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North Shore, Oahu- Morning of Tsunami
To quote Family Guy, “God is pissed!” apparently…  Escaping the “snowmaggedeon” of DC, I was in Hawaii at the time of the horrific earthquake in Chile and my heart goes out to them.  Check out the blog I wrote last year of the incredible music scene of the South American country.  On top of that, a chunk of Antarctica as large as Oahu broke off. And then of course a Tsunami was headed straight toward the islands and our hotel on the north shore (Turtle Bay Resort, the greatest hotel ever!), as well as Japan and most of the western border of North, Central, and South America. 
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Day of Tsunami...
But even though the entire island closed up shop, sold out of food at the markets, ran out of gas at gas stations, gathered at the highest level of all hotels and look out points, and news anchors advising everyone not to surf- it was the sunniest cloudless windless day ever, with some of the stillest waters I’d ever seen.  We drove by Pipeline after the Tsunami warning had been cleared, and it might as well have been a hotel pool- there were no waves.  And THAT was scary. 
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Pepper
Meanwhile, I had set out in hopes of capturing some local band action, and though I didn’t get any footage of that, word on the street was the band Pepper was huge.  Originally from the Big Island, they now are based out of L.A. and are regulars on the Warped  Tour circuit.  They combine rock, reggae, ska, and even a lil' hip-hop up in that. 
I also learned more about the history of Hawaii’n music while on a ghost tour through Honolulu.  The last queen of Hawaii, Queen Lil’uokalani, was also a terrific song composer, and penned a song about farewell that has been popularly covered by such greats as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley; “Aloha Oe.”
Some genres of music created in Hawaii include Jawaiin and Na Mele Paleoleo.  Jawaiin is a mixture of local Hawaii'n music mixed with reggae (thus “J” for Jamaican), that started back in the early 80’s as part of the “disco sucks” movement… haha!  Awesome.  And Na Mele Paleoleo is a newer genre, that combines traditional American hip-hop with Hawaii’n rapping.
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Me, Post Tsunami Surfing
So yeah, that trip to Oahu was pretty rad.  Found out Lost is still filming, two more episodes to go- and even inside info on what’s gonna happen soon… which I’m not gonna tell.  J  Also ran into Craig T. Nelson, rumored to be in an upcoming film called Soul Surfer, based on the story of surfer girl Bethany Hamilton- who is mad fantastical! (Maybe he was just on vacay.) Me and my buds are quite possibly gonna be in the film as background extras as they filmed at the hotel pool.  Word.  And my life pretty much changed with a mere 40 minutes of post tsunami surfing.  The waves were ridiculous, the wind wasn’t kind, sea turtles were abundant, but my fear of water was quickly banished.  If you haven’t surfed, it is a must.  The wave, when it grips on to your board willing you to stand up, is the greatest rush that is indescribable, and just has to be experienced, omigaw.  Anyway-shots of me epically failing a couple times will soon be up on my youtube page, but until then, mahalo Hawaii!! I miss you.