WE'RE BACK!!!!!

Well, Rich and I just arrived back from Hawaii ,.a little jet-lagged but grateful for the experience,..

I have to say I'm at a loss for words in terms of trying to explain what an experience we had,..

Let me think of one,...

(Sing the jeopardy theme for a minute)

............

Got one:

SUPERCALAFRAGALISTICEXPEALIDOSCIOUS!!!!!

(Did I spell it right?? eh?)

OMG!

What an amazing place! What an amazing event! Girlfesthonolulu was inspiring to say the least!

To have the opportunity to witness superior performances of women (and a couple men too) from all around the world, to meet as many amazing people in one week,..To see the beauty, which is Hawaii , for the first time,. I was absolutely inspired to come back to NYC and be the absolute best I can be,..At everything,..

That's the kind of event it was,..

The official GirlfestHawaii mission statement says it all:

"Our mission is to change peer culture in order to prevent increasing violence against women and girls through education, entertainment and positive representation of women. "

For more detailed information PLEASE log on: http://www.girlfesthawaii.org

Donate money! If you live in Hawaii and have no money, apply to be a volunteer for the upcoming events! Or if you don't live in Hawaii and have no money just move there ok? Become a volunteer!

Support the local Girlfest events!

There were no man hating sessions,..no bashing,..no judging,..none of that,..just love,...the way it should be,..and great performances,..dance, music, spoken word,..art,..films,..amazing,..

I didn't get a chance to see any films,..I was sad about that,..I also didn't have the chance to attend any of the panels,..Which I really wanted to do and apparently I missed a doosey, the "women for change" panel,..Which everyone who attended raved about,..

At the time of the panel, I was on a beach in Kailua feeling overwhelmed by the joyous landscape,..lush mountains on all sides, turquoise blue water, the sun in my face,..Contemplating what a "civilized society" really is,..As opposed to a "primitive society",..Moving to say the least,..For me anyway,..

It was a trip that will burn on my consciousness for years to come , I'm sure of it,..Hawaii is a magical place. In a way I'm glad it's so far away, tucked away in the expanse of the Pacific ocean ,..It has a chance to be left alone from developers who would love to come in and ravage it's beauty,..

Lucky for Hawaii !

There are a bunch of Thank You's in order!

First to Kathryn Xian who organized and conceived GirlfestHawaii! Thanks for making the event happen and thank you for including me in it! It takes a lot of work to put together an event like this (it was massive) and she did it with grace and style,..I'm humbled and amazed!

To Cory Vennen for fearlessly learning all of my tunes on only a few weeks notice and who did an awesome job playing the bass for both gigs we did!

kudos!

He also carted us around Oahu , secured a Drum kit for Rich, invited us to a wonderful BBQ with his sister and some friends at her ranch, and made us an awesome dinner,.. (most of you know I'm not a steak eater,.. but if I could eat his steak all the time,..I'd be a steak eater,..lucky for me I don't live in Hawaii ,..hehe) what was the quote?? someone had told him at some point that his steak could "bring warring nations together and promote world peace",..I don't remember the quote exactly, but that was the gist of it,..but I believe it! (yeah it was that good)

To Bianca Mills, and the many Girlfest volunteers who worked their collective butts off to make Girlfest run smoothly,.. and also for carting Rich and I (and many others) from place to place,..(it really "takes a village", -sorry for the Hillary R.C. quote, but it's true!)

To DJ Nocturna who has been playing cuts from "Beauty Lied" on her show "A Feast of Friends" on KTUH,..

She also made it to the shows and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to hang out with her for a bit and chat,..

Her show airs every Sat night from 6-9pm (hawaii time) and can also be streamed from www.KTUH.org (if you're so inclined to listen from afar,...which you should,...)

She also had me on-air for a brief interview the week before the Girlfest festivities,..

She's awesome!

Check out her show and while I'm at it,..

SUPPORT YOUR PUBLIC RADIO STATIONS! (before ClearChannel eats them up and all you get is Shania Twain and Rod Stewart covering ABBA tunes!)

Companies like ClearChannel rely on YOU to be complacent and uninformed! So you don't like the pledge drives?? Give them $10 and keep them in business! If you've got it, give them more,..When they're gone they're gone, and well,..get used to Rod Stewart,..

(i'm done)

Last but not least, I'd like to thank "D" for working so hard to make sure we all sounded great on stage,..

I dubbed him the "non-executive audio director",..he liked that,..hehe

He did an awesome job and he is an awesome guy! We had all sorts of laughs! (Although I never did have enough cowbell in my monitors,..hehehe)

-ed note: that last caveat was what some people might call an "inside joke"

And SPECIAL THANKS to all of the people who supported the Girlfest events,.with donations and attendance,.. Without you, there would be no Girlfest event,..The honest truth,... a performance isn't very moving without an audience or a venue,..

There is so much to tell,..Things we did, people we met,.performances that were awesome,..I'll have to do it in stages,..but I wanted to make sure I touched all my bases and got the important bits out,..(go check out the girlfest website while you wait)

I'll be back with the play by play,..

HAWAII PLAY BY PLAY: DAY 1

Well,.. The flight was uneventful,..as it should be,..very long!

13 hours total which included a layover in San Francisco for about an hour,.

Enough time for a pee break without getting bopped all over the place; some coffee and a snack,..

We arrived in Honolulu around 6:30pm and were greeted by Marlo (one of the splendid DJs of Girlfest, part of "Sisters in Sound") and her friend Nick.

They showered us with beautiful Lei's made of orchids and very fragrant white flowers (someone help me here, I don't know the name of the flowers).

They then took us out to dinner to a favorite place of theirs,..I don't remember the name of the establishment, but it was Indian food. Very good Indian food I may add,..Especially considering the wonderful airline preparations we were given on the flight,..blech!

We had a chance to chat and get to know each other a bit,..The place was jam packed and bubbling until we left! A popular spot!

After dinner, we walked down the block to Anna Banana's, one of the venues hosting the Girlfest events,..

We hung out downstairs and had a few drinks with Kathryn (Girfest non-executive director), Bianca, Jacquie (who was a part of a dance group called Ginko Marischino), Sequoia, and a bunch of other girlfest volunteers who blew in and out. We also got a chance to meet Cory for the first time, (who played bass for us during the girlfest event, among other things) and sang him a birthday song.

Rich was starting to pifffle out while my 5th wind kicked in, and we decided after a few hours to call it a night and head over to the hotel.

Rich was out cold within a matter of minutes, once we arrived. Being the nice girl that I am, instead of waking him with my rustling I decided to go out and explore a bit. Our hotel was located in Waikiki . It's reminiscent of NYC in the fact that it's heavily populated and developed,..well,..really more like Miami ,..cuz it's clean and white, rather than dirty and grey,..lot's of high-rise hotels and shops, people on the street at all hours of the night,..I felt at home! So I went to a few shops here and there, checked out some souvenir type places,..got tired and then finally made it back to the hotel to sleep.

day 2 to follow,...