Couldn’t make it to Kokua Festival last month?

The entirety of festival co-founder and headliner Jack Johnson’s performance is now online at MSN Music’s IN CONCERT site.

Free.

The bad news? None of the much-buzzed-about set by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, nor any other acts are included.

But you won’t have to endure long waits in line for organic cotton Kokua Fest shirts, pricey beer or veggie wraps. And Matthews and Reynolds make an appearance late in Johnson’s set on a cover of Jimmy Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks at 40.”

So make yourself a sandwich, pour a cold one and click here for Jack’s entire 23-song performance from the Waikiki Shell.

If you find yourself needing a break from all the mellowness, check out our on-the-scene posts from Kokua Festival 2008 here.

  

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).
 
 

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.

  

You ask. We answer.

A couple of readers wrote, lamenting that they couldn’t attend Jack Johnson's Kokua Festival shows in Waikiki this weekend.

This is the fifth-annual go-round of Johnson’s music festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday at the Waikiki Shell. Johnson, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds  headline, with Mason Jennings and Hawaii acts Paula Fuga and Go Jimmy Go as support.

Tickets for the fest sold out mere hours after going on sale in February. We’re sad for our readers that, unlike previous years, this year’s concerts won’t be streamed live on the Web.

Ally Estrada of Wichita, Kansas, asked which music acts had played each Kokua Festival, and whether we thought attending next year was worth a trip to Hawaii.

Let's answer those two questions in reverse order, Ally.

We think exploring the scenic wonders, cultures, food, activities and everything else we have to offer in Hawaii is always worth a visit, period. However, as long-term residents, we may be biased.

You might also be swayed by the fact that all the cash (minus Ticketmaster fees) goes to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation—the nonprofit founded by Johnson and his wife Kim to support Hawaii-based environmental education programs.

Hope that helps, Ally.

The four words of advice you really need if you want to go to Kokua Festival 2009, tho?  BUY. TICKETS. RIGHT. AWAY. We're talking the-minute-they-go-on-sale.

We'll post the date as soon as we know.

And here’s the answer to your first question, Ally. Jack, no surprise, played every one of the fests.

Kokua Festival 2007
April 21 & 22 @ The Waikiki Shell
Eddie Vedder, Ernie Cruz Jr., Matt Costa, The Girlas

Kokua Festival 2006
April 19 @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center, April 22 @ The Waikiki Shell
Willie Nelson & The Planetary Bandits, Ben Harper, Henry Kapono, Paula Fuga & The One Love Ohana Band, Animal Liberation Orchestra

Kokua Festival 2005
April 13 @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center, April 16 @ The Waikiki Shell
Jackson Browne, John Cruz, Ozomatli, G. Love & The Special Sauce, Kawika Kahiapo & Kaukahi

Kokua Festival 2004
January 3 @ Blaisdell Arena (original location at Kualoa Ranch was rained out)
Amy Hanaialii Gilliom & Willie K, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Makana, DJ Logic

For more Kokua Festival information, click here.
 
 

We ran into Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus on ABC’s hit TV series “Lost,” listening to jazz in Honolulu’s Chinatown district the other night.

Nice guy—which makes you realize what an incredible actor he is. When he plays Linus—the series’ complicated is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-villain—he somehow manages to be both seriously sinister and as equable as a Jack Johnson CD. Often at the same time. Always brilliantly.

In the cover feature of our current issue, we give you the low down on the “15 Things We Love About Hawaii” right now. One of these, just happens to be Emerson—the only actor to make the list.

Among the other objects of our affection? The only ukulele we’d pay four figures to strum. The Hawaii-published book that’s on our nightstand right now. The Big Island clothing designer with the fashion sense we’re digging most. The classic surfboard we’d hit the waves with right now if we weren’t at work (and knew how to surf). And more.

Emerson’s work on “Lost”—which is filmed entirely on Oahu—is one of our favorite things about every episode. It’s our good fortune that he feels similarly about our Islands, and talked to us about it.

Here’s an excerpt:

There is no “Lost” without Oahu, says Emerson. … He admits that Oahu’s beauty captivates him. No matter where he is after a long day of work shooting in the jungle, he stops every evening to watch the sun drop beneath the horizon.

Well, we did say it was just an excerpt.

You’ll find the full text of our Emerson write-up and the 14 other things we love about Hawaii in the May/June 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine, on newsstands now.

  

Amazon.com, with some help from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, has gone live with the Jack Johnson Amazon.com® Hawaii Fly-Away Sweepstakes.


If you’re available to travel April 18 through 20, you can win airfare to and a hotel room for two in Hawaii.  Plus two tickets to Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival, which has been sold out for more than a month.  Joining Johnson will be Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Paula Fuga, Go Jimmy Go and Mason Jennings.

Costs nothing to enter. Enter here by midnight April 3.
 

North Shore of Oahu resident Jack Johnson made the cover of Rolling Stone this week.

Nothing new to report—beyond Johnson’s new album Sleep Through the Static spending a second week at No. 1 in Billboard. (It debuted in the top spot last week.)

There was also this Honolulu Star-Bulletin story about tickets for Johnson’s annual Kokua Festival being resold by Mainland ticket buyers for upwards of $1,000 apiece for the best seats—a 1,000 percent mark-up. Tickets for the April 19 and 20 benefit concerts featuring Johnson and Dave Matthews completely sold out in 20 minutes on Saturday, leaving many fans empty-handed and upset.

But back to the Rolling Stone news. It’s Johnson’s first cover for the magazine—still a serious milestone for any musician—and we kind of dug the cover photo.

An excerpt of the story is here, and a fairly voluminous photo gallery here.

Check out my reviews of Sleep here and in the March/April issue of HAWAII Magazine.
  

As promised, here’s HAWAII Magazine’s list of the eight most romantic songs ever to come out of our Islands.

Many of the compositions that made the final cut were pretty obvious when our editorial staff got together to brainstorm song selections in January. The occasion wasn’t Valentine’s Day. We were actually putting together our upcoming March/April HAWAII Magazine cover feature “Romance Hawaiian Style.”

But with today being Valentine’s Day, we figured “Why not share our list a bit early?”

Feel free to agree or disagree with us, or add some songs you believe we missed.

And be sure to click on each of the song titles to hear them.

1.    “Ke Kali Nei Au” (The Hawaiian Wedding Song) It just wouldn’t be a Hawaiian wedding without a performance of this song, composed in 1925 by Charles E. King.

2.    “To You Sweetheart Aloha” For decades, this song—written by Harry Owens—was the last song played at any Hawaii dance or nightclub.

3.    “I’ll Weave a Lei of Stars for You” One of R. Alex Anderson’s greatest tunes. Singer Emma Veary says, “The lyrics are just breathtakingly romantic.”

4.    “I’ll Remember You” If you want to hear the real Don Ho, forget “Tiny Bubbles” and listen to him sing this classic penned by Kui Lee.

5.    “Night Bird” This composition by the late Mackey Feary was a huge hit for his group Kalapana in the mid-1970s. It captures young love at its most intense.

6.    “Kawaipunahele” This haunting ballad about longing for a former love was Kealii Reichel’s first big hit. A decade and change later, it remains one of his most-requested songs.

7.    “About You” Cecilio Rodrigues never got the girl he wrote this song for. But it was a massive hit from Cecilio & Kapono's "Elua" album in 1975.

8.    “Better Together” Jack Johnson’s charming, heart-on-sleeve simple love song for his wife has in a few short years become a wedding staple, both in Hawaii and on the Mainland.
  

Hawaii singer-songwriter Jack Johnson’s new CD Sleep Through the Static has become his second chart-topping disc.

Johnson’s just-released fifth album will debut at the No. 1 position of music industry trade publication Billboard’s Top 200 chart this week. The CD sold 375,000 in its first week of sales in the United States, more than doubling debut week sales of his last album, the 2006 soundtrack to the animated film Curious George.

That album also debuted at No. 1 in Billboard—a first for a disc by a Hawaii-born musician.

With more than 139,000 copies sold by digital downloads, Sleep Through the Static also claimed the biggest sales week for a digital set since Billboard began tracking the format.

You’ll find my review of Sleep Through the Static here, and in the upcoming March/April issue of HAWAII Magazine.