Week of Friday, January 18, 2019 | Vol. 7, No. 3
Check da Scene
Grinds & Da Kines For Your Weekend
TAHITI NUI SAYS WELCOME HOME
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2 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019
TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK FRIDAY
KAUAI KLASSICS CONCERT 6:30 p.m. St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Lihue Featuring San Francisco artists. $80 includes 5:30 pre-concert artist reception, pupu, wine, preferred seating. $30 general seating. Benefit for Kauai United Way. “ARSENIC AND OLD LACE” 7 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 seniors, $10 students. Info: kauaicommunityplayers.org
starting on a sunset-to-full-moon walk. Info: Judy Dalton, 482-1129 JAMMIN’ REGGAE FESTIVAL 5:30 p.m. Kilohana luau pavilion, Puhi Rebel Souljahz, Maoli and The Homestead. Fundraiser for Kaiola Canoe Club. Beer, wine and food available for purchase. 21 and over. Tickets are $35 in advance $45 at the door. Info: bit.ly/2F8zEYS MONDAY
AARP SMART DRIVING CLASS 1 to 5 p.m. Kapaa Neighborhood Center $15 members, $20 nonmembers. RegistraSATURDAY tion required. Info: Jim Jung, 822-0448 TUESDAY KAUAI VOICES CONCERT, “BROADWAY, BABY!” HANALEI DISASTER WORKSHOP 6 p.m. Anaina Hou Porter Pavilion, 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hale Halawai Ohana Kilauea o Hanalei Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $30 Learn about the impacts of the 2018 VIP early seating. Info: www.kauaivoices.org, flooding, hear an update of the Hanalei to 800-838-3006 Haena Disaster Resilience Plan, and help “ARSENIC AND OLD LACE” 7 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 seniors, $10 students. Info: kauaicommunityplayers.org HANAPEPE HISTORY DAY 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Storybook Theatre of Hawaii, Hanapepe Photo, map exhibit, plantation-style luncheon, guest speakers, afternoon visit to several abandoned former plantation camps on West Kauai, refreshments. Free admission. SUNDAY “ARSENIC AND OLD LACE” 4 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 seniors, $10 students. Info: kauaicommunityplayers.org SIERRA CLUB HIKE Mahaulepu and Makauwahi cave reserve, South Shore, morning Moderate three miles. Info: Allan Rachap, 212-3108 SIERRA CLUB HIKE Wailua to Nukolii, evening Easy 1.5 miles. Watch the moon as it turns completely red on the walk. Meet at Lydgate Park and enjoy a picnic dinner before
proritize needed trainings and next steps. Info: 826-1985 or at hanaleiwatershedhui@ gmail.com MOVIE NIGHT 6 p.m. Koloa Public/School Library The free movie is “Christopher Robin.” Info: 742-8455 WEDNESDAY
WEST KAUAI COMMUNITY PLAN WORKSHOP 5 to 7 p.m., Hanapepe Public Library Focusing on heritage resources. Info: westkauaiplan.org THURSDAY
WEST KAUAI COMMUNITY PLAN WORKSHOP 5 to 7 p.m. Kekaha Neighborhood Center Focusing on heritage resources. Info: westkauaiplan.org WAIPA DISASTER WORKSHOP 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hale Halawai Ohana o Hanalei Learn about the impacts of the 2018 flooding, hear an update to the Hanalei to Haena Disaster Resilience Plan, and help prioritize needed trainings and next steps. More info: 826-1985 or at hanaleiwatershedhui@ gmail.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bill Buley | bbuley@thegardenisland.com | 245-0457 ADVERTISING: displayads@thegardenisland.com | 245-0425 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: tgiclassified@thegardenisland.com | 246-0325
Bill Buley / TGIFR!DAY
Mai tais are lined up and ready to be served at Tahiti Nui in Hanalei. ON THE COVER: The view from behind the bar into the welcoming bar and restaurant.
HOMECOMING BILL BULEY TGIFR!DAY
I
t’s good to be back. That was my thought when my wife and I wandered into Tahiti Nui in Hanalei last Sunday. It was our first visit there in nearly a year. We took our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren there for dinner when they visited us in January 2018. Hard to believe we hadn’t been back since. How does that happen? Change in habits, I guess. Seems the longer I live here, the smaller my travel circle becomes. Perhaps the April flood washed away the pull to the North Shore. When we moved here nearly six years ago, trips to Hanalei were common. We zipped out there once a week for the same reasons as everyone else, to enjoy a walk, a swim, stand on the pier and watch the sunset.
Stopping at Tahiti Nui is like visiting an old friend
Eventually, we discovered Tahiti Nui. This was my kind of place. An old-time restaurant bar with friendly vibes, good music, inviting atmosphere. For a time, we were regulars, sitting in what I referred to as the George Clooney seat, where he sat during a scene shot there for the 2011 movie, “The Descendants.” Every time a relative visited, I insisted we take them to the Nui for happy hour of $4 draft beers and $8 mai tais, all the while talking story with anyone nearby, watching the people come and go and occasionally standing outside on the deck to check the traffic and for lost dogs that might need rescuing. When people would ask me where to go on Kauai, I would send them to Tahiti Nui. It offers a sense of old Hawaii, and such places are hard to find. I recalled what a friend
told me about this place that has been in business more than 50 years ago, started by the Louise Marston in May 1963. And it remains in the Marston family, with pictures on every wall to prove it. “It’s the only place like this,” my friend said. “The history, the people, everything about it appeals to me. It’s not trying to be something that it isn’t.” It’s one of those rare originals that has somehow defied time and hung on to what makes it so special — a relaxing, warm, fun place to eat, drink and hang out with ohana and make new friends. Surfers stop in after a day on the waves. Locals are greeted with a grin and called by name. Tourists look around tentatively, then settle in at the bar to try this place they’ve heard about. I remember the night we SEE NUI, PAGE 3
TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019 | 3
I recalled an early conversation I had there about Auntie Louise and Tahiti Nui. She wanted people to feel welcome when they walked through the doors, to feel
like they were home, to feel like they could and should sit and stay and be part of this family. We were away a long time. But it still felt like
home. ••• Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 2450457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.-
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Bill Buley / TGIFR!DAY
Pictures of Tahiti Nui founder Louise Marston and others line the bar of the Hanalei watering hole.
Nui Continued from Page 2
had all five of our children, our son-in-law, and friends all packed into the back room for a night of pizza and beer while celebrating our anniversary. It was glorious. Another night, my wife sat there for hours, listening to live music, talking to people from Boston we met next to that George Clooney seat, and swapped phone numbers on the premise that perhaps one day we would meet again if they returned to Kauai or I ran the Boston Marathon again, whichever came first. Neither. Just as we never spoke to those folks again, our visits to Tahiti Nui became less and less frequent. The magic, it seemed, was gone. And for many months, we
didn’t return. Time flew by and suddenly, it was 2019. Time for a visit. It was a homecoming of sorts. Becky, one of the bartenders we first met back in 2013, was just starting her shift and chatted with my wife. I watched and listened. The people across the bar were having too much fun, laughter roaring and bouncing around the walls. It was like spending time with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long, long time. We had some catching up to do. So for an hour or so we sat, talked, soaked in the surroundings. This is not a place for sad conversation and counseling over drinks. It is a place for smiles and laughs and enjoying life. So we did. By the way, if you stop in, I recommend pizza. There are plenty of options, from Tiki Man (kalua pig, pepperoni, chicken, garlic, red on-
ion, mushrooms, smokey barbecue sauce, pineapple and cilantro, $25); Margarita (local tomatoes, basil and and garlic, $18); the Hanalei Bay (shrimp, basil, garlic and red onions, $26) and my favorite, The Hawaiian (choose Hawaiian style kalua pig or ham with pineapple, $20). Dinner entrees, including the honey glazed shrimp, the macadamia crusted chicken, baby back ribs, and the Nui burger (half pound of Makaweli beef patty, bacon, gorgonzola, cheddar, mushrooms, crispy onions, lettuce), range from $20 to $30 or so. While the food and drinks (mai tai is legendary) are excellent, don’t focus on that. Focus on the vibes, the ambiance, the pictures, the people, the sounds. It’s that memory of a sense of this very special place that will stay with you long after the plates and glasses are empty.
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Hanalei River Healing
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Aloha from Hanalei
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Hanalei Strings
Ohana Shop
Alo La‘a Yoga & Dance
Honua Engineering
On the Road to Hanalei
Banandi Creperie
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Kalypso Restaurant
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Three Brothers Gourmet Market
Chicken in a Barrel BBQ
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Timeshare Resales
Hanalei Bay Pizzeria
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4 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019
STRING PLAYING IN POIPU DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY imberly Hope wants people to take out their semi-formal and formal wear for Valentine’s Day. Teaming with Aowl Owen, the duo will present a concert featuring original music by each of the artists on Feb. 14 at Kauai Christian Fellowship in Poipu. “This is not necessarily classical music,” Hope said. “We each have compositions that are contemporary along with classical with string play.” “We’re also trying to change the face of concerts,” she said. “’A Night of Original Music’ will be a different type of concert. It is not a vibe concert where the event keeps going on and becomes boring. It’s going to be a nice, sit-down event where people can appreciate the music in a not-toolong concert. Just enough to get people excited about the music.” Hope started playing the violin about 14 years ago after being introduced to
Violin duo to perform original music at concert next month
K
Dennis Fujimoto / TGIFR!DAY
Aowl Owen and Kimberly Hope will host a concert featuring their original music at Kauai Christian Fellowship in Poipu next month.
the instrument when the elementary school she was attending offered classes and her parents agreed to let her play. Since then, she has progressed to where she was
a special guest performer at the Zonta Club of Kauai’s “Heroine’s Concert” Saturday. She also was able to play alongside Hookena and Malia Gibson Bandmann during the recent “Beautiful
Music, Beautiful Hula” event at the Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center. She currently works with Owen at the Bandwagon as instructors.
Owen also has 14 years of experience playing the violin. “It was kind of crazy,” the former Island School soccer player said. “I was watching TV when I saw this Prego
spaghetti sauce (commercial) that had a classical musical track. My mother said the piece was being played by a violin, and she surprised me by enrolling me in orchestra training. That was when we were living in Colorado.” Owen said the Kauai Christian Fellowship event will have vendors selling food from 5:30 p.m. The show will begin shortly thereafter. “This is more than a concert,” Owen said. “We’re using the foyer and sanctuary of the church. We’re changing things up so people will have more than just a night of music. It’ll be an experience with dessert and photos following the concert.” Advance tickets for the concert will go on sale starting Monday at the Bandwagon Lihue in Kukui Grove Center, and at the Aloha Exchange in Kalaheo. ••• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
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TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019 | 5
‘GLASS’ IS AN UNDERWHELMING ROLLER COASTER LINDSEY BAHR ASSOCIATED PRESS
S
amuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price, or Mr. Glass, as he prefers to be called, was by far the most compelling part of M. Night Shyamalan’s slow-burn comic book sendup “Unbreakable.” A brilliant, tortured manipulator and superhero enthusiast suffering from osteogenesis imperfecta (i.e. brittle bone disease), Glass is that kind of charismatic supervillain that you can’t get enough of. Nineteen years is certainly a long time to wait for more Mr. Glass. But Shyamalan, even after naming this long-gestating film after Jackson’s character, decides to withhold him from the audience even longer. Yes, he makes Mr. Glass a highly sedated vegetable who gets to do little more thank blink and intensely stare at the camera for what feels like more than half of the movie. It’s one of the many ways in which “Glass” (two stars out of four), which seems to delight
Jessica Kourkounis / Universal Pictures via AP
Samuel L. Jackson, from left, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis are interrogated in a scene from M. Night Shyamalan’s “Glass.”
in building up anticipation only to pull the rug out from under you, manages to both frustrate and underwhelm. I’m sure it’s some kind of meta-commentary on the futility of serialized storytelling, the contrivances and deification of comic book culture and easily malleable audience expectations, but in execution it mostly feels like a tub full of half-baked ideas that never really coalesce into something exciting, meaningful or all that
touch), has been trying to memorable. find the missing cheerleadWe see Bruce Willis’s David ers. Joseph warns him to be Dunn taking a couple of teen pranksters to task. Then it jumps to James McAvoy’s multiple personalities, who’ve decided to take four teenage cheerleaders hostage because they’re “impure” and “need to be punished.” David, who is working alongside his now-grown son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark, the same actor from “Unbreakable,” which is actually a nice
careful, because David has also been branded a public nuisance for all of his wouldbe good deeds that have left criminals and victims injured and looking for someone to sue. If you’re thinking, wait, isn’t this sort of the plot of “Incredibles,” just wait because it even brushes up against some “Incredibles 2” themes, intentionally or not. David and the “Horde” (the term used to describe the collective of all of McAvoy’s personalities, which range from a 9-year-old boy and an older British woman, to a terrifying flesh-eating creature called “The Beast”) meet and low-budget fight a bit, but are
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interrupted by the authorities and Sarah Paulson’s Dr. Ellie Staple, who take them to the psychiatric hospital where Price is. Mr. Glass does emerge from his vegetative state, eventually, and kicks the movie into gear as only Jackson can do. McAvoy is once again giving his all to all the characters, and watching him shift between them is still enjoyable, but perhaps not worth all the screen time it gets. Willis barely gets anything to do at all. But for all the hype behind these three characters meeting, and the years it took to get it off the ground, “Glass” is one big anti-climax.
6 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019
WHAT HE WRITES ABOUT WHEN HE WRITES ABOUT RUNNING BILL BULEY TGIFR!DAY
really so much the running (well, if it’s a good run, we’ll talk about it all day if anyone will listen), but the places, the people, the feelings, the have read hundreds of books experiences, that come with each about running. Only one starts the first sentence of chapter one run. That’s what we love to talk about. That’s what Murakami talks on Kauai. about so well. You see, he makes a “I’m on Kauai, in Hawaii today, running book interesting to those Friday, August 5, 2005. It’s unbewho don’t run. Don’t care to run. lievably clear and sunny, not a Don’t like to run. Don’t have any cloud in the sky. As if the concept interest in running. clouds doesn’t even exist. I came His narratives in this 180-page here at the end of July and, as always, we rented a condo. During book pull them along: ◗ “I finally reach the end. the mornings, when it’s cool, I sit at my desk, writing all sorts of things. Strangely, I have no feeling of accomplishment. The only thing I feel Like now: I’m writing this, a piece on running that I can pretty much is utter relief that I don’t have to compose as I wish. It’s summer, so run anymore. I use a spigot at a gas station to cool off my overheated naturally it’s hot.” body and wash away the salt stuck Good stuff. to me.” It’s that forward, concise style ◗ “Today as I was running I saw of writing that could also describe the running style of Haruki Muraka- a plump Canada goose lying dead mi, who wrote the 2008 bestseller, by the shore of the Charles. A dead squirrel, too, lying next to a tree. “What I Talk About When I Talk They both looked like they were fast About Running: A Memoir.” asleep, but they were dead. Their What kind of title is that? What expressions were calm, as if they’d I talk about when I talk about accepted the end of life, as if they running? Runners understand this well, as were finally liberated.” ◗ “As I ran, different parts of my we love to talk about running. Not
I
used to. I’m ready to accept that. It’s not one of your happier realities, but that’s what happens when you get older. Just as I have my own role to play, so does time.” Murakami is more than a runner and author. Last year he announced that he is working to set up a library that will showcase his works and also serve as a meeting place for research and international exchanges. The library would archive his books, various stages of drafts of his novels, materials he used to write his books, and his translation work, as well as his massive collection of music, which plays a body, one after another, began to key role in his stories, he said in an hurt. First my right thigh hurt like crazy, then that pain migrated over Associated Press report. The library is planned at Waseda to my right knee, then to my left thigh, and on and on. All the parts University, his alma mater in Tokyo. “I’m more than happy if those of my body had their chance to materials can contribute any way take center stage and scream out for those who want to study my their complaints. They screamed, works,” the 69-year-old Murakami complained, yelled in distress, said at a joint news conference and warned me that they weren’t with school officials at Waseda. “I going to take it anymore.” hope it would be a place for cul◗ “I don’t care about the time I run. I can try all I want, but I doubt tural exchanges with positive and open atmosphere.” I’ll ever be able to run the way I
A perennial contender for the Nobel literature prize, Murakami began writing while running a jazz bar in Tokyo before graduating from Waseda in 1975. His debut novel, “Hear the Wind Sing,” came out in 1979, and the 1987 romantic novel “Norwegian Wood” was his first best-seller, establishing him as a young literary star. His latest novel, “Killing Commendatore,” hit U.S. bookstores last year. Perhaps some day, I’ll go running with Murakami when he visits Kauai. Yes, I would love to talk to him about running when we’re running. But perhaps we would just run, in silence. Perhaps we would just glide along, breathing easily, taking in the sounds, the sights, and feeling the sting of the sweat in our eyes that comes with a morning run on Kauai. Just running when we’re running. We could talk about running later. ••• Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
JAMES LEE BURKE’S NEW NOVEL IS ENGAGING, EMOTIONAL MYSTERY JEFF AYERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
J
ames Lee Burke’s novels have mysteries that light the fuse of the story, but the almost poetic prose sets his novels apart. His newest novel, “The New Iberia Blues: A Dave Robicheaux Novel” (Simon and Schuster), is no exception.
A boy that detective Dave Robicheaux knew almost 25 years ago left town to pursue his dream of becoming a Hollywood film director. Desmond Cormier found success and moves back with awards and respect. Robicheaux meets him not to congratulate him, but to inquire about the
body of a young woman who was found brutally murdered near his property. Cormier says he has no idea what happened, but Robicheaux has his doubts. Soon another suspect becomes the prime candidate when one of Robicheaux’s friends says he saw a man jump off a train and run away.
He regrets not reporting it sooner, and it becomes clear that he witnessed the escape of an inmate named Hugo Tillinger who was in prison for murder and arson. He had claimed he was innocent and an organization known for helping prisoners overturn their convictions was looking into his case.
The woman who met with Tillinger is Robicheaux’s murder victim. It seems like an openand-shut case, but evidence and motive are never that transparent. This time the story is not about the mystery itself, but more about the lyrical journey into Robicheaux’s past and present that will keep the readers in awe.
CHECK DA SCENE
TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019 | 7
DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY
Gayle O’Donnell, Winnie Lu Dan Kimberly, Alicia Kimberly, Debra Spung
Kimberly Hope, Mark Bonilla
BROADWAY EXPERIENCE
D Lisa Johnston, Kathy Tinaro, Annie Meredith-Mitchell
Mike McDermott, Ron Miller, Krissi Miller
Yarrow Beydoun, Lisa Makaneole, Rose Hayes
Sheryl Ramos, Jo Rae Baptiste
Debra Spung, Anne Runolfsson, Tess Adams, Kimberly Hope, Ray Fellman, Elizabeth Kreitzer, Jessika Cristobal
Darnell Aquino, Darrellyn Lemke, Nadine Longboy
ebra Spung, a high school classmate of Anne Runolfsson, was definitely in attendance Saturday night when the Zonta Club of Kauai Foundation presented its “Heroine’s Song” as a fundraiser at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. “We went to school together,” Spung said. “I went to Maui when she performed there. I asked Anne, ‘How would you like to play on Kauai?’ Darrelyn Lemke of the Zonta Club of Kauai was also at the Maui concert and I got the two together.” Runolfsson, with a large number of Broadway credits to her name, headlined the Saturday presentation with her daughter, Tess Adams, and Kauai performers including Kimberly Hope and Elizabeth Kreitzer performing under the musical direction of Ray Fellman. Guests were treated not just to Broadway-caliber entertainment, but the experience was enhanced by a healthy offering of pupu and refreshments provided by donors and sponsors.
Neva Olson, Dimples Kano
8 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, January 18, 2019
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