morning crush: hot club of hulaville

. . . i'm pau by hot club of hulaville . . .

the swingy melodies by hot club of hulaville never fail to brighten my day so i was thrilled when the honolulu quintet's django would go! scooped up a hoku for jazz album of the year this weekend.

hooray for gypsy jazz!

the perfect remedy if your tuesday has a case of the mondays after the long holiday weekend.

$15 online + $9.99 itunes.

and the winner is . . .

jaimie from hawaii kai whose stereo will soon be spinning sabrina's the hawk & the hunter cd which became a hoku nominee for rock album of the year earlier this week! hooray sabrina!

thank you to all who entered the giveaway. if you would like to cheer on sabrina and say you listened to her music way back when, download the lp on itunes or amazon or drop her a note to order an old school cd. and click over to the official website for upcoming show dates.

congratulations jaimie!

{mahalo sabrina and good luck at the hoku awards!}

sabrina cd giveaway

happy monday! first, please accept my apologies if you stopped by midori jewelry's booth during the i love kailua town block party, and discovered a certain someone (ahem.) posted the wrong dollar amounts to be spent before you scored some bonus loot. the correct numbers were tucked away in a later email which i had completely forgotten about while playing hooky in san diego.

blush.

after that awful discovery in my morning mail, local lovely sabrina's absolutely charming cd the hawk & the hunter (produced and pressed thanks to kickstarter) went for a spin to brighten my gloomy day (literally as the marine layer blanketed my neighborhood all monday long). despite more than one ipod per inhabitant, our music library remains in limbo as my one and only hi-fi geek wrestles with plans to build his dream music server to house thousands o' cds. since downloads remain a no-no around here as compressed music loses all the magical bits of sonic wonder, paypal whisked my ten dollars to sabrina who sent along one cd for me and one cd to share with a lucky reader.

isn't she a sweetie?

the album (recorded in portland - sabrina's home away from hawaii) reminds me of whispers from a secret journal filled with pages of melancholy and broken hearts & daydreams and hopeful beginnings mingled with gentle guitar chords, cool piano tinkles, and a little ukulele as a sweet wink to her island home.

swoon.

{giveaway details after the jump}

Click to read more ...

morning crush: the hawk & the hunter

just because i am holding out for the cd (the downside of loving a hifi geek), doesn't mean you should miss out on a listen of the hawk and the hunter, the new-ish release by honolulu singer/songwriter sabrina who funded her second offering via kickstarter.

the gorgeous vocals and lovely indie spirit will make your ipod swoon with happiness.

download on amazon ($8.99) or itunes ($9.99).

music lesson

one of my favorite discoveries since finding my way to twitter is h|h reader and kaneohe singer/songwriter sabrina velazquez who captures that quiet, lovely indie sound that always makes me swoon ("dark rider", a tune penned in three minutes, i speak of you). after studying at usc and punching in at an ad agency following graduation, sabrina decided to return home to oahu to focus on her first love before leaving for portland to immerse herself in music making 24/7.

a 6-song ep soon followed (have a listen over on lala), and, now back home in hawaii, sabrina is one of the first local musicians testing out the crowdfunding waters via kickstarter which matches up fans with a few dollars to spare with artists needing a financial hookup. the goal? to raise enough money to head back into the studio to record a full-length album.

in exchange for pledges of $5 and up, you get a little shout out for your support and, the deeper your pockets, potential perks like free downloads or the chance to commission a song. as of today, the project goal of $5000 is 23% funded with only 41 days to go to the nov 30th deadline to acquire full funding (pledges are held by amazon until the goal is met so your donation is only charged when enough people back the project).

intrigued? click over to kickstarter to get the scoop on how to be a mini music mogul on sabrina's lp project.

p.s. hard copies of sabrina's the anomaly ep is currently sold out so click over to itunes or amazon to download to your playlist.

happy hale*days 08: mele edition

hello again! i had hoped to post while i was away but the best place to write had zero wifi access while the house of wifi was also home to an enchanting new baby who is infinitely more entertaining than the internet.

let's continue with the holiday roundup of island style finds!

1 - pint sized xmas cheer compliments of sweet blossoms' delightful table top topiary ($50). the kapahulu florist sources locally grown greens from island farms and is offering readers a 10% discount when mentioning h|h! (fyi - allow two days for order turnaround)

2 - hable construction's canoeing snowmen stocking sold out quickly last year and is happily back in stock (shown above: hawaii holiday : surfing santa : coral). even better, knock 25% off on all regular priced merchandise during the ongoing holiday sale.

• secret code: save
• expires: thu, jan 8th

3 - sing-a-long to jack johnson's acoustic version of "rudolph the red nosed reindeer" recently released on this warm december, a brushfire holiday vol. 1. (or, download on itunes).

4 - hula beach ceramics' delicate handcrafted conch shell ornaments ($5 for two) are budget-friendly beach bling for your tree.

5/9 - joie studio's letterpress has been busy churning out the holiday 08 collection plus a gorgeous 2009 menagerie desktop calendar. and, happy news for paper goods fans, tina from joie is also offering h|h readers 20% off online orders over $18!

• secret code: aloha
• expires: sat, dec 20th

6 - add a delightfully modern take on xmas & new year's greetings compliments of kat uno's stylish island girls. (alas, kat's etsy shop is temporarily closed so you'll have to hele over to alliway at ward warehouse to scoop up your favorite designs)

7 - vintage fabric embellishes tori higa's sweet mele kalikimaka cards.

8 - big island artist caren loebel-fried boxes up hawaiian style block print holiday wishes.

p.s. click over to the kokua hawaii foundation who recently kicked off a simplify the holidays campaign with kanu hawaii filled with tips on greening your celebration.

kokua festival ticket auction

if you missed your chance at tickets for next month's kokua festival, you have two opportunities to score a seat at the sold out show(s). the kokua hawaii foundation and dave matthews have both put concert tickets on the auction block (the former via ticketmaster and the latter via dm's official charity auction website) with all the proceeds from the winning bids to be donated to the kokua hawaii foundation.

the khf auction has 25 packages (a pair of tix plus an autographed copy of jack johnson's sleep through the static and assorted festival merchandise) listed for both the sat & sun shows. four pairs of tickets in the orchestra pit are available over at the dmb website.

be sure to read all the fine print before bidding!

• dave matthews auction (ends fri, mar 14th)
• kokua hawaii auction (ends fri, mar 21st)