M i g h t y J

duuuuuuude,

its shmall kine cold tonight, pretty nippy if you know what I’m saying. I love it though. I actually took out my long sleeve long johns and my furry green house slippers that keep me warm. I love the drizzling rain today. Nothing really profound to say, except for the fact that our gig is coming up so soon and we really hope ya’all come out and check this new sound out. Especially our dear friends that rip butt, Kanoa, Gomega, that’s just gonna be maddness! That weekend is going to be so fun, I just know its gonna be a blurr. When they all return back to Maui, I know I’m gonna have Gomega and Ipo withdrawls, which is always the case when we spend a joyous weekend together and then its back to the grind and the real world. Also, I did not mention Big Dave, he’s actually Alan’s cousin and Ha’e’s godfather, and cousins with Kanoa, so you know we all get together and our schedule is insane, but we all enjoy each other, and eating at prime places, like Boots and Kimo’s in Kailua, and my all time fav. Koa House in Kane’ohe. Yeah, but when everyone goes home, Big Dave included because he’s out of Waimea on Hawai’i Island, Al and I get into this like , awwwww man, we miss them already. If course though, its good because then its clean house time, laundry time, pay bills time. AHAHAHAHAH! Anyhow, don’t snooze on the 9th of March! Gomega and Mighty J will be there in Kailua at Tiare’s!

C Ya!

M

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… and that’s what I did tonight in studio…. BACKED THAT THANG UP, HOMIES! We’re at the home stretch of our project and it’s soooooooo exciting! I can’t believe we’re finally finished laying all the vocal tracks down!

Man… Laying singing tracks is STILL a challenge for me and I’ve been recording in studio for almost 10 years! I have an easier time rapping in time than making sure i sing my notes on key. hahaha. I’m just really glad that Dr. Trey and I have great producer/artist chemistry in studio and that he knows how to bring out the best in me. It’s amazing how you go through these little kinks while recording the project… having to rewrite a song a couple times, taking a bunch of takes to get ONE note on key, having someone else sing your part cause the key is too high or low (i don’t remember if it’s happened for Mighty J, but it’s happened for Kanalo’s projects before). But the end results (ESPECIALLY when you have an insanely talented producer/engineer like Dr. Trey) are indescribable (did i spell that right?).
Now that we’ll be performing live soon, that’s something I can really jump into. I think Mai, Tiks and I have LOTS of energy to throw out there and if we use correctly, it’ll be infectious. That’s the IDEAL situation. We’re working on it… Tiare’s is only a couple week away! YIKES!
So tonight (well, last night, since it’s 3:19 am, MONDAY) I went in to put some background vocals and adlibs for “No More Tears,” “My Love,” “We Don’t Need to be Friends” and “Do You?”

Mai and Tiki… i LOVE you girls! I was able to hear a song that each of us wrote individually and one that a couple of us collaborated on and well… We wrote some kick butt songs! I just hope everyone else out there likes it as much as we LOVED making it. The content in this album definitely has a lot of BALLS in it. And for 3 women… that’s saying a lot… in a weird way. lol. Oh well… you should know what i mean!

Well, that’s my random blog for the weekend… have a great week everyone!

peace out,

j.

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When shaping your thumbnail specifically for picking a nylon stringed instrument, try creating a ramp starting shortest from the left then increasing in length till you reach the middle. This would allow the most amount of string energy against the nail. Think about it. And that is how you do a thumbnail.

Actually, we DID hear the mo’o wahine and I’m not making it up people!!! That pond under the cave has other caverns and as we swam towards the back of one (absolutely dark, can’t really see where you’re going), we settled in the tunnel and just sat and enjoyed the eerieness of it all. We tried to sing in there, but the acoustics were different. As we were enjoying the chill of the water I started to joke around saying, “watch out for the mo’o”. I promise on my own life, you know that thud like sound where one big rock hits another rock? Well, that’s exactly what we heard after I commented on the mo’o, both Ipo and myself and Ipo will testify. There was no one in there but us in that tunnel and that sound came from above. If you are ever planning to visit wai napa napa, and swim towards the left cavern, look up and you’ll see some pukas that let some of the daylight in, but no human could ever climb that unless you have some rock climbing tools, rope, harness, but even then, there were no crevices that would let you plug something in. The rocks are smooth like with no puka’s in em. For me, the only explanation is that she still lives there and I’m glad the tourists have not chased her away.

If you look at the pictures in order from right to left, its Wai napanapa, Hana beach pier I think, and then Honomanu beach, correct me if I’m wrong Ips! We also visited Kanoa’s ‘ohana’s lo’i down in Wailua where we met some resistance from the locals. Even if you’re Hawaiian or local, they don’t let you in unless you have one of your own patches in there. I give them credit for protecting what they have. Deep in that valley is a beautiful waterfall that feeds the community’s lo’i. I remember visiting Waipi’o, and being able to just ask if we could visit and see one of the most majestic and untouched valleys in the world. However, I am afraid that Waipi’o is beginning to be overcrowded with visitors and for the most part they have been wandering around on private property, just make any kine on other people’s land. That’s what the Hawaiians of Wailua want to prevent from happening.

Anyhow, our project is wrapping up. Us girls are done with what we have to do as far as recording or laying things down in the studio goes. From here on out, its performing, informing, and promoting this project and we hope sincerely that you’d help us by coming to our first O’ahu appearance on March 9th at Tiare’s in Kailua. There you’ll fricken have a mean ass time enjoying Gomega and Mighty J!!! We’re working on our show as we speak. I am looking forward to our practice this week too! And, if you wanna come down to Jenn’s house and listen she lives down that road inside of Benjamin Parker and the Police Sation! Some of her neighbors end up having barbie q’s while we practice, I find that really cute. BUT, they hear all of our mistakes and Jenn’s wise ass remarks. NAH, jenn, you know I love you dearly! Tiki had a great trip and we’re so happy she’s FINALLY back home. Man, I wanna go to NY and eat a pizza, go to Rockafeller center, ride the subway, eat a hotdog, ride the ferry, see the statue of liberty, watch a broadway show, shop, anyone wanna take me??? ANYONE PLEASE? Mightyj’s gonna have to take us~! We’re already taking us to Cali.

Yeah, so I just really enjoyed myself in Maui, I also did some lomi’s which is good because as soon as I returned home, I did like 7 lomi’s which is good for me to keep myself in shape, my hands, my body mechanics. But the HIGHLITE was performing along side of to me Hawai’i’s strongest male performer, musician, singer, Kanoa Kukaua of Gomega. Not only was the band on FIAH, because they rip it up dude! But Kanoa was just fricken mean! And JENN, I am not worthy you two mofos!!! Jenn as you have to know, no one can touch her, her writing, ability to rap, ability to sing, she can play her bongos and drums and sing and rap. Is there anyone you know that can do that??? NO`. So, here I come on for the second set a bit timid, but they are such awesome performers and people and I get into the groove and we just end up tearing it up digging holes in the ground to put the people to sleep in, killing everyobody there at Charley’s in Pa’ia. We’re just like one after the other, song after song, making people crazy, there was this one girl who was rolling on the ground with goggles, I had to hug her afterwards though, because no one had moves like her, completely original. However, on March 9th, you’ll get to see all of us, Tiki is going to do her capoeira moves on stage moving the crowd while I hide behind my guitar.

AND< , thank you Rox, I enjoyed the show very much and I haven’t forgotten our meeting on Tuesday!

C ya’all soon, and no snooze and looze by not coming to our show and checking our page and vidcast in a daily manner!

peace out homies
M

Thanks Tiks for the cool little run down of our studio session the other night. We got soooo much done and it felt real good recording with you girls (Mai and Tiki)…. AND… Zaysha surprises us and show up?? You KNOW we HAD to get her in the room to lay the guitar track down! Good Times….

Well… I haven’t really had time to spend talking about Maui. And I don’t think I’m going to (spend much time talking about a trip that happened about a week ago, that is). Oh, that’s me. J the procrastinator. LA DI DA…

SATURDAY: We spent most of the day driving to Hana. I would LOVE to expand on that, but I don’t know what places we stopped that. The haole in me won’t allow me to remember the names of the places. Maybe Mai can mention some of them for you… I’ll leave that up to her.

All I know is, Mai and Ipo thought they heard the Mo’o lady in one of the fresh water caves we were swimming in, and that bummed my trip, cause the entire time we were hanging out there, I thought they said, “watch out for the mo’o!” I said, “I LOVE Mo’o!” Come to find out, they said Mo’o lady… and if you see her… that’s never usually the best thing to experience. Note to self: don’t go in dark caves with people that know about Mo’o ladies…We’re still here, and I guess that’s what counts, right?

I’m so glad we were able to hang out with Kanoa, Ipo and Hekili (David is what I call him, though). Ipo would stop at random places and took picture of us hanging out. It’s cool when you have someone who helps document your adventures. At least you can have pictures to look back at and reminisce about it. “Remember that time we went to Hana? Was sooooooo good fun, eh??” lol.

That evening, Mai and I were able to jam with Kanoa and his band, Gomega. They truly are Maui’s most versatile band! They played funk, reggae, rock, metal…. any kine. It was so fun, Mai, Hekili and I came on the dancefloor to head bang to the music. I paid for it the next day though. My neck was screwed up for 3 days. I haven’t learned my lesson yet. How do those metal heads head bang ALL the time?? Another note to self: do neck strengthening exercises so that I can head bang without worry. lol.

Time at the gig flew by so fast because of all the fun we had! We were able to get recordings of that night, and I wanted to at LEAST share a sample of Gomega’s ska version of “Calling Out.” Thanks Kanoa, Ipo, Shawn and Michael (sorry if I mispelled your names) for letting us invade your stage.

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