Kaila Hawaiʻi is all about style. So it was only a matter of time before we changed our style for the new season. And our days of webhosting at WordPress have come to their end.

Visit Kaila Hawai’i at its brand new design at http://www.kailahawaii.com with an online aStore and more things to come.

(The original will be left intact here for prosterity’s sake.)

This ad for the American Indian College Fund is one of the most intelligent that I have seen in quite some time. On one hand, it’s modern and stands aesthetically on its own. (And whoever is handling ad placement for AICF agrees and keenly placed it in the 2010 Men’s Fashion issue of New York Times’ T Magazine.)

On the other hand, it effectively demonstrates generations of traditions and values that reach back into time. Such is the responsibility undertaken by the young man featured, Mr. Alan Waukau, a Criminal Justice major from the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin.

More specifically, the tag line “Think Indian”  makes me think of Apple‘s “Think Different” campaign of the late nineties. It featured iconic figures that broke out of conventions of accepted thought, such as Einstein, Martha Graham, and George Clinton. By changing one word out of two, we still break out from the dullness of the mainstream but uphold native values at the same.

Total respect.

Staying on the foodie theme, I particularly appreciate Lora Zarubin’s sushi article (fish) (delicious) (November 2009 issue) with its helpful guidelines and great photography. Never have I seen raw fish (above) so closely resemble some kind of stylish accessory (what kind of accessory though, I can’t say). Plus, it’s the first time I’ve seen a guide on how to eat sushi with your hand (left), which, I’ve been told, is how it’s really supposed to be done (at least, for nigiri).

Read more of the Los Angeles Times Magazine here.

Credits

• Photography: Victoria Pearson | Illusration: Jameson Simpson for the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Though I’ve never lived in California, I’ve always thought of myself as more of a NorCal than SoCal person. The good wine, slow food, and liberal attitudes of the Bay Area just suits my personality much more. But something’s changing.

It might be a passing case of rock fever. But recently I’ve been thinking of Los Angeles. Maybe too many hits of the David Duchovny-loaded Californication have taken their toll on my psyche—and yes, I’m aware he’s a New Yorker at heart that often loathes the City of Angels—but L.A. is moving fast up the list as my next off-island stop.

And nothing has added fuel to the fantasy fire like the savvy mag Angeleno. It puts a luxe spin of L.A.’s distinctive brand of easy cool with a touch of edgy sophistication. The March 2010 issue features actress Toni Collette on the cover. But what really caught my attention was the all-black fashion spread “Theory of Devolution” and the architecture feature “Postcards from the Ledge”. Fantastic.

Read more

The latest issue of Angeleno is available for free browsing and download at on Modern Luxury’s website. Also don’t miss Modern Luxury’s Los Angeles page.

Credits

• “Theory of Devolution” – Photography: Nino Muñoz | Styling: Bernardo Siaotong | Art: Daniel Lyons
• “Postcards from the Ledge” – Photography: Benny Chan, Peden + Munk, and Mark Luscombe-Whyte

“Kareho Koe”, the new clip from Tikahiri‘s new album Merahi Kerekere, is finally up on YouTube in high resolution. Its dark, gothic atmosphere and slick production make it one of the more original clips out of Tahiti and French Polynesia to date.

Like Tikahiri’s video debut “Tapea te paari”, the band maintains its special brand of smoldering and brooding. But on this occasion, a female element appears as a mysterious woman who seems to lure one of the men into her grasp during the darkness of the night. Unfortunately, you need to speak pa’umotu (the language of the Tuamotu Archipelgo) to get the complete meaning of the song, and, alas, no translations have appeared yet. Somehow, I think you can get the song’s jist just by watching.

More Tikahiri on Kaila Hawai’i:

• Polynesian Gothic: Tikahiri’s back with new album & clip
• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

“Kareho Koe”, the new clip from Tikahiri‘s new album Merahi Kerekere, is finally up on YouTube in high resolution. Its dark, gothic atmosphere and slick production make it one of the more original clips out of Tahiti and French Polynesia to date.

Like Tikahiri’s video debut “Tapea te paari”, the band maintains its special brand of smoldering and brooding. But on this occasion, a female element appears as a mysterious woman who seems to lure one of the men into her grasp during the darkness of the night. Unfortunately, you need to speak pa’umotu (the language of the Tuamotu Archipelgo) to get the complete meaning of the song, and, alas, no translations have appeared yet. Somehow, I think you can get the song’s jist just by watching.

More Tikahiri on Kaila Hawai’i:

• Polynesian Gothic: Tikahiri’s back with new album & clip
• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

Today’s Hawaiian word of the day is kai a Pele, or tsunami or tidal wave.

The inspiration for today’s choice was obviously the events of this past February 27, 2010, following the oceanic surge sent throughout the Pacific Ocean by the Chilean quake. On a side note, I must say that some celebratory champagne from the night before had led me to think of something more sinister concocted by Kim Jong Il when I was awakened far too early by the sirens’ metallic screech at 5:50 in the morning. Hence, I was “relieved” to learn that the crisis at hand was actually natural.

Before I get complaints from the scientifically-inclined, I’d like to underline the difference between tsunami and a tidal wave. While tsunamis are generated by geological disturbances, the key word in the layman’s term is tidal, referring, of course, to the tides. Since tsunamis are not caused by the tides, tidal wave is discouraged as term to describe the phenomena. (At the same, tsunami literally means “harbor wave” in Japanese, so here’s to the scientific community’s selective recognition of etymology.)

Now that the digression is over, back to the ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Though the Hawaiian word for wave is nalu, the Hawaiian terms referring to tsunami or tidal waves found in Pukui and Elbert’s Hawaiian Dictionary use instead the word kai, or sea.

Besides kai a Pele (literally “sea of Pele”), other terms are kai e‘e (mounting sea) and the variant kai ho‘ē‘e. As a verb, ho‘ē‘e can be to rise or swell. I do recall hearing some Ni‘ihau speakers dropping the word kai and using either e‘e or ho‘ē‘e on its own to refer to the destructive wave. Interestingly enough, the Hawaiian term is closer to the actual nature of the tsunami, a swelling of the sea that surges ashore as opposed to one crashing wave. The receding of the ocean that precedes the tsunami is called kai mimiki.

Personally, I prefer kai a Pele because it refers to the wahine kapu (sacred woman) of Kīlauea herself, Pele, and her awesome powers. Not only the creator of new land, Pele also makes the earth tremble in ōla‘i, or earthquakes—the generator of the tsunami.  In the lower case, pele refers to lava and eruption. And if my understanding of Hawaiian grammar is right, the possessive a suggests that the destructive sea does not just belong to Pele but is created or generated by the goddess herself. Though the hula kahiko “Aia la ‘o Pele” refers to eruptions, I think it’s meditative inquiry “I hea kāua e la‘i ai, ‘ea?” (Where can we find peace?) is equally appropriate for kai a Pele.

Fortunately enough, the Pacific was spared from the kai a Pele this past weekend. Since I was already awake Saturday and suffering from my own ōla‘i (of notably French origin) between my temples, I jumped online to see what was occurring in French Polynesia because of the region’s closer proximity to Chile. The Gambier Islands only recorded 26 cm. The harbor in Pape‘ete, Tahiti only noted marginal rises. The minimal waves Because of their topography, the Marquesas, or Te Fenua Enata, recorded the strongest waves, measuring up to four meters at Ua Pou. On Radio Polynésie, a local resident reported seeing tourbillons, or whirlpools, form in the water. A day later, La Dépêche de Tahiti published the following photos—not exactly kai a Pele but curious enough.

Sources:

• Flickr – Clearly Ambiguous – Under Creative Commons License
• La Dépêche de Tahiti
• Pukui and Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary

Though this song sounded vaguely familiar when I first heard it on the excellent soundtrack for the  By Malene Birger’s Autumn/Winter 2010 show, I couldn’t think of the name of the song or the band. Because of its genius refrain, I found it quickly enough: “Bus Stop” by the Fatback Band. This particular version dates from a 1975 broadcast of the one and only Soul Train. I’m just in love with the style here, not to be mention the moves. Enough to show they can dance but not too much to seem like they’re showing off. Unbeatable.

The utterly thirst-inspiring cocktail featured in the photo above is the one and only Sazerac. Invented back in 1833 by Antoine Amédie Peychaud, owner of a New Orleans apothecary, the Sazerac in its modern incarnation is a satisfying mix of rye whisky or bourbon, Herbsaint, Peychaud’s Bitters, a sugar cube and a slice of lemon peel. I was introduced to it a few years ago by a savvy barman, and the impression has remained with me ever since.

Very few bars on O’ahu offer the Sazerac, but then again, we are a significant distance from New Orleans. One downtown establishment, whose name I shall kindly refrain from mentioning, offers a certain kind of Sazerac. Unfortunately, their version leaves me far from satiated and craving the genuine McCoy.

Thankfully, an expert bartender at one of my favorite Honolulu eateries, the fantastic Town located on Wai’alae Avenue in Kaimukī, makes a superb Sazerac. A friend and I out for drinks snapped a shot of this Sazerac on the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition and lifted a toast to connoisseurs of fine drinks everywhere.

I’m not certain if all the bartenders at Town are familiar with the Sazerac, so try to check ahead. (Thankfully, Town has an array of other satisfying alcoholic concoctions in case you can’t get a taste of New Orleans.)

To learn more

• “How the Sazerac Cocktail Came to Be”

To drink more

Tikahiri, my favorite Pa’umotu goth band – and perhaps the only Pa’umoth goth band that ever will exist – is about to release their second studio album dubbed Merahi Kerekere. According to the band’s Facebook page, the discs are sous douane, which I’m liberally interpreting as “stuck in customs”. Luckily, three tracks are already up for listening on Reverb Nation. Two  of the  tracks (“A Tauahi Mai” and “Kareho Koe”) are in Pa’umotu, the language of the Tuamotu archipelago where lead members Aroma and Mano Salmon grew up. The other  (“Falling in Love”) is in English. (Note: no tracks in French, so Tikahiri’s right on par with indie bands in France métropolitaine.)

I must say that Tikahiri in English feels different than Tikahiri in a Polynesian language. The latter feels breezy and fresh, even in its darker moments, sounding as if it is out of 21st century Tahiti where the band lives and records. Tikahiri in English, on the other hand, tends to transport me to L.A. somewhere in the 80s – a curious, though not unpleasant, experience, to say the least.

Linguistic matters aside, Tikahiri seems to be following in the tracks of their debut Tamaki Hope’a, as they remain faithful to their acoustic aesthetic all the while developing it further. As if taken out of some modernist composition, the cellos riffs that open “Falling in Love”, for instance, add a sense of urgency unheard on their debut.

Until Merahi Kerekere is finally released and, hopefully, on iTunes for easy download, I suggest checking out the clip of the making of “Kareho Koe” up on the Facebook page as well. You get to follow band, crew, and, of course, attractive young female model up to the mountains outside of Pape’ete for a late night shoot. I must say that it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Polynesian man rock a goth look with black lipstick and vintage military jackets, all the while retaining the testosterone factor. (Of course, many of us have seen a few with significantly brighter shades of lipstick, but that’s a different experience altogether that one should be in the mood for.)

Tikahiri is…

• Aroma Salmon – Vocals, Guitar
• Simon Pillard – Cello
• Stephane Rossoni – Drums
• Mano Salmon – Vocals, Bass

How to Listen

Tikahiri’s first album Tamaki Hope’a is available for download from Amazon.com and on iTunes.

New songs on Merahi Kerekere

If I’m guess right from my Hawaiian and basic Tahitian, tupapaku is pa’umotu for “corpse”. So going off the track names,  you have a gothic medley of love, life, and death… and whatever track nine is about.

1. Kareho Koe
2. Falling in Love
3. A Tauahi Mai
4. Beautiful Lady
5. Merahi Kerekere
6. Tupapaku
7. In Love
8. You Make My Life
9. Penetration
10. Take Me Away
11. Beyond Reach

More of Tikahiri on Kaila Hawaiʻi

• Tātau and leather – “Tapea te paari”, Tikahiri’s debut clip
• Polyneisan Paradoxes: Tikahiri

Sources

• Tikahiri’s Facebook page