Hey all,

I hope this blog finds you well!

Man, oh, man...I know it has been AGES since I have been on this site...I really feel bad about it...I have been thinking about you all, even if I have been delinquent in communicating with you.

For those of you who live in Hawaii, you may have caught a little whiff in the news of some stuff going on with my family...I don't want to go into too much detail, but lets just say that things have been a little crazy...I've had to make a lot of trips to and from Hawaii and that has been distracting from my music...really, travel or no, the whole ordeal has just been distracting, period, so unfortunately things like my MySpace page have fallen by the wayside. It's not for lack of love of you though...just family stuff that couldn't wait. In the end, there are some things that just need to need your attention NOW, no matter what else you have going on.

At any rate, I've spent this week in the studio...my music partner Jim and I decided to do an acoustic album, which is turning out to be super fun! There were so many good songs that didn't make the cut for my "Listen Up" EP or the upcoming fully produced follow up EP (still untitled), so we decided why not just do some low-key acoustic recording with them and release a third EP? Between Jim playing all the instruments and me singing, we have already gotten 7 songs tracked since Tuesday, so things are going fast and we are having a great time! We're not sure if we'll release it before or after the fully produced EP we are finishing up right now, but at any rate, things are moving along. It felt so good to be belting my heart out in front of a mic again! I miss singing so much when I'm not doing it all the time.

Also kind of fun...I got a text from my friend Kelvin last night as I was leaving the studio that Sara Bareillas was playing the Hotel Cafe as a secret "special guest"...he's friends with her so I knew it was legit...so I went down there and lo and behold! It was her! I loved her music already (I was a fan when "Love Song" was just a piano/vocal demo streaming on her website) but she is SO GREAT live. I feel like her CD (though great) doesn't even do her justice. That girl can SING. Plus, I'm in piano lessons right now and Sara is an amazing piano player, so watching her rock out like that was very inspiring! I know you've heard her song, but if you don't have her CD, you should totally get it. The opening act was pretty killer too...it was this all-girl band called Raining Jane...very cool. Anyways, it was fun to be back at the hotel cafe...I haven't been since I played there, so it was fun to be in the audience and just enjoy a really great show at a hip venue...it was hot and sweaty as heck, but totally worth it. :)

Well my peeps...I promise I won't be so long away next time. Thanks for being patient and sticking by me. I'll check ya later...

Hoku*