Since his earlier-announced six shows in July sold out in a day, Bruno Mars has added four more performances at the Park MGM in Las Vegas.
Tickets are on sale, and likely will be snapped up pronto, for new play dates July 30 and 31 and Aug. 13 and 14.
In-between these four shows, Mars will trek to the MGM National Harbor in National Harbor, Maryland, for shows Aug. 6 and 7.
Bruno Mars
With coronavirus protocols lowering and vaccinations increasing across many states, it wouldn’t be surprising if still more concerts are added. Mars, like other mainstream performers, have been idle and awaiting the return of “normal” in the entertainment spectrum.
During the pandemic, Mars has not released a new solo recording but his collaboration with Anderson .Paak in the group Silk Sonic produced a No. 1 hit, “Leave the Door Open,” keeping his name and voice on radio and online postings.
Ticketmaster.com and other websites are selling tickets. …
‘NCIS’ director talks filming
Larry Teng
Larry Teng, who is directing the first episode of CBS’ “NCIS: Hawai‘i,” is beginning to talk about the franchise’s first spin-off away from the continental U.S.A.
Teng, no stranger to the islands since he previously directed multiple episodes of the now-retired “Hawaii Five-0” reboot, is inclined to ensure Hawaii and its residents are properly represented in the new venture, now filming in Honolulu.
“It’s a love letter to Hawaii, too, you know, and I gotta make sure we protect that,” he was quoted at Express.com.
“It’s one of the things we stress about every day,” he added.
Bottom line: he knows he carries the burden to get right. Not just shaping the newbie NCIS so it has a decent life span in prime time, but he pleases not offends the local folks. …
It’s Willie K Month on Maui, and surely, the rest of the state will participate.
Debbie Kahaiali‘i, widow of the beloved musician-entertainer Willie K, and the singer’s Ohana Kahaiali‘I and Maui Tribe Productions, will celebrate the month of June as “Willie K Month.”
From June 1 to 30, daily tributes, recollections and perhaps some music will be heard and seen at Willie K’s Facebook page.
Willie K
Willie died last May 18 at age 59, following a bout with lung cancer. He was one of Hawaii’s most versatile entertainers, capable of delivering anything from Hawaiian to rock, from opera to blues, from country to standards from the stage. He played the ukulele but switched to guitar, depending on the genre of his music.
“Willie K Month” proclamation is signed at Maui Mayor Michael Victorino’s office.
Because of his popularity and usually avoidance of sharing his musical stylings to a Waikiki audience, he ultimately became the face and leading figure as a resident act at Blue Note Hawaii, the club at the Outrigger Waikiki resort, and established himself as the showroom’s most popular attraction. He regularly traveled to Honolulu from his Maui base, and ultimately sharing the news of his failing health until he became too ill to continue.
Mayor Michael Victorino made the Willie K Month proclamation to kick off the festivities. And the Ohana shared the moment of the signing at the mayor’s county office.
For details, visit Facebook: @OfficialWillieK and the website at WillieK.com …
‘I and You’ at TAG
“I and You,” a play by Lauren Gunderson, will be staged July 8 to 11 and July 15 to 18 at TAG(The Actors’ Group), at the Brad Powell Theatre on the premises of Dole Cannery in Iwilei.
Directed by Bro. Gary Morris, the show features a cast of two: Natalie Maria Figuracion Borsky as Caroline and Manuel Diaz as Anthony. Described as an ode to youth, life, love and human connection.
Anthony arrives to homebound classmate Caroline’s door, with a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” and they engage in the mysteries of the homework poetry by unlocking the nature of their lives.
1 – “Hawaii Five-0” – It has no lyrics, yet this instrumental seethes with suggestion of the tropics, perky and outdoorsy energy and genuine aloha.
2—“Cheers” – “Where everybody knows your name” is the mantra, immediately welcoming, inviting, and, yes, cheerful.
3 – “Davy Crockett” – Okay, a vintage one; not the best melody but a true “ballad” that is rich in storytelling, summarizing the legendary figure, and becoming – in its time – a No. 1 fad hit everyone could sing, complete with accessory coonskin cap.
Henry Kapono’s “A Tribute to Jimmy Borges,” staged last night (May 27) at Blue Note Hawaii at the Outrigger Waikiki resort, had a tentative start but a celebratory finish.
The concert capped a weeks-long series of Kapono-led presentations, enabling island musicians a venue for gainful employment and exposure, and audiences to get a notch closer to a restored life of club-hopping normalcy.
Henry Kapono, top; Jimmy Borges poster, foreground.
In brief, it was a triumph, though Kapono initially seemed uncomfortable crossing from his pop-contemporary world into the jazz hemisphere of the late and great Borges. He dipped his metaphoric toes into the waters, by asking John Koliva, leader of the Honolulu Jazz Quartet who has had a couple of decades of gigs supporting Borges, the obvious question, “What is jazz?”
Kolivas, whose life has always been all about the bass (fiddle), wisely responded, “Jazz is a conversation…and improvisation.”
And therein was the model for the evening.
Kapono shared conversations about Borges – “when he sang it, he owned it…a true artist,” he said of the honoree.
Then despite a repertoire largely new to him, Kapono worked the improvisation mode frequently. Since jazz, by rule, enables individual musicians to indulge in brief and relevant interludes of solo instrumentation during a vocal, each song choice embraced the conversational and the improvisational elements. The HJQ, comprised of bassist Kolivas, saxophonist Tim Tsukiyama, keyboardist Dan Del Negro and drummer Noel Okimoto, was the logical “house band” for the tribute. The accompaniment was superb, helping define the jazz spirit befitting Borges.
With a few exceptions, Kapono’s song choices to salute Borges were familiar melodies that most would recognize, refashioned for variety. On “Night and Day,” there was a bossa nova tempo; on “Can’t Take That Away From Me,” a sorta honky tonk veneer; on a two-tune medley of “Sunny” and “Fever,” a generous finger-snapping blues motif; on “When Sunny Gets Blue,” a Kapono-on-guitar-only elocution inspired by a YouTube clip featuring Borges, projecting both sadness and gladness.
When Kapono introduced “Fly Me to the Moon,” he said of Borges: “He owns this one like he wrote it.” It was composed by Bart Howard and recorded and popularized by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, legendary icons admired by Borges throughout his life. Lest it be forgotten, Borges was given permission to utilize Sinatra arrangements for concerts here and Bennett has dubbed JB as one of the greatest singers ever.
A poster photo of a smiling Borges, draped with a maile lei, was a constant reminder of his cheer and grace, though its presence was not mentioned. But his impact lingered.
There were anecdotal recollections of Borges’ links to New York/Broadway and Kui Lee — generating tunes such as “On Broadway” and “Ain’t No Big Thing,” an anthem to the Great White Way and a Lee composition, respectively — that were marginal at best. And while Kapono included a couple of titles from his Cecilio and Kapono catalogue, this was not a C&K retrospection whatsoever. His fans won’t let him leave a stage without a signature or two or three.
As the show neared completion, the nostalgia factor increased, with Kapono offering “Goodtimes Together” to punctuate the happy memories shared, a guitar-backed “Over the Rainbow” and the wholly proper “My Way,” a favored show biz anthem. One puzzlement: if this was a tribute, wouldn’t it have been kosher to have one of Borges’ certified partners in song to sit in and share first-hand memories?
“The Best of Kevin I., 1980-1985,” a new digital release, offers a peek in a window of the life and times of Kevin Iwamoto, professionally known as Kevin I. He’s been a longtime buddy of mine, dating back to the Hawaii of the ‘80s, when I was writing reviews, interviews, and an entertainment column called Show Biz in the Honolulu Advertiser.
The reboot that has gone viral.
Prompted to revisit his musical past, while simultaneously updating and defining ownership of his best tracks, the digital album should appease his former fans and attract a new fan base.
Kevin is at a crossroads. The plan was to update his analog recordings and convert into MP3 digital tracks, remastering and bolstering the sound and flavor to carve a niche in the new streaming world of music where there is no physical product like CDs. His music was being posted on YouTube and other social media sites without his knowledge or permission. “I felt I had to take back control of my past recordings in this new age of streaming on-line music,” he said.
Kevin also has launched a career retrospective website that preserves his ‘80s career, which serves as an electronic resource for himself, his family and his fan base. It has been a painstaking process, but with energy and resources, he is finally able to redefine his territory.
With the help of talented engineer Garrett Haines, Kevin jumpstarts a series of signature tunes.
His first local hit on island radio was “Fairy Tale,” a warm and cozy ballad composed by the husband of his former hairstylist, is about unrequited dreams. It’s a triumph; his voice is majestic, and honestly, you may not recognize the singer. It is a formidable flashback.
“Candle in the Night,” written by Cecilio Rodriguez of Cecilio and Kapono, with Cecilio doing back-up vocals is not earmarked, but it is here, and you can detect his tones. Both singers’ vocals blended well relying on their mutual love of R&B music.
NOTE: This review originally was published on Kevin Iwamoto’s Kevin I website. Wayne Harada is the longtime entertainment editor, columnist, and journalist with the Honolulu Advertiser, where he served for 45 years. He also wrote the Show Biz column in the combined Honolulu Star-Advertiser daily newspaper for another 10 years after retirement.
