windsurfers taking advantage of the strong wind gusts.  I saw photographers out and many sightseers watching the action.

Windsurfers

Surfers

Whew! So much to do on Maui at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center that it takes three articles to list all of them. For tickets & more info check out their website http://www.mauiarts.org/ or email them boxoffice@mauiarts.org or call 808-242-SHOW (7469).

Dance is on tap, literally, at 7:30PM on Thursday March 19th when The MACC Dance Series presents “India Jazz Suites: Chitresh Das & Jason Samuels Smith,” a unique collaboration between Chitresh Das one of India’s foremost Kathak masters and Jason Samuels Smith tap dancer extraordinaire whose fast flying feet have earned him an Emmy. Together they “converge in the intricacies of each other’s footwork! The result is high entertainment which crosses all boundaries of age, race and culture, a blast of incredible speed and power, grace and beauty, epic storytelling, and the pure joy of dance. Both are traditionalists, yet both are innovators, and together they bring the house down!” Tickets range from $12 to $22 to $37, with special half price admission for youth under age eighteen. (Supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts, State Foundation for Culture and the Arts County of Maui, Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation, Inc., Jhamandas Watumull Fund, and KISS Radio)

On Saturday March 21 2009 at 7:30 PM Grammy Award Winning singer/pianist Diane Krall will enthrall the audience with her alluring voice and “strikingly sensitive piano playing.” Diane Krall has more fourteen CDs to her credit with her newest, ‘Quiet Nights,’ to be released at the end of March. Diane has a gift for rediscovering songs, bringing Jazz classics into the 21st Century with a seductive energy that is utterly captivating. This is one concert you will not want to miss (in my humble opinion). Tickets are Tickets: $55, $65, $85, $125, $150. (Supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts, State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, County of Maui and KAOI Radio Group.)

After a night of Jazz & Pop, a return to dance at the Castle Theater at 7:30 PM On Sunday March 22 2009 when the Tau Dance Theater presents “presents SLAM 2009 5th Annual Hawai‘i-Japan Youth Exchange Concert, “Raiatea Helm headlines an exciting showcase of dance and music with the youth dancers of Tau (y2), HITS Dance Space, Yuko Anami Ballet from Japan, Kapolei Choral, Tau Dance Theater, and the winners and competitors of the 4th Annual Earnest T. Morgan Choreographers’ SLAM.” Tickets are a terrific deal, $20 or $10 for students, military, and senior citizens.

Chase away the Monday Blues with an Incredible Journey on Monday March 23 2009 at 7:30 PM at the MACC Amphitheater when veteran band Journey lands on Maui with their new lead singer, Filipino sensation Arnel Pineda who joins a line-up that includes founder guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, bassist Ross Valory, drummer Deen Castronovo. Arnel Pineda made his debut in February 2008 and with the release of the CD Revelation in June of 2008 Journey has had a resurgence that affirms their standing in the Hierarchy of Rock n’ Roll. Reserved seat tickets on the lawn: $55, $65, $75, $125 (plus applicable fees).

Just when one might think that the crew at the MACC has exhausted the list of big name acts and ran out of Maui this March!

As an earlier article said, there are plenty of reasons to run away to Maui during the month of March — so much stuff that it requires a second article to get through the middle of March to write about the terrific comedy, music, talk, and visual arts at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, One Cameron Way, Kahului, Maui. For All Events (except the free ones!) contact the MACC Box Office via 808-242-Show (7469) or check out their cool web site at http://www.mauiarts.org/.

Laughter is a terrific tonic during troubled times. Comic Augie T brings his wit & wisdom to the McCoy Studio Theater 7:30 PM Friday March 13 2009. Part of the MACC’s on-going Local Voices Series, Augie Tulba has earned a solid reputation as a comedian with his many concerts, CDs, a rep verified by Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards and a Hawai‘i Music award for his comedy recordings. With support in part by National Endowment for the Arts, State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, County of Maui and KAOI Radio Group, Augie T’s show is a steal for $25, or half price for children 12 years of age or younger.

Laughter continues the next night again at 7:30PM at the McCoy Studio Theater, Saturday March 14 2009, for this act this writer will rely on the quote issued by the Maui Arts Website. “Manhattan Mama’s Coconut Cabaret :UNITARD, Take your mind off the tanking economy with an hour of irreverence and caustic comedy! UNITARD, the wildly twisted, brilliantly outspoken, hilariously fecund tested, ready, now comedy trio returns with an all new show. Mike Albo (the Underminer), Nora Burns (Nellie Olesons) and David Ilku (Duelling Bankheads) aka Unitard are bringing their latest loose-lipped comedy show to the McCoy Studio Theater. Come for cocktails in the courtyard, stay for druggy celeb impressions, fashion psychics, YouTube take-offs, evil social commentary and political dish. “Go see this!, a satirical triumph with no time to apologize for it’s hipness” – Boston Globe.  For more information: www.neocomedy.com . “ All of this craziness for $20.00 a ticket (adult content).

After laughter, ‘Talk Story & Music’ is on tap for Sunday, March 15 at 5PM at the McCoy Studio Theater, when the MACC Local Voices series presents ‘Home: Inside & Out.’ “Lono Padilla of Maui, Robert Ke‘ano Ka‘upu of Hawai‘i Island, and Chadwick Pang of O‘ahu—all of whom are hula-trained, musically-educated, and firmly grounded in Hawai‘i,” present  “Through hula, music and narrative the audience sees the world through the eyes of three young Hawaiians, born and raised on three different islands, who have come together in Honolulu. A series of vignettes explores the connections to “home” in the deepest sense of belonging and identity, within the backdrop of place, family, friends, values and emotions.” Home: Inside & Out is made possible through The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Visual and Expressive Arts Program through a generous gift from The Ford Foundation.
Once more a great deal, $20.00 for a ticket to what ought to be an enlightening as well as entertaining evening.

And just when one figures that terrific entertainment can’t get any more inexpensive, the Castle Theater offers up two FREE concerts featuring the rising young talents of Maui. Monday March 16 one can enjoy the Lahainaluna High School Band at 7pm, and on Tuesday March 17th the Baldwin High School Band. Wow!

Just to satiate all of the senses, beginning on March 15th through April 30th, on Tuesdays through Sundays, from 11AM to 5PM, the Schaefer International Gallery presents “Crosscurrents: Jun Kaneko and David Kuraoka, two master artists of the ceramic revolution, who share a long friendship and a love of clay. Kaneko (who created the sets and costumes for the opera Madam Butterfly) exhibits a range of media exploration, with drawing, painting, ceramic and glass. Kuraoka crosses boundaries through mysterious surface effects created through pit-fire, countered with smooth wheel-thrown porcelain, glazed tile and cast bronze forms.” Admission is Free.

The fine folks at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center are stoked that the Steve Miller Band will be performing at the A & B Amphitheater on Saturday February 28 2009. The A & B is a delightful outdoor venue providing the perfect ambience to enjoy one of rock n’ rolls true treasures. Though Steve Miller and band have been performing since the 1960s they have lost none of their drive & energy and are always looking to the future.

Steve Miller has been a professional musician since his teens during an era of musical turbulence when the music of his parents generation was swept away by the flood tide of rock n’ roll. Steve Miller’s father was a prominent proctologist whose patients were most often friends and many of them were famous musicians, among them Les Paul & Mary Ford, T Bone Walker, and Charles Mingus. Encouraged to dive into music, as long as he kept up his school studies, Steve Miller formed his first band at the age of twelve and by his teens was performing for dances & parties, along with a boy hood pal, Boz Skaggs.

Steve Miller continued to juggle music with school, attending college, attaining a solid grasp of what was truly needed to succeed in business, which remains the basis of success in the musical world. Steve Miller avoided many of the pitfalls befalling musicians, steering negotiations with several record labels before signing with Capitol Records in 1967. Money is wonderful but Miller wanted something much more elusive, creative freedom. “We were in a perfect position. The record companies, typically not understanding anything about the music, were given instructions to go to San Francisco and sign those acts,” he said in Rolling Stone. “They knew that we were one of the four popular groups…. They wanted to sign the phenomena.”

Steve Miller and band began releasing albums in 1968 and many of those early songs sound just as awesome in 2009. Deceptively simple lyrics interlaced with solid musicianship grace his songs. ‘Living in the USA,’ “Gangster of Love, ‘Quicksilver Girl’ and ‘Space Cowboy’ among his earliest tunes to spill from the radio in an age when radio was king. In the Centennial Year of 1976 Steve Miller Band released an album that contained one gem after another including the title track, a song soaring high thirty years further on, ‘Fly Like An Eagle.’

Steve Miller and Band are road testing tracks for an upcoming album, or in modern parlance, CD, and there is no place finer to experience Steve Miller and Band than on Maui and what is really terrific is that you can follow the band back to O’ahu since they will perform at the Blaisdell Arena Sunday March 1!

As for the show on Maui, I will let the Maui Arts & Cultural Center have the final word, “The Maui Arts & Cultural Center, in association with Ron Gibson and the Diamond Head International Festival and Conference, announce the first mega show to hit Maui in 2009! THE STEVE MILLER BAND will play the Maui Arts & Cultural outdoor amphitheater on Saturday, February 28 at 7:00 pm …. and it is destined to be a great night in rock-n-roll history on Maui! With songs such as “Take the Money and Run,” “Rockin’ Me,” “Jet Airliner,” “The Joker,” “Fly Like An Eagle,” “Livin’ in the USA,” “Abracadabra,” and “Jungle Love” to his credit, blues/rock singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Miller is one of the cornerstones of classic rock. On this tour, Steve Miller is flanked by icon harmonica player Norton Buffalo and an incredible line up of top level musicians that make the Steve Miller Band one of the all time great Rock and R&B bands in history.

Tickets are for reserved seating, available at $55, $65 and $85 with a limited number of $125 premium seating tickets available. (plus applicable fees)”

MAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER One Cameron Way, Kahului, HI 96732 www.mauiarts.org, 808-242-2787×232 or direct 808-243-4232.

A great way to see the Hawaii is to take a cruise. Cruise ships can be relaxing as you want or as adventurous as you want. With the Hawaiian islands so close together, you don’t always have to be on the ship. You can go ashore and enjoy what each island has to offer while still having those great all you can eat meals to go back to when you need a break.

NCL America

The Norwegian Cruise Lines runs a 7 day Hawaii only cruise that is one of the best ways to see all 4 majoy Hawaiian islands in such a short amount of time. The trip goes from Honolulu on the island of Oahu and travels to Kauai, The Big Island and Maui with shore excursions on each island.

A great thing about the shore excursions is that you have a chance to choose from any tour or activity the islands offer, not just offered through NCL, and NCL will help coordinate. Or you can rent a car, or a bike, or just walk around, and see the islands on your own. This Hawaii cruise is definitely tops on the list of cruises to take in the world. You travel at night and enjoy the Hawaii during the day.

You can find out more about this cruise at theNCL Hawaii site.

Princess Cruises