B on Hawaii

Git out yer cowboy boots and lo'i waders: This Saturday and Sunday marks the 37th annual Hawaii State Farm Fair, held at the Bishop Museum, on O'ahu. If you've never been, you're in for a treat. First and foremost, there will be no shortage of edibles to sample; from Ka'u coffee and Ho Farms tomatoes, to Naked Cow Dairy's flavored butters and abalone harvested on the Big Island of Hawai`i.

On a rainy June night in the hills of Nu'uanu, a guitar player sits on a rickety old stool in his garage, re-tuning his instrument and jotting notes on a pad. Behind him someone is weaving coconut, while another is pulling the tether on a make-shift sail.

The 10th Annual Maui Film Festival at Wailea could have faced shockingly low attendee records this year, thanks to a faltering economy and a collective tightening of the traveling public's purse strings. There could have been no celebrity attendees, a sweltering heat wave, and numerous other obstacles.

We’ve finally come down from the high that was the 28th Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival. This event has truly evolved over the 5 years we’ve attended: Where the focus used to be on the master sommeliers and their wealth of knowledge, it has come to be a showplace for the incredibly diverse (and also evolving) class of winemakers located eastward across the Pacific.

It goes without saying that one of the aspects that makes Hawaii such a special place is the unique bonds that link us to cultures across the oceans. Hula is no exception: On Saturday, July 11, the annual Hula Ho’olauna Aloha Festival bridges Japan and Hawaii for a weekend of celebrating the graceful art of storytelling through dance and chant.

Let's face it: Memorial Day has always been another three-day "pardon" from the shackles of work... and not much more. Even here in Hawaii, the extent of "memorializing" is usually minimized to trying to get our neighbor's black lab out from under the house after the F-1 fighter jets do a fly-by.

This June the soundtrack of Hawaii will be all-Rachmaninoff. It's time for the Aloha International Piano Festival, and hometown hero (and assistant professor of piano at the Juilliard School of Music) Sean Botkin returns to present a recital, as well as teach master classes on the week's featured composer.

What is spirituality? As with most things in life, it all depends on whom you ask. For some, it's a steady regimen of religious practice; for another, it may be a yoga class and a quiet meditation. For plenty of others, "spirituality" is a hippy-dippy concept they try to avoid in fear of attaching themselves to any movement or affiliation—understandably so.

If you haven't seen an outdoor concert at the Waikiki Aquarium, then this is the summer that you should break the trend. The Thursday evening "Ke Kani O Ke Kai" summer concert series has been an annual event that brings in the top Hawaiian artists, puts them onstage facing the lapping shoreline of Waikiki, and offers unparalleled sunset views as the music takes hold.

The two-year old "Showdown in Chinatown" filmmaker's event is back, after a brief hiatus. The next "Main Event" showcase of films is scheduled for Friday, May 15th, at NextDoor on Hotel Street. Film topics are posted on Thursday, May 7th at 5:00 p.m.; the works need to be completed and submitted exactly one week later, on May 14th.