How long have you been involved/interested with music?

I've been a "music freak" for as long as I can remember. As a little boy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I'd always sneak my transistor radio into bed with me, hide my head beneath the covers, plug the earphone into my ear and listen to everything WOKY was playing from the Animals, Beatles, Stones, etc but also James Brown, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations etc and those same stations would also be playing the pop hits of the day. I would invariably wake up the next morning with that little radio still playing but the ear phone had fallen outta my ear hours earlier. Luckily, I had an upstairs bedroom and my mom couldn't hear it or never let on that she did :-) These broad playlists led to my love of all types of music to this day. To paraphrase something Duke Ellington used to say; "There are only two kinds of music, good and bad" :-)

Are you a musician/singer also?

One of my only real regrets in life is that I never learned to play any musical instruments (unless you count the stereo ;-) I had aborted attempts at guitar lessons several times as a kid but something else always seemed to take me away from those lessons and that darn practicing. :-)

How long have you been in Hawaii, and where did you move from? Do you consider it to truly be paradise?

My wife Libby and I came to Hawaii for our honeymoon 15 years ago and one afternoon as we lay on the beach in Kauai, I jokingly mentioned to her that "I could live here". She evidently felt the same way and applied for some jobs while we were still on our honeymoon. We returned home to San Francisco and less than two months later had taken up one of the offers she had gotten for a job in Hilo and despite a few bumps in the road we're still in Hawaii. We both truly consider Hawaii paradise and realize that we're "lucky we live Hawaii"

Where have you been involved with music? Have you had an influx on the Mainland has your website had a big input?

As a teenager, a lot of my friends were musicians and had formed garage bands and would have me help them haul equipment, provide security, etc. As we got older, that meant traveling long nights in vans throughout the state of Wisconsin and surrounding states so I knew from early on, the music business is not as glamorous as it seems on the outside. I also was worked as a roadie, security guard and whatever else came up with the promoter who was bringing some of the bigger name acts to town (early Weather Report, Robin Trower, Larry Graham's Graham Central Station, etc.) but when he didn't pay us for all of the gigs we were working my friend and I both quit..... I learned another couple valuable lessons about the music business, there are a lot of rip-offs out there and not a whole lot of money for a great deal of work. :-) Since we've moved to Hawaii, I was fortunate enough to have my research of "Jimi Hendrix in Hawaii" published in a feature article in Uni-Vibes International Jimi Hendrix magazine a few years ago. I continue to do everything that I possibly can to help specific musician friends, as well as "the scene" in general and basically consider myself to be "a friend of the music". I've been involved with the recent Travis Haddix, Los Lobos and Taj Mahal island shows in various capacities most recently and am currently looking forward to working with Little Feat in March, 2005 and then working with about one show per month for the rest of this year.

Where did the idea come from to start your website? When and where? Are you a member of a club? Are the members all from the same area?

A couple years after becoming disabled in July 1995 (I can walk only short distances, with a cane), my web-site started as a personal web-page to more or less teach myself HTML and continued to grow until it became the behemoth that it has turned into. :-) As we've already established, I'm a "music freak" and gradually became acquainted with more and more of the musicians on the local Jazz and Blues scenes. I had been taking pictures at nearly every blues or jazz show that passed through town and went to see as many of the local bands as I could. Most everyone was excited about their pictures being posted on the internet in those days, I had a lot of source material and I started to feature music and musicians almost exclusively on my site. I was a Charter Member and part of the Board of Directors of the short lived Hawaii Blues Society but that enterprise unfortunately died a slow death and is now bankrupt. There are still tee shirts for sale though! :-) I am also a member of Hawaii Public Radio where I have a monthly 2 hour blues program and have a corporate membership with the National Blues Foundation.

How difficult was it to set up your site, get information? And how hard is it to run?

When I started to build my site, it was very difficult cuz I didn't know what the heck I was doing yet but eventually I learned to muddle through somehow. I was posting various band's gig schedules for a while but too many musicians were too unreliable about getting their information to you in a timely manner and I discontinued that effort. Someone else in town (www.honolulujazzscene.net) is now providing essentially that service and Clay Freeman's doing a great job of that too, I might add. I now only handle one musician's gig schedule page and that's for Travis "The Moonchild" Haddix who is based in Cleveland, Ohio. Now that I have my site up and running it's not that difficult to keep it there but I'm always adding content and constantly doing research for my "On This Date" page so it's very time consuming!

Where does your music reach? Website reach, what are some of the places you get input from?

The internet is an amazing tool, I have made friends all over the world because of my web-site. I've received feedback from people all over Europe and the United States and made friends with quite a few. Many musicians have e-mailed me about coming to play in Hawaii because I work with most of the promoters in town (outside of Tom Moffatt, who's way outta our league:-) but I can only work with a select few of them unfortunately.

Are there any hurdles you still need to accomplish?

I want to learn to use "Front Page" (I still write all of my HTML from scratch) and redesign my web-site (it's been a while). I'd like to improve my photographic skills, learn more about working on radio......there is so much that I still need to learn, it's almost embarrassing. I have a pile of resource books on my desk waiting to be read but I haven't found the time to delve into them ;-(

Are there any drawbacks to being a music lover in Hawaii?

You don't have the opportunity to see a lot of the acts that play on the mainland regularly because of the economics of doing concerts in Hawaii. Airfares and hotel room expenses add up quickly, you can't just have everyone pile in the van like in the old days. :-)We do have a great deal of talent living here though and I'm constantly amazed at how talented some of these people that choose to stay here really are. There's also a need for more venues but that problem is probably nearly universal.

Are you in contact with any of the artists or groups you feature?

    I have become good friends with Travis "The Moonchild" Haddix. He has been to Hawaii twice and I played tourist with him and promoted some shows for him. I also keep his web-site schedule page up to date. I have become e-mail buddies with a few other musicians whom I hope to physically meet sometime in the future (Michael Hill and Murali Coryell come to mind.)

Have you worked with other performers as well? Singers? Live Broadcasts? Shows?

    I have a monthly "Special Edition of the Blues Review" radio show which airs on the last Saturday night of each month on KIPO FM 89.3 in Honolulu from 10:00 PM - 12:00 Midnight. I've worked closely with Hawaiian Jazz singer Keahi Conjugacion but she just moved to NYC on Monday. I've been putting the annual benefit for the Hawaii Mental Health Association "Beyond The Blues" festival  together at the Ala Moana Shopping Center for the past several years. I book the bands (it's good to have friends when you're asking musicians to donate their valuable time), act as MC and do whatever else I am capable of. I belong to the Board of Directors of the Annual Great Hawaiian Jazz Blowout as well as for our Condominium Association. I also manage a local "Vintage Surf Music" band called Tiki Taboo who have recently released their debut CD which is already getting exposure on a local surf television show called Boardstories. I also volunteer with the Annual Hawaii Jazz Festival every summer.

What's the best and worst part of being involved with your music hobby?

    The best part of working in the music biz is seeing the smiles on the faces of all the dancing customers on the night of a show, meeting some of them and having them thank you for your efforts is also especially gratifying. The physical toll on my body is the worst part by far though! It usually takes me several days to recover for each of the days I work on any given event. Thank goodness for the pain medication prescribed by my doctor.

About how many e-mails do you get a day?

    Do you mean including spam? :-) Typically, I get about 10-20 legitimate e-mails per day but occasionally that number is much larger. E-mail is a great inexpensive way to keep in touch but you still need the old telephones and new cell phones to conduct business.

Could you tell me a little bit about your feelings towards the Award situation in Hawaii?

     I personally find award ceremonies in general to be pretentious and the NAHOKUs don't include a real blues category to my knowledge. If someone invites me to one sometime though, maybe I'll change my mind. :-)

How long you have known Danny Couch, and where did you meet him?

Is he a good neighbor? LOL (sorry I had to ask)

    Danny is as nice a neighbor as you can imagine having. He is always smiling and has something nice to say to whomever he sees.

In your opinion, why do you think Hawaiian music and it's artists have not been recognized through the Grammy Awards until this year?

    We're more than 2,500 miles away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and generally not even thought of as part of the United States. Iz Kamakawiwoole seemed to have raised America's conciousness of Hawaiian music with his beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" several years ago, that record was used in a number of major soundtracks and is still selling well! Hopefully, Hawaiian music will finally start receiving the respect that it has been due for all of these years.

And why is it so difficult to acquire Hawaiian music on the Mainland?

All Rights Reserved