B on Hawaii

The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival kicks off this year on Friday, November 6, with events stretching through November 15th. Festival organizers seem to be taking advantage of the "cultural" aspect of the festival this go-around, to spotlight a number of unique offerings in and surrounding the Kona location, on Hawai`i's Big Island.

We recently fielded a request from a production company that needs help finding adventure-seeking outdoorsmen (and women) who would like to be featured on an episode of Mantracker, to air nationally on the Discovery Science channel. The show is filmed in a variety of picturesque locales, and will be coming to The Big Island of Hawai`i this winter to film in an undisclosed location.

We’ve got world-class dining; our beaches are among the most pristine on the planet; and we have a blend of cultures you can’t find anywhere else on the globe. But how many of you realize that we’ve also got the number one locale on earth to view and document the heavens? Well, we do. Soon, we’ll add the world’s largest telescope to that locale.

Times are, well, what they are. Which is why we feel obligated to pass along any stories that might lead to the fattening of your wallet, instead lieu of lightening it. The kind and charitable folks

On a late Spring day at the Kahala Mall, multiple Grammy Award-winning music producer Daniel Ho took the stage with ukulele in hand. He performed a few tunes to passers-by, grabbed his things, and walked down to the movie theaters still inside the mall.

One of the most tranquil resorts that evokes feeling of "Old Hawaii" is the Kona Village Resort, on the Kohala Coast of the Island of Hawai'i. To encourage travelers to unwind far from the blinking lights of cell phones, computers and televisions, Kona Village is offering a hefty deal: An $800 airfare credit to those who book a higher-class room category for five nights or more. 

In August, 1907, a weathered Jack London showed up on the doorstep of Hilo's Shipman House with a letter of referral from a prominent Honolulu newspaper publisher. London and his wife stayed for 5 weeks while his sailing vessel, The Snark, was being repaired. Twenty-three years later Hollywood's "first" director, Cecile B.

Last year at this time, we at B on Hawaii were made privy to a little known secret, the origins of which came wafting through the sulfur-tinged air of south Hawai'i. A handful of farmers in the Ka'u district of Hawaiii Island (a.k.a. "The Big Island") were giving more than the ole college try at growing, harvesting and roasting coffee.

Move over Matt and Ben… How’s turning $40 in to a multi-million dollar picture deal and a little gold statue for your mantle (named “Oscar”) sound? Pretty good? You betcha it does. On Saturday, May 16, you can head over to the Waikoloa Beach Resort and share your screenplay with three top writers that ink films for the likes of DreamWorks, New Line Cinema, 20th Century Fox and Disney.

Two bits of hot news, fresh off the press. First, a "posse" of Hawaiian musicians are headed this week to the frosty climes of our mainland's East Coast, to perform at what is being hailed as the most historic Presidential Inauguration in over a century.