The May/June 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine features a story on cartoonist Robert Ripley’s fascination with our Islands. Ripley created Ripley’s Believe It or Not! —the strange-but-true trivia-filled newspaper cartoon series. And, reports writer Greg Daugherty, he visited Hawaii four or five times during his brief, illustrious life.

The “believe it or not” Ripley nuggets you’ll find in our story include:

• How the amateur anthropologist—portrayed as a hardy world adventurer—actually preferred to travel in the lap of luxury.

• How most of his “Believe or Not” items were actually uncovered by an associate combing the shelves at the New York Public Library.

• How he saw water falling “uphill” in Oahu’s Nuuanu Valley.

• How he discovered the “House of Everlasting Fire”— better known to most of us as Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau crater.

You’ll find the full text of Daugherty’s story—along with vintage cartoons and photos from Ripley’s Hawaii sojourns—in the current issue. Here's an excerpt:

When Robert Ripley arrived in Hawaii for the first time in 1922, the young “Believe It or Not!” cartoonist recorded a couple of surprises in his dispatches home. First was the genuine friendliness of the Hawaiians who greeted his ship. Second, the hula turned out to be less risqué than he had expected—or maybe hoped.

From his first trip to the Islands, Ripley was amazed by their natural wonders, which would figure in his cartoons for decades to come. Many he sketched at the actual sites, later transforming the sketches into finished artwork at his drawing board in New York.

Ripley's interest in all things Hawaiian went so far that he hired a well-known Chinese-Hawaiian author, actress and lecturer named Li Ling Ai and gave her the fancy title: director of the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" Far Eastern Department.

You'll find HAWAII Magazine in most bookstores nationwide. In addition to print subscriptions, we now offer digital subscriptions and single copies as well.
 
 

Our man at Kilauea volcano, Bill Harby, just reported in.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, closed for two days, just reopened this afternoon at 1 p.m. 

Even though the tradewinds that usually clear the air have not returned, the sulfur dioxide fumes from Halemaumau and Pu'u O'o have diminished enough to make it safe for visitors. And the visitors were there.

When Harby went to the reopened park, he saw seven large tour buses parked at the Kilauea steam vents.

However, the prime viewing spot from the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum overlook remains closed.

Harby himself is breathing easier. "It's nice to look out my window just a few miles from the crater," he says, "and see the rain forest instead of the vog." As we talked on the phone, there was the boom of thunder in the distance. "I hope a good hard rain will wash more SO₂ out of the air."

 

Our friend, Big Island writer Bill Harby, wrote us this morning with a report on vog conditions at his home in Volcano Village near Kilauea's summit.
  
Wow, in a matter of minutes the air and skies in my neighborhood went from crystal clear to vog fear.

This is what my backyard looked like yesterday afternoon. It looked a lot like this when I woke up this morning, too.

I live five miles from the summit of Kilauea volcano and about 15 miles from the erupting cinder cone Pu'u O'o—both of which are spewing steam and sulfur dioxide gas right now.

The vog arrived suddenly yesterday. There were clear skies. I blinked. And we were all socked in.

This may force me to evacuate my home in the coming hours. Or not, if our beloved Hawaii tradewinds kick in again. Then we'll be breathing easy again.

Meanwhile, my windows are all shut and I'm laying low. As far as vog conditions go, it's minute-to-minute here.

I'll give a shout (or loud cough) when things change.

 

High levels of sulfur dioxide from Kilauea eruptions today closed Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the second time this month.

This afternoon’s closure—like the first, on April 8— was caused by noxious fumes emanating from eruptions at Kilauea’s summit Halemaumau vent and further downslope Pu’u O’o vent.

“Our primary concern is for the health and safety of visitors and employees,” said incident commander Joe Molhoek. “We're in close contact with the National Weather Service and look forward to favorable winds by week's end.”

Park rangers were clearing all facilities and campgrounds. Guests at the Volcano House hotel overlooking Kilauea caldera and Halemaumau crater, and residents of Kilauea Miliarty Camp on the summit, were being evacuated. Only National Park Service emergency personnel will remain on duty until weather conditions return to normal.

More than 2,000 visitors, campers, residents and employees were evacuated from the 500 square-mile park on April 8 when volcanic emissions containing high levels of sulfur dioxide enveloped the Kilauea summit. The park remained closed for two days until tradewinds shifted the vog (or “volcanic smog”) downwind of the summit and out to sea.

It was the first time Hawaii Volcanoes National Park had closed since 1982.

You can keep track of sulfur dioxide levels and wind directions at Kilauea here. The site updates information from Halemaumau and Pu’o O’o vents every 15 minutes.
 
 

Hawaii singer-songwriter Jack Johnson is Billboard Magazine's most environmentally conscious musician of 2008.

Johnson topped the music industry trade publication’s “Green 10” list, which honors musicians raising awareness of environmental issues, applying earth-friendly actions to their recording and touring, and inspiring peers to do likewise. Billboard editors selected the musicians on the list, released today to coincide with Earth Day.

The "Green 10" was part of an Earth Day-related “Music Goes Green” section in Billboard’s current print and online issues.

Billboard praised Johnson for his annual Kokua Festival concerts—its fifth year of sold-out shows happened this past weekend. All proceeds from the concerts have gone to Johnson’s non-profit Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which sponsors environmental education programs in Hawaii schools.

Johnson also got kudos from Billboard for keeping his touring life green. All concert venues on his upcoming world tour are required to have waste reducing and recycling programs in place. His tour trucks and buses will run entirely on biodiesel.

The magazine also praised Johnson for his Solar Power Plastic Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, which is insulated with used denim, and partially powered by solar energy. Johnson recorded the entirety of his recent chart-topping CD Sleep Through the Static at the studio.

Other musicians on Billboard’s green Top 10 included Kokua Festival alumni Willie Nelson (No. 2), Dave Matthews (No. 4, with his Dave Matthews Band) and Eddie Vedder (No. 6, with Pearl Jam).
 
 

Geologists at Kilauea summit’s Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory bring new meaning to the words “field work" every day.

Just check out these photos of a typical day at the office for Kilauea geologists, posted on the observatory’s Web site this weekend.

Last week was a relatively quiet one on the Kilauea summit. There was a small blast of rock dust at the Halemaumau vent on Wednesday. But otherwise, summit tradewinds from the northeast returned, carrying ash plumes from Halemaumau and Pu'u O'o vents southeast to the sea.

The result? Enough time to snap some photos of the geologists’ 9-to-5.

Yes, that really is a radar gun the geologist in the photo above is pointing at molten lava as it speeds through an underground tube system near Pu'u O'o. Who knew the technology accurate enough to trap speeders on Oahu’s H-1 freeway was good enough for measuring the speed of lava, too.

In the second photo (right), geologists stand just yards away from an open crack in the Pu'u O'o lava tube to measure the chamber’s size. They combine this measurement with the flow-speed measurements to calculate the volume of lava moving through the tube.

(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

You can keep current with what Kilauea geologists are up to—and better still, the one-of-a-kind photos they’re always taking—by clicking HVO's photo archive here.

We make it a part of our own 9-to-5 every day.

  

Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival wrapped up its second day of music Sunday night in Waikiki. As promised, here’s writer and Jack fan Jessica Ferracane’s fifth-row-from-the-stage view of Saturday’s sold-out show.

I’m at the Waikiki Shell for the first night of Kokua Festival 2008, standing in a line with about 150 people, trying to buy a $20 festival T-shirt.

The beer lines are far shorter, populated mainly by the boyfriends and husbands of the countless women in line with me. We’re missing Go Jimmy Go on stage. Tragic. But we boogie in place, inching our way towards the 100-percent-organic-cotton proof that we were here. 

Hawaiian singer and ukulele player Paula Fuga goes on stage next. There’s no way I’m missing Paula. So I take a last sip of my husband Steve’s $7.75 beer, leave him in the T-shirt line, and try to find our seats—just five rows back from the stage.

Paula’s soulful lyrics and rich vocals set the late afternoon vibrating with melody. At the end of her set, I scream, “Hana hou!” (Hawaiian for “one more time”) at the top of my lungs.

Steve, like Jack Johnson, is so far nowhere in sight.

When Dave Matthews walks out on stage, shrieking females rush back to their seats with full beers in one hand, veggie burritos in the other, purses bouncing off backsides.

The fans erupt in adulation when Dave opens with “Crazy." Tim Reynolds—his longtime friend and fellow musician extraordinaire—joins him. Dave’s raucous vocals, contagious energy and the duo’s genius guitar riffs soon have everyone on their feet.

It’s Matthews’ first gig at the Waikiki Shell (and in Hawaii), and he’s obviously moved.

“Everything about this festival has a great vibe. It’s beautiful,” Matthews says solemnly to the masses, his normally sarcastic humor put aside.

The crowd erupts again, flashing shaka signs and cameras. Even guys previously content to politely move their heads from side-to-side while their women shake it, shout back, “Aloha Dave!”

It’s all pretty cool.

Steve finally shows up—two T-shirts in hand, with another full beer. It’s too loud to ask where he’s been. And when Jack takes the stage I’m so star-struck I just grab Steve and sing every word to every song— “Better Together,” “Banana Pancakes,” and all those Jack tunes Steve likens to chick flicks. Still, I catch him singing from time to time, too.

Jack’s set stretches into the night for a gloriously long time. He eventually calls his friends on stage: Dave, Tim, Go Jimmy Go, Mason Jennings. But first, Paula Fuga takes the mike again and she and Jack sing “Country Road”—my personal anthem to drive with both hands on the wheel, and keep an eye on the other guy.

At the end of the show, there are more shaka signs and waves of applause. Everyone takes some time to pick up discarded biodegradable plastic beer cups and trash, and put it in the appropriate receptacle on the way out.

Mahalo for your "Kokua," Jack. See you next year!

  

Hawaii singer-songwriter-musician Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival is happening today and Sunday in Waikiki. Our friend, writer and Jack fan Jessica Ferracane, will be at tonight’s sold-out show. She’s promised us a post-concert report and photos. Until then, we’re happy to share her view from the ground of Friday’s pre-Kokua Festival press conference.

Pinch me. I’m in a crowded lunch tent at the Waikiki Shell, and there’s Jack Johnson and his wife Kim noshing on Mexican food with one of their sons. Seated next to them is Dave Matthews with his wife Ashley and their twin daughters. Hawaiian songstress Paula Fuga is standing in line behind me. I try to get her to cut but she’s all “no need, thanks though” with a wide smile.

There’s a casual vibe I’ve never experienced at a press conference. The atmosphere is more baby luau, minus the Heineken.

It’s a good vibe. And it’s for a good cause, too.

The Kokua Festival is a benefit for the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which supports environmental education in Hawaii schools. And festival and foundation co-founders Jack and Kim Johnson, and their eco-conscious dream team, take their commitment to the cause seriously. The festival is as environmentally responsible as it can be.

There are water stations throughout the Waikiki Shell grounds so concertgoers can refill their water bottles. Recycling, food waste and composting stations are also set up. Generators are powered by bio-diesel. Organic cotton concert tees—and other sustainable products—will be on sale in a Kokua Village concertgoers pass through on the way to their seats.

After lunch, the press conference begins. There are reporters representing everything from Sunset Magazine, to BBC Radio, Surfer’s Path Magazine, Honolulu TV stations and print publications, and Australian and Japanese media.

Jack is center stage, seated at a long table. He is sandwiched by Kim on his left; and fest musicians Matthews, Fuga, Tim Reynolds, Mason Jennings and members of local reggae-ska band Go Jimmy Go to his right.

They tell us that Kokua Festival, now in its fifth year, is striving to be the first zero waste music festival in Hawaii. They hope to inspire organizers of other music festivals to do the same.

Kim Johnson can clearly articulate the educational and environmental impact of the festival she helped create. But most questions from the press are directed at Jack. One “reporter” in short surf trunks and a bikini top exposing well-sculpted silicone enhancements, gets the rest of us snickering after asking Jack a breathy question that’s already been asked and answered by Kim.

No time to ponder that, though. I’ve got to pull out my organic cotton outfit and get ready for Saturday’s show.

  

A small explosion at Kilauea's summit jolted scientists this morning, while sulfur dioxide-laced fumes fueled another evacuation advisory for a community downwind.

The explosion happened just before 4 a.m. (Hawaii time), sending faintly pink ash across the crater’s overlook. Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the ash appeared to be rock dust with no volcanic glass fragments. This was the third explosion at Kilauea summit’s Halemaumau crater vent since March 19.

Meanwhile, Big Island Civil Defense issued a brief evacuation advisory for Hawaiian Ocean View Estates after increased sulfur dioxide levels were detected by fire department monitors. The advisory was issued at 7:45 a.m., and cancelled two hours later when levels of the noxious fumes had decreased.

It was the second Big Island Civil Defense evacuation advisory in a week caused by fumes from Halemaumau carried downwind. Hawaiian Ocean View Estates is a rural residential subdivision located south of Kailua-Kona on the west side of the Big Island. Kilauea’s summit is on the east side of the island.

Park ranger Mardie Lane told us that weather conditions at the summit today are overcast skies with still to light variable winds carrying the plume away from the area. However, park visitors should always be aware that conditions can and do change instantly.

"The whim of the wind is a powerful force," said Lane. "It's going to guide us in directions about opening and closing certain areas. So people do need to know that when we make a decision to do something it is for their safety and ours. And this can happen at any time on any day."

Click here for an archive of all of HawaiiMagazine.com's volcano news posts.
 
 

The new issue of HAWAII Magazine features a story on Maui Brewing Co., a Lahaina-based artisanal brewery crafting Hawaii-inspired beers.

Its brews have won international beer awards. Owner Garrett Marrero and brewmaster Tom Kerns use Hawaii-grown ingredients, when possible—fresh island-grown pineapple, Maui-made rum, Kauai lehua blossom honey.

But since opening in 2005, Marrero has also worked to make his company one of Maui’s most Earth-friendly. He’s one seriously resourceful brewer.

All of his delivery trucks—including his and wife Melanie’s cars—run on biodiesel he makes with his Kaanapali brewpub’s used vegetable oil. The brewpub’s lighting is entirely energy-saving compact fluorescent. Marrero is installing photovoltaic solar cells that will soon generate all of the brewery’s electricity.

Beer brewed by the Maui sun? What a concept.

Leftover grain, yeast and hops from the brewing process are given free to Maui farmers for use as pig and cattle feed, or to create compost fertilizer for produce. Marrero then purchases meat and produce from the farmers for his brewpub.

Maui Brewing Co.’s retro Hawaii-inspired packaging is made of recycled cardboard. Cans for restaurants and bars are delivered sans packaging in reusable trays.

About those cans. Why does Maui Brewing Co. sell its retail beer exclusively in cans instead of bottles? First off, they’re recyclable, use less energy to chill, transport and recycle again, and are made locally. It's also a taste issue.

“If a bottle took better care of the beer, I would be bottling,” says Marrero. “The cans have a water-based liner so the beer does not contact the aluminum. Cans don’t allow light exposure and oxygen pick-up, which affects taste. It’s beer as the brewer intends.”

Keeping things “green” is as important to Marrero (that's him in the photo) as the quality and taste of his beers.

“We’re not going to have a ‘zero (carbon) footprint’ at the brewery, but we’ll be damn close,” said Marrero. “That’s just something we believe is the right way to go. At the end of the day, it’s good to know that there’s one less smog cloud we’re contributing to.”

Maui Brewing Co.’s brewpub is located at the Kahana Gateway Center near Kaanapali Resort, 4405 Honoapiilani Highway, Maui. Call 808-669-0191. Check out the Maui Brewing Co. Web site for retail locations and online store.