DAY 2: "MORE COWBELL PLEASE"

Rich and I got up early, got some breakfast and tooled around Waikiki . There are shops galore and people everywhere!

We found our way to the beach and Rich decided to jump in for a quick romp around.

But we didn't have a whole lot of time, we had to head over to Studio 1 for our first rehearsal with Cory, our bass player.

When we arrived at Studio 1 we were greeting by D, our cheerful "non-executive audio director" as I called him,..He refused to accept the term "soundman", as he said it was the musicians who made the sound,..

We got a chance to go through about half of the set and somewhere in there the "Cowbell" thing started,..

Some of you may be familiar with the Christopher Walken SNL skit where he played a producer with a band in the studio,..What is that band? I can't remember the name, famous song with a cowbell,..The whole skit centered around the theme of "i need more cowbell",..one line,.."i got a fever, and the only way to satisfy it is more cowbell" and on and on,..

so,..Rich started the theme and for the rest of the time we were together it was the inside joke,..Pretty funny, but a "had to be there" kindof experience I think,..

We had all sorts of laughs, D and Cory are good friends and I'm glad we can be called friends too!

Rich and Cory had to go pick up a drum kit when Doria Roberts arrived for her soundcheck. I decided to go and walk around the area, which was Chinatown in Honolulu . Unfortunately, most of the shops close in that area around 5p, but it seems as though Chinatown in Honolulu is no different that Chinatown in NYC,..although it's cleaner in Honolulu ,..other than that,..same jade buddhas, and jade necklaces, those money cats were everywhere,..

dim sum and noodle shops,..you know the drill,..

As I was walking back into the venue,..Kasi, one of the Djs for girlfest (And performer and volunteer) called out to say hi and to introduce me to her friends from St Louis ,..Turns out one of her friends, Rachel, I had met on the SirensWildRide Fall tour! Small World right?

We both looked at each other and said, "hey, I know you!",..lots of "oh my god's", and things of that sort,.. explaining to Kasi and Jane (also a performer at girlfest, Kasi's other friend from St Louis who I didnt' have the pleasure of meeting before our trip to Hawaii ) how we met, the show at Off Broadway, the party at Jill's house,.. small world! small world, small world,..We had been in Hawaii for less than 2 days, and already I felt at home, new friends and old alike,..

So once the drum kit was dropped off, Cory took us to one of his favorite spots nearby.

We had a couple beers (well I had Jaegermeister, what else?) and then Cory took us to our hotel where Rich and I cleaned ourselves up and made ourselves presentable for the Girlfest opening night festivities.

We decided to get a quick bite to eat at the galaxy diner down the street from our hotel,..We wound up sitting next to a couple who had just returned form the island of Yap . (i can't make this stuff up folks) Yap is an island which is considered a territory of the US ,..or something to that effect,..

They were relief workers who went to this small pacific island because there was a typhoon that wiped out the village and they were there to assess the damage and figure out how much/what type of aid the people there needed.

It was an amazing conversation. They told us about the local people, they're cultural taboos,..apparantly it's customary for women to be topless,..no biggie, but their skirts had to cover the thighs,..The woman we spoke with was bummed because even through the heat, she wasn't able to wear shorts, as it was deemed socially unacceptable,..

They told us about how the community was so tight knit, if there was a sick person, or a family with a sick child, the neighbors would come to their home with food and medicine,..the community was extremely friendly and helpful,..each member of the community had a job to do and was considered "valuable" things of that sort,..but yet by all intents and purposes, they're considered "primitive"

That conversation burned in my psyche for the next few days as we explored parts of the island,..

Asking myself the question of "what exactly is a civilized society?" all sorts of deep thoughts,..Perhaps it'll wind up in a song somewhere,..Maybe I'll be inspired to continue on this theme elsewhere, but for now, I'll get back to the tour diary,..

After dinner, Rich and I realized we were running super late and hopped in a cab towards the venue,..

When we arrived the show hadn't started yet,..(silly New Yorkers rushing to a show) and we chit chatted and met soooooo many people that night!

The show was awesome as well!

Ginko Maraschino started the night. They are a small dance collective. I don't know that I'd call it "dance" so much in the sense that they were bopping around and jumping,..It was more of an experience of movement.

They came in all dressed in beautiful Asian gowns with big flowers in their hair and slowly and deliberately moved through the audience, handing a piece of paper with what I would describe as a "deep thought" inscribed.

As they moved through the crowd, the music was haunting and beautiful, and everyone was enchanted.

It was beautiful! But very hard to describe accurately,.

The next performer was also a dancer; Christine Berwin.

She was amazing!

She performed her dance, which was kindof like a cross between ballet and gymnastics on an apparatus she built herself. I can't even describe how amazing it was,..She was absolutely incredible!

(check out the pics!)

There were a few awesome spoken word performances and then Doria Roberts took the stage.

She did an awesome set! She's a really good guitar player and did some awesome stuff with effects,..delays and other goodies,..She had one song where she had 4 guitar parts going on at once,..very cool,.. and then,.fine' all done

I had a great time the whole night,..met some awesome people, even hung out with SirensWildRide member, JenEd and her lovely girlfriend, also named Jen, who just happened to be staying in the hotel room right next to ours.

more to come!