Source: Maui Time, Maui News, Best of Maui, Maui Activities

Picks%20of%20the%20Week

by Kate Bradshaw

February 26, 2009

When life gives you foreclosures…

Saturday (Feb. 28), 10am-5pm, Pilina Building, MCC

In these challenging times...wait, no. In light of the economic downturn…hmmm. The recession has a great deal of inherent…hey, um, can we talk about something else? I have bludgeoned myself with podcasts and other media concerning the economy for far too long. Written about it. Had debates. Found silver linings in the whole thing. Forgotten said silver linings. One thing we cannot do is let it define us. It’s much more convenient to view the situation and its symptoms as temporary conditions of our everyday environment and deal with them as such. In the words of Neil Young: “Don’t let it bring you down/it’s only castles burning.” The featured speakers at Saturday’s workshop—titled How to Thrive in a Time of Change—will discuss how not only to cope, but how to excel in rough socioeconomic seas. Conversations with God author Neale David Walsch and A Deep Breath of Life author Alan Cohen will share some apparently well-guarded secrets regarding seeing opportunities in challenges, becoming prosperous, etc., all in the context of the, sigh, current day. $75/$95 door.

For the ladies

Saturday (Feb. 28), 3pm, Lahaina Civic Center

It’s hard to write about an event like Saturday’s Women Helping Women benefit concert without touching on its reason for being. Yes, it’s one hell of a downer: in 2009 there are women on this planet who are victims of domestic abuse. It seems improbable that the capacity for such violence has not been bred out of the human gene pool. This is not the place to take a crack at the social and psychological dynamics that lend themselves to these occurrences, but it is an opportune space to show how you can help. Friends of Women Helping Women is putting this show on eight days ahead of International Women’s Day. Acts include Micah Wolf, Willie K. & Avi Ronen, Gail Swanson, Ernest Pua‘a and Dr. Nat & Willie Boughton. Not bad. Proceeds, of course, go to Women Helping Women, an advocacy group that seeks to help empower abused women by way of crisis hotlines and women’s shelters. You can find tickets at Shaka Pizza (Kihei), Pixel Printing and Office Center (Wailuku), Women Helping Women’s offices (Wailuku), Women Who Run with Wolves (Kahana) and Livewire Café, Maui Vintage Clothing and Office Mart (all Lahaina). 

Show some jungle love

Saturday (Feb. 28), 7:30pm, A&B Ampitheater, MACC

The sign of the mighty Pegasus trumpets one thing and one thing only: the coming of Steve Miller and the musicians with whom he performs. Together, they are a force known as the Steve Miller Band. Over the years the band’s musical alchemy has rendered the influences of blues, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, jazz and other styles into gold. Classic gold. Miller’s fretboard prowess and skill at conjuring most catchy tunes is likely inherent, but one cannot deny the influence of the great guitar sorcerer Les Paul, who was Miller’s godfather when Miller was but a young guitar prodigy. SMB’s signature song is the 1973 tune “The Joker” (“I’m a joker/I’m a smoker/I’m a midnight toker…”). The song’s opening lines (“some people call me the space cowboy/some call me the gangster of love”) refer to personas Miller had adapted on earlier albums. Other well-known SMB tunes, for your nostalgia-inducing pleasure, include “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Rock’n Me” and “Swingtown.” My favorite is “Wild Mountain Honey,” which I used to zone out to in high school (I’m 26, if you need proof that his stuff is still cool). Jesse Colin Young opens. $55/$65/$85/$125.

Barry well, then

Sunday (Mar. 1), 11am-6pm, Keopualani Park Ampitheater, Kahului

So many great minds get eroded beyond recognition by preoccupation with conspiracy theories. While the level of skepticism I maintain is ample, I just don’t think the clunky bureaucracy that is the U.S. government could ever get its act together enough to execute anything effectively, let alone something so vast. But the media? Maybe. We at Maui Time have been accused of a great many hilarious things. Among them is being somehow in cahoots with Mana’o Radio. Unless this means informing our readers when this listener-sponsored radio station puts together a show with a killer musical lineup, our accusers are dead wrong. I mean, check out who’s on the bill for this year’s Barryfest, which celebrates the memory of Mana‘o cofounder Barry Shannon as well as the station’s 7th anniversary: Eddie Tanaka. BrownChicken BrownCow. The Vince Esquire Band. Mojo Gumbo. Rio Ritmo. The Gail Swanson Band. Shall I go on? Tickets for this family-oriented event are available at Bounty Music in Kahului. $25/$15 keiki and kupuna.