lines of flight

One of the first real interviews I did after graduating from journalism school was in 1998 with Del tha Funkee Homosapien, a solo emcee and official or unofficial head of the Hieroglyphics crew. Their whole collective came to Honolulu to film a video for the song “You Never Know.” The song and the video don’t even really go together, but the week or two they spent here confirmed that Hawaii and hiphop did.

As an eager, wanna-be, hiphop journalist, I finagled a bunch of interviews for RE:ACT magazine, which was actually more of a zine, but I would never call it that. I spent hours talking with Del, A-Plus, Tajai, Casual, Pep-Love and the video director, whose name escapes me, as did his interview, due to an amateurish technical error on my part. The Del interview was the most in depth and exists online on a very early version of the quadmag site.

A short piece in Malamalama this month called “Athletes Gain from Academic Strength Training.” What? You wanted more? LoL.

The article on Spiritual Ecology is the one I wish I had written, tho athletics was a fun topic given the recent Once a Warrior commotion. The people I spoke with for the story are really committed to helping athletes learn how to learn, whereas the book’s angle is apparently more in line with the athletes getting their work done for them. How shocking!

My story next issue (January) should be fun! I got to go to the Big Island and ramble around old kalo (taro) terraces and Volcanoes National Park.

These are the articles that kept me busy and having fun this summer. The Hana Hou ones should eventually be online, I’ll link em up when they are. I dont think HI Luxury has a website.

August/September 2007

HI Luxury

• “A Whole New Light: ARTafterDARK events bring an eclectic crowd to the Honolulu Academy of Arts,” my first article for a new magazine! Photos by Chris McDonough.

June/July 2007

Hana Hou: The Magazine of Hawaiian Airlines

• “Sonic Room,” late night impressions from Lotus Soundbar in Waikiki. Part of a larger article called “After 10: ‘Awa, kilts and coco puffs: excursions into Honolulu’s late-night latitudes.” Photos by Sergio Goes.
• “Get Your Kicks,” round-up of specialty sneakers with Hawaii designers collaborating on styles including the Aloha Dunk, Sig Zane Converse and shoes for Gravis and Run Athletics. Photo by Dana Edmonds.
• “Funkify Yourself,” profile of an off-beat Chinatown boutique. Photo by Sergio Goes.

May 2007

Malamalama

• “Room for a View: Projects influence how we see Waikiki,” cover story for the University of Hawaii alumni magazine. Photos by Rowen Tabusa, plus historical photographs recast by visual artist Gaye Chan.