Turns out that Zanuck Lindsey & John Valentine are both playing a gig at the Sheraton Poolside Sand Bar (not to be confused with the locals’ favorite Sand Bar… unfortunately.). The last time I saw Zanuck play was at The W & he did this acoustic jazz version of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” that was simply amazing. On top of that he let me sit in & sing Blues Traveler’s “Runaround,” & rolled beautifully with me when I screwed up, so that automatically puts him in my Top Ten Guitarists list.

And then there’s John, described by my critic friend Bin as “one of the best male vocalists in Hawaii.” I recently managed to get squeezed in for vocal lessons with John (Bin: “Lauren. Do whatever it takes to make him happy. Ok?”) & he’s been busting my balls (figuratively speaking, thanks.) but I’m learning a ton. So I definitely want to see this guy on stage.
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I planned my friend Jason’s birthday dinner (Jason gets birthday “dinners” rather than birthday “parties” because he doesn’t like to drink. Fair enough.); he wanted food that was cooked & I wanted Japanese (that’s what it came down to) so I thought: teppanyaki!

My sister & I used to tend bar at On The Rocks Cafe in Waikiki (now gone). We had this regular—a loud-mouthed, Jack drinking, bullseye killing (we had dartboards), party-crazed beast who used to grace us with his company most nights. When I say company, I also mean he brought all the Tanaka of Tokyo workers with him. This birthday dinner was an opportunity to go see Rich at his place.

Rich is one of the most professional guys I know in F & B. He is a veteran of old school service ideals & dogma, & I have total faith in a good experience in his hands.
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I used to have the license plates “WARP 7″ on my first RX-7. They got stolen while I was parked in the same hotel as a Star Trek convention. I’m serious - right off the car. I wasn’t even all that into Star Trek. I just thought it was a cool plate for an RX-7. I later found out that, according to the world of Star Trek, warp 10 is the fastest anything can go in the universe. This really appealed to the geek in me, but when I recently tried to reserve “WARP 10,” I discovered that someone had beaten me to it. KHANNNN!!!!!!

Then, as if out of nowhere, I had an idea!

“Goes to 11!” Yay for Spinal Tap! Boo for me though, because I just found out online that the State of Hawaii won’t let you have a vanity plate that is three letters followed by three numbers. KHANNNN!!!!!

I do have a third choice however. It is a secret, but I know I can get it. It is so awesomely geeky that it will polarize the world into two categories: the people who have memorized the Empire Strikes Back, and everyone else. I can’t wait.

Last last Friday I went to the Warriors Lounge at the Hale Koa in Waikiki with my girlfriend Lara. Karaoke is sung on a stage there, & Lara was working on her Karaoke Stage Performance skills (hey, why not!). I’ve sung live with a band onstage & been just fine with it, but my little stint on Hawaii Stars (not my idea!) was traumatic, & so I figured I could hone my K.S.P. skills as well. Or at the very least, it would be something different & hopefully interesting.

I have no photos of The Warriors Lounge because I was too shell shocked to remember I had a camera. So… sorry.
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A sea of red filled the streets of Honolulu and the neighbor islands yesterday as thousands of Hawaiian people from all walks of life came out in support of Kamehameha Schools and their 117 year old Hawaiians only admissions policy. Media reports indicate that this was one of the strongest showing of Hawaiian unity in recent years. The Honolulu rally and march attracted an estimated crowd of around 10,000 to 15,000 protestors.

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So I’m in the shower the other day, & I don’t have my contacts in, which means I can tell generally where the shower is but that’s about it. Out of the corner of my eye I see something move. I know right away what it is, because I am experienced with visitors in the shower, having lived on my share of local mountain sides.
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You know, we often go half the year without a really good show coming to town, and then when we finally get someone great, we get several all at once. That really sucks. Public Enemy’s going to be performing at Kapiolani Community College two weeks from tonight, and that would normally be an automatic, but who wants to see PE at KCC?
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No, it’s not an attempt to rename a local high school football team something more location appropriate. I mean the lizards in my yard.

I grew up in Kuliouou chasing bright green “chameleons” that turned brown once you caught them. They had long, wedge-shaped heads & little razor teeth. They grew to around 8 inches max, & they would cockily bob their heads at you & flare their red little chin thingies (”dewlaps”) before disappearing into the bushes.

So I move into Kaimuki, & when I’m weeding the yard (that is correct. I weed my yard. It is therapeutic.) I can feel reptilian eyes on me, watching for the little dirt roaches that I disturb with my weeder. They will actually sit within arm’s reach & wait patiently for lunch. If I pick up a bug & toss it, they will catch it.

But they aren’t the same little green lizards of my youth. Apparently there are green anoles & there are brown anoles.

I Googled a bunch of sites, & there seems to be some consensus that brown anoles are encroaching upon the green anole population, at least in Florida. I’ve only seen one pure green anole in the yard since I moved here last June. There was also a green striped anole who hung out, persistently, on various metal components of a special “catbox cage” my ex-boyfriend & I were building. I referred to him as “Eddie.”

I miss the green “chameleons.” While I’m impressed with the various markings & colorations these friendly brown guys sport, I worry about the future of the lizards of my youth. Where have they gone? I’m going to have to ask my grandma in Kuliouou about this.

Ok, so I ended up checking out Lovefest at the Hawaiian Adventures water park late last night. Lovefest was a huge “party” featuring a number of deejays, famous and not-so-famous, spinning on 3 stages. I figured why not check it out? You never know. Being that I went so late, I only caught a couple of the deejays. Fortunately, they were the headliners, with the main draw of the evening being DJ Baby Anne. She was pretty good, although since she was playing her own stuff, it really looked like she was just spinning pre-mixed CD’s every 7-8 minutes. I could be wrong about that, but even though the music was alright, the act itself didn’t impress me. I thought DJ Craze was better, but then he’s a turntablist and I can respect that. Still, I regret going.

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