If you're looking for bluegrass and traditional music in the Hawaiian Islands, you've come to the right place. Our little community of music lovers from all over Hawai`i and the rest of the world is growing bigger every day. Our mailing list, as of March 2008, contains almost 800 pickers and grinners! Click here to add YOUR name to our list.

ON O`AHU
Sunday, April 20; 10:00 AM till 4:00 PM
PICKIN' IN THE PARK
featuring Continuing Slow Jam Workshop with fiddler Lisa Gomes
At Fabulous WAHIAWA BOTANICAL GARDENS

We have found a WONDERFUL new location for our jams. It's not quite as accessible for you townies, but it's perfect for bluegrass and traditional music jams, and I think y'all are gonna love it! Our April jam will take place at the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens on California Avenue in Wahiawa. Wait till you see this place! It's cool, shady; the bathrooms are clean and well-lit; there's abundant parking all around the park; it's a gorgeous, elegant, clean, garden, with exotic flora and plenty of nice nooks and crannies for impromptu breakaway jam sessions... and a spectacularly beautiful, vast network of trails and stairs that runs throughout the Garden and provides a super workout. If you're a hiker, bring your shoes!

And best of all: there are TWO big covered areas for jams, PLUS a great big brand-new huge well-lit Multipurpose Room we can use for whatever multipurposes we like! Please join us if you can! (Keep reading for directions and info on the workshop!)

Date & Time: Sunday, April 20, 2008 from 10:00 AM--4:00 PM (Garden closes at 4PM.)
Location: Wahiawa Botanical Garden
Address: California Avenue in Wahiawa
Directions: Click here for map! Find your way to H2 North, going towards Mililani and Wahiawa. Take exit 8 for Wahiawa; it's the second to the last exit, just before the highway ends near Schofield Barracks. At the end of the exit, go right; stay in the right lane. You'll be on KAMEHAMEHA HIGHWAY. At the third light, take a right onto CALIFORNIA AVENUE. Go about a mile or so, past Foodland, Longs, Blockbusters; past a Buddhist Hongwanji on your right and a community park on your left. Look for the Botanical Garden on your left!
Parking: Click here for map! The Garden's small parking lot on California Ave. holds about 20 cars. If you need to park very very close, try to arrive a little early (the Garden opens at 9AM daily!) There's also plenty of parking along the fenceline on California Avenue, but you'll have to turn around in the parking lot at Leilehua High School, just up the hill, and come back down California. There is also a parking lot on Kilani Avenue/Glen Avenue. Kilani runs parallel to California Avenue, and becomes Glen Avenue just before the Botanical Garden. If you park in the Kilani/Glen lot, you'll have a bit of a walk down a moderate hill, and then you'll go left, across a scenic bridge into the main lot/entrance. It's a lovely stroll, but not for those with lots of gear, or who have a tough time walking.
What To Bring: Please bring chairs or a blanket to sit on [IMPORTANT!!!], and beverages or even a bit of lunch!
Who's Welcome: EVERYBODY! If you play an unplugged traditional instrument, and like acoustic bluegrass, newgrass, mountain, roots, traditional country, Hawaiian, Americana, folk, Western, Celtic, and Irish music, you are welcome to come and jam along! (Listeners, of course, are welcome, too!) Y'all come!
Carpoolers: Please CARPOOL if you can! If you need a ride, OR if you're willing to give a ride to another picker who doesn't drive, email caroline@bluegrasshawaii.com.
Workshop: Our continuing Slow Jam workshop, conducted by fiddler LISA GOMES, will take place in the multipurpose room between 12 and 2 PM sharp! If you're a beginner, you won't want to miss this workshop. Here are the songs Lisa will try to cover this month, preceded by the keys she'll play them in. Practice before the workshop if ya can!

D) Bury Me Beneath the Willow
G) I Saw the Light

And she might try to review these tunes covered in past workshops:

A) Old Joe Clark
D) Soldier's Joy
G) Amazing Grace
G) Will the Circle be Unbroken

TENTATIVE O`AHU JAM SCHEDULE
FOR REMAINDER OF 2008

We've established a tentative schedule for O`ahu Pickin' In The Park jam sessions for the remainder of the year. ALL DATES AND LOCATIONS ARE TENTATIVE until they are announced as CONFIRMED right here on this page, in the jam announcement as appears above!

Sunday, April 20--CONFIRMED!
Sunday, May 18
Sunday, June 22
Sunday, July 20
Sunday, August 17
Sunday, September 21
Sunday, October 19
Sunday, November 16
Sunday, December 14

ALL ISLANDS
DON'T MISS THESE OTHER COOL EVENTS!

Don't miss these OTHER cool recurring events, with focus on traditional music, here and there all over the Hawaiian Islands! Some happen monthly or even quarterly. Others have gatherings several times per month! All are listed on our RECURRING EVENTS page.

• Contradancers Of Hawaii (O`ahu)
• Traditional Music Jam (TradJam)--O`ahu
• Contradancing on the Big Island
• Pickin' In The Park (Kaua`i)
• Folksong Circle on Maui
• Contradancing on Maui

ON O`AHU
FIRST ANNUAL `AUMAKUA MUSIC FESTIVAL
Saturday, April 12 at 7:00 PM
Mamiya Theater, Honolulu

A great lineup, an excellent cause! Don't miss the FIRST ANNUAL `AUMAKUA MUSIC FESTIVAL on Saturday, April 12, at the Richard T. Mamiya Theater at 3142 Wai'alae Ave. in Honolulu! The fundraiser for the 'Aumakua Music Project featuring a super lineup of affiliated artists and special guests on April 12 at the Mamiya Theater. Slam Poet Kealoha will be the host for the evening. The concert will offer diverse musical styles, rich in local culture and sentiment, ranging from traditional Hawaiian Slack Key to Alternative, Neo-Classical to Hip Hop. Come have a good time and see and hear what's happening! Spread the word and help support local music and art. The event kicks off at 7:00 PM and the stellar lineup includes Millicent Cummings, Kalae Miles, Stephen Inglis, Shawn Livingston Moseley, S&S, Evasive Species and very special guest, slack key guitarist Cindy Combs!

'Aumakua Fest will also feature two short films with live accompaniment by Shawn Livingston Moseley and S&S. The 10-minute film The Signs of Life by Hawai`i production company Throw down the Keys focuses on the daily challenges of boredom, and how street signs inspire excitement and change. The second film, by internationally-acclaimed, award-winning Hawai`i director & cinematographer Ziggy Livnet of For the Sea Productions, is a collage of hypnotic undersea images of Hawai`i's spectacular reefs, and encounters of unimaginable beauty with the sea creatures who inhabit the reefs. Livnet was the official videographer the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during a recent trip to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Papah`naumoku`kea Marine National Monument.

Event: 1st Annual 'Aumakua Music Festival
Date/Time: Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 7:00 PM
Location: Richard T. Mamiya Theater, 3142 Wai'alae Avenue, Honolulu
Information: www.AumakuaRecords.com
Tickets: Advance tix are $22.50 through The Honolulu Box Office at www.honoluluboxoffice.com or call 808/550-8457. $25 at the door.

ON OAHU
CELTIC HARP & STORY
with PATRICK BALL
Saturday, April 19 at 7:30 PM
Architecture Auditorium, UH Manoa

Whether in the stronghold of a Galway chieftain in the years before history began or yesterday in the snug corner of a pub in Dublin, the Irish have always delighted in storytelling. Their passion for eloquence and wordplay, their deep devotion to their mythical past, their ability to find joy and humor in a dark world, and their belief that the supernatural world could appear between one breath and the next made their stories and the telling of them unrivaled in the world of the oral tradition.

And always, amidst the storytelling, there was music. Jigs, reels and haunting airs graced the spaces between the tales. And first among Irish instruments, and the most honored, was the legendary Celtic harp. With its crystalline, bell-like voice and lavish resonance, it would soothe its listeners and lead them deeper into the realms of the imagination.

In Celtic Harp and Story , Patrick Ball rekindles the fire and wonder of an evening of Irish storytelling. For in telling the marvelous old tales of wit and enchantment, and in playing the ancient, brass- strung harp of Ireland, he not only carries on two of the richest traditions of Celtic culture, but blends them in concert to create "a warm and magical performance."

A University of Hawaii at Manoa Outreach College performance. Funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Date/Time: Saturday, April 19 at 7:30 PM
Location: Architecture Auditorium at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus
Parking: Located adjacent to the auditorium, entrance off University Avenue, parking fee $3
Concert Admission $10
Reservations: Call 956-8246; remaining tickets available at the door; payment accepted at box office beginning one hour prior to the start of the performance
Information: Call 956-8246 or visit www.patrickball.com/ celticharpandstory.php

ON MAUI
PICKIN' IN THE PARK
Sunday, April 27 at 4:00 PM
Kalama Park, Kihei

The next Pickin' in the Park on Maui will be at 4pm on April 27 at the old shelter in Kalama Park in Kihei. Come and join the fun! These jams are organized by Steve Slater, who says the music "could be bluegrass or folk or whatever you want to play. There will be no stage or sound amplification equipment. We don't all have to play in one big group; smaller break-off groups are okay." The jam will take place in or near the "older" shelter area at Kalama Park. Bring a chair you're comfortable playing in. See you there!

For info contact Steve at steve@sslater.com or call him at 808/283-7800.

ON THE BIG ISLAND
May 3, 2008
PICKIN' AND POTLUCK

Do you live on the Big Island of Hawai`i, or visit there frequently? Barry & Jan Willis in Kona host a monthly Pickin' and Potluck jam at their lovely home in Kona Heavens on the Big Island. Jams take place on the first Saturday of each month; each jam starts at about 1:30 PM and ends at about 6:00 PM. Jan has built a website for the jams at www.jam.pinevalleymusic.com. Check it out!

Listeners, singers, and pickers are all welcome. Barry and Jan encourage all acoustic players, not just bluegrass or country, to join the fun. They have plenty of room for separate jams for different forms of music. Rain or shine - it doesn't matter - the jam can happen inside or out. Please bring a potluck dish to share! Pickers from other counties on the Big Island are welcome; the Willises will even pick them up at the airport and get them back in time for their flight home. Contact barry@pinevalleymusic.com or call 808-325-0321.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MAY 2008! John Breen writes: "Picking and potluck will be hosted at the Breens on May 3 while the Willises are gone. The jam will take place from 1:30-6:00 PM. We live at 72-1046 Puukala Loop, Kailua-Kona, about 1 mile from the Willises. For further information call 325-2741 or e-mail westhawaiiscreenandglass@hawaiiantel.net." Thanks SO MUCH to the Breens for hosting this jam!

Our favorite crackers! Lesley Kline on fiddle & vocals, Kilin Reece on guitar & vocals, Paul Sato on banjo & vocals, and doghouse bassman Alex Morrison deliver a heapin' helpin' of progressive, traditional, and original bluegrass! They've now added drummer Russ Lundgren to their lineup for selected performances. Mmmmm tasty! Check out their blog at www.MySpace.com/SaloonPilots for photos, music, tall tales and more!

Saturday, April 12:
Private event - Honolulu*

Friday, April 18, 8-11PM
Big City Diner Kailua
108 Hekili Street, Kailua
Tel: 263-8880
Third Friday of every month; just like clockwork! Arrive early (for a good table) and stay late (last-set surprises and hijinks!) Last month the Pilots were joined by John Lundgren on sax. Who knows who might show up this month? As always... no cover charge.

Saturday, April 19:
Private event - Kailua*

*The Saloon Pilots have asked us to remind you that you, too, can hire the band to perform for your private (or public) event. They can perform in several different capacities, ranging from good, clean family fun to loud, low-down, and danceable. They can also provide a professional sound system, and even teach your guests how to square-dance! "Consider hiring us for your event," urges Paul, "we'll be a ton of fun and all it costs is mere money!" Contact Paul at paulsato@hotmail.com.

Check out these dates for Randall Rospond, Tom Conway, and the Haiku Hillbillys and catch some of the finest acoustic and trad-roots music on Maui!

EVERY FIRST FRIDAY of the month (May 2, June 6, July 4, August 1) from 9-11 pm
Haiku Hillbillys at Mulligan's on the Blue in Wailea,

EVERY TUESDAY night from 6-8:30 pm
Tom Conway and Randall Rospond at Mulligan's in Wailea

EVERY THURSDAY night from 6-9 pm
Haiku Hillbilly Trio (JP, Rand Coon & Randall)
at the HANA HOU Cafe in Haiku Marketplace

EVERY 3rd SATURDAY of the month (Apr 19, May 17, June 21, July 19, Aug 16)
Catch Randall's radio show on Manao Radio from 10 am-2 pm
on 91.5 FM or on the web at www.manaoradio.com

FRIDAY, APRIL 11; MAY 23; JUNE 13
Haiku Hillbillys at The Stopwatch in Makawao from 9 pm-1 am

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 7:30-10:30 pm
Haiku Hillbilly Trio (JP, Rand Coon & Randall) at Cafe Marc Aurel, Wailuku

The brand-new HAIKU HILLBILLY CD will be released this summer and will contain four new studio recordings, two "live in the studio" cuts engineered by Barry Shannon and Don Lopez, some live recordings from shows at Charley's Saloon in Paia in 2007, and "perhaps a little secret moonshine magic for good measure." Ask Randall about Haiku Hillbilly t-shirts (sizes are limited) and his solo cd recorded at Walter's Becker's upcountry studio! Add yourself to his mailing list by contacting him at liquidrosetoons@yahoo.com.

IMPORTANT: If you've ever placed an ad on our Classifieds page, please click here to see if your ad is still running. If your ad is obsolete, contact caroline@bluegrasshawaii.com and ask us to delete it! Thanks for helping us keep this page up-to-date!

INSTRUMENT REPAIR
& REFURBISHING ON O`AHU

If your acoustic guitar, mandolin, or banjo needs repair or refurbishment, you now have the opportunity to take it to a LOCAL instrument repairman! Since he's also a bluegrass/acoustic multi-instrumentalist, he knows firsthand how these instruments are supposed to play and sound.

Kilin Reece (of the Saloon Pilots) is doing instrument repair at Kitakis Stringed Instruments (located in Hawaii Music Supply) at 101 N. Kamehameha Highway in Wahiawa, tel: 622-8000. Kitakis Stringed Instruments provides factory-authorized service for C.F. Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Fender, Ovation, and Takamine instruments. Top-notch repair and refurbishing for your beloved instruments! Visit www.HawaiiMusicSupply.com for more information.

NOMINATIONS SOUGHT
FOR BLUEGRASS HAWAI`I'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As of March 1, 2008, we are seeking nominations for board members for Bluegrass Hawai`i's Board of Directors. Elections will be held at our April meeting, presently tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 20. Nominees must be willing and able to commit to the following...

• attend meetings held approximately every other month, at a central Honolulu location, on a weekday evening after work
• assist with the group decision-making process
• when appropriate and possible, offer skills or service that can help Bluegrass Hawai`i realize its goals and objectives

If you've already served on a board before, you will find this one a refreshing change. All of us are pretty busy, so we don't have a lot of meetings, and when we DO have 'em, we try to keep 'em short and simple! Your participation and enthusiasm are greatly needed by our group. To nominate a candidate for our board member elections, submit the candidate's name, a brief bio or introduction of this person, and his or her contact information, as well as your own. (Please make sure they're willing to serve before you submit their name!) You can even consider nominating yourself, if you'd like to help out! Send your nomination email to caroline@bluegrasshawaii.com on or before 12:00 PM HST Friday, April 18, 2008.

GIVE THE GIFT OF
BLUEGRASS HAWAI`I!

Please visit our store for your gift needs. T-shirts, sweatshirts, license plate frames, magnets, childrens' t-shirts and hoodies, cap-sleeve and ladies' shirts, golfers' shirts, messenger bags... we've got it all! You and your pals will be the coolest cats at any pickin' party with great bluegrass bling-bling--tee-shirts, sweatshirts, mousepads, coffee mugs, pet shirts, baby bibs, bumperstickers... everything you need! A small portion of each purchase will help Bluegrass Hawai`i with its mission: to grow and promote bluegrass & traditional music in the Aloha State. Shop with confidence at Café Press!

Join Bluegrass Hawai`i! Would you like to become a part of one of America's newest bluegrass and traditional music associations? It's easy, it's quick, and it's FREE! Click here to sign up today! It's as simple as that! You'll be added to our mailing list--almost 800 people as of March 2008--and you'll receive periodic email messages about upcoming bluegrass and traditional music events in Hawai`i. (By the way, our mailing list is private; we never sell or trade it with anybody!) Y'all come!

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our friend Mike Kear in Australia has generously provided us with server space for Bluegrass Hawai`i. Mahalo nui loa, Mike! Mike is the host of a wonderful radio show, heard on the Web by thousands of people all over the world, called Music From Foggy Hollow. It can be heard at http://www.bluegrasscountry.org/. He even interviewed Caroline (that's me!) about Bluegrass Hawai`i, way back in May 2003 when we had our first jam--check it out here.

Mike's Bluegrass Australia pages can be found at http://www.bluegrass.org.au/. His company, AFP Webworks, handles web design, hosting, and promotion. Mike hosts this website on his servers and has provided endless encouragement and support for our adventures. On behalf of Bluegrass Hawai`i, THANKS, MIKE!

ALOHA 'OE TO OUR FRIEND ART

It is with sadness that we note the passing of Art Todd, irrepressible tenor banjo player and man-about-town, who died on October 10, 2007 at the grand old age of 93. Art came to many of our jams in the early days, and was known for his astonishing ability to play just about anything, even bluegrass! With his late wife, Dotty, Art had two top-ten hits in the U.S. and UK, but with different songs. In 1953, they scored a #1 hit in England with, "Broken Wings." In America, their "Chanson d'Amour" peaked at #6 on Billboard's Top 40 list, remaining on the charts for 11 weeks in 1958. Art and Dottie appeared several times on The Ed Sullivan Show and on The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show, and they also had their own CBS radio show. In their later years, they performed regularly at the Dunes and MGM Grand Hotels in Las Vegas, until their retirement in 1980. Art regularly gave 'ukelele lessons in and around Waikiki, and for many years, he and his buddies Del Courtney and Martin Denny got together for a weekly Wednesday jam session! He was a remarkable musician and he had a great deal of respect for bluegrass music. He will be missed.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
CARMENCITA CERNA

Carmencita Cerna, the beloved mother of one of our brightest young stars, mandolinist Chris Cerna, passed away on Tuesday, March 27, 2007, after a brave battle with illness for several months.

On behalf of Bluegrass Hawai`i, mahalo to Carmen for her endless friendship and kindness to our community, and especially for producing and raising Chris to be an incredible talent. You will not be forgotten. For those of you who do not know the Cernas... please click here.