... been away for about 3 weeks (not that I would expect anyone to notice ) ...
Lydia and I took a trip to Hawaii with stopovers in LA and San Francicso (Scott Yee... wanted to get in touch with you in San Fran but Lydia has a cousin in Marin who kept us really busy the one day we were there ... sorry about that)
Basically the lay overs were just to avoid back to back 5 1/2 hour flights.
But Hawaii is BEAUTIFUL, and very interesting ... Spent 4 night on Oahu, 4 on Maui, and 3 on "The Big Island" ... all different and having their own beauty and 'feeling' ...
Pearl Harbor was very impressive and the "Arizona" Memorial leaves quite an impact ... The Polynesian Culture Center is beautiful, fun, and educational and the "Ha: Breath of Life" show is fabulous ... http://polynesianculturalcenter.com/?gclid=CNKPpsSW86sCFQpo5QodwBqXIw

the "Big Island" was hosting the Ironman Triathalon - no, I did not take part this year - the area of Kona was mobbed with people from all over the world ...
We took a 'Blue Hawaiian" helicopter tour over a live, flowing volcano ... pretty exciting ... http://www.bluehawaiian.com/bigisland/tours/

One thing I noticed was that a good number of the restaurants had live music, from one to 5 pieces ... and let me tell you, the solo acts - guitar/vocals or piano/vocals - have to know a million songs by memory ... they get requests from people all over the world and I was amazed that they could answer so many of them ...

All in all a beautiful experience which I would recommend to anyone ...
t.

Tony,

That was one hell of a tour, like you say everyone should go there and the heli ride looks awsome, top of the range aircraft too.

Thanks

Tony

Sounds like a fantastic trip Tony. Hawaii has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm glad to hear live music still exits there!

Tony,
Welcome back to the mainland.
Though I'm disappointed that we couldn't meet during your brief stop in the SF Bay Area,
it's great to hear you had a wonderful time in Hawaii.
I too visited all the must see places you went to including that breath taking helicopter over the active volcano flow,
and agree that Hawaii's one special destination paradise and because it's a convienient direct ocean flight from SF, I try to go back to the Hawaiian islands every few years. I'm now long overdue.

On a related musical note, I recently learned a fun schlager style party song entitled "Blue Hawaii" (not the Elvis one)
but by Vikingarna (a Swedish band) that I've translated from their German (Vikinger) version lyrics into english, and of which I now include performing at parties. I use the Yamaha Tyros 4 style: ScandBugg @ 154 bpm for this song.



Here's my english translation with chords:

[C:]I wanna [:/]be a- [/:]lone with [:/]you
[/:]On a [:/]beautiful [G]strand
[/:]We'll be [:/]doin' the [/:]hu- [:/]-la every
[/:]Evening [:/]on the [C]sand

[C:]We'll pack [:/]lightly [/:]just a few [:/]things, a
[/:]Tropical [:/]shirt and a [F]dress
[/:]Close your [:/]eyes and [C:]dream with [:/]me this is
[G:]Paradise [:/]at its [C.]best[./]come with[:/]me now

< CHORUS >:
[C:] [:/]Blue Ha- [/]-why
[/:]Beach [:/]romance and [:G]sun [:/]shine
[/:] [:/]Blue Ha- [/:]-why [:/] an
[/:]Island [:/]just for [C]two
[/:] [:/]Hand in [/]hand
[/:]Barefoot [:/]thru the [F]sand
[F:]Honey - [:/]moon in [C:]para-[:/]dise
[G:]You & me in [:/]Blue Ha- [C]-why
to: VERSE 3 (next page)
[C:]Gui-tars [:/]play as [/:]we sip [:/]wine the
[/:]Stars shine [:/]bright a- [G]bove
[/:]They light [:/]up the [/:]nite till [:/]day but the
[/:]Brightest [:/]star is our [C]love

[/:]This dream [:/]it will [/:]never [:/]end I'm
[/:]So in [:/]love with [F]you
[/:]I just [:/]want to [C:]thank-you [:/] cuz you're
[G:]Much more [:/]more than a [C]friend, come with me now

< CHORUS >:
[C:] [:/]Blue Ha- [/]-why
[/:]Beach [:/]romance and [G:]sun [:/]shine
[/:] [:/]Blue Ha- [/:]-why [:/] an
[/:]Island [:/]just for [C]two
[/:] [:/]Hand in [/]hand
[/:]Barefoot [:/]thru the [F]sand
[F:]Honey - [:/]moon in [C:]para-[:/]dise
[G:]You & me in [:/]Blue Ha- [C]-why

Scott... thank you ... that's a cute, catchy tune ... thanks for the lyrics and chords ...

BTW to ALL ... when (not if ) you get to Hawaii, you HAVE TO go to Roy's Restaurant ...
http://www.roysrestaurant.com/index.asp ... not inexpensive, but still worth the price ... no doubt the best food we had and we had excellent meals ... the Ahi Poke and Crab Cake apps were fantastic, as were the fish dinners ... We only went to the Roy's in Waikoloa on the Big Island before coming back home ... went the second night before we were leaving and it was so good we went the next night as well ... beside the great food, they instill a culture in their staff that is totally customer oriented ... the first night we ate there the manager came over and we told him how great we thought the food and the staff were - he 'comped' our dessert - ... the next night our waiter from the night before saw that we had returned and brought over a complimentary appetizer for coming back so soon ... I wish we had found Roy's earlier in the trip ...
As I said, not inexpensive, but WONDERFUL ...

Tony,

You certainly know how to live the good life, that Roys looks hellish good, as you get older you appreaciate the nice things.

BTW I was just thinking if that Helicopter went down, in the sea the sharks, in the lava the heat, did it ever worry you.

Still it looks one hell of a trip you had, thanks for sharing, are you off on any more trips like this.

Regards

Tony Hughes "in Boring Old Cold England"

Looks as if you are beginning to believe what our media keeps throwing at us.
(although it IS a bit cool this morning )

Hello! Been a member for some years,have been to Hawaii some years ago,and we play that song Blue Hawaii. I use a T3
and a Jupiter 80 when I play together with my band.I dont know
if that song is on our site. www.lennix.nu but there are some other you can listen to.(under "musik") Hawaii was a fantastic
place,but it was a long flighte on the plane.
Tryggve Sweden