The 42nd Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards take place Saturday May 25 at the Hawai’i Convention Center. Some of the greatest names in the Hawai'i music scene will perform at the Awards ceremony, including:

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●      Anuhea
●      Brickwood Galuteria
●      DeShannon Higa
●      Eric Lee
●      Henry Kapono
●      John Akapo
●      Kalani Peʻa
●      Kamuela Kahoano
●      Karlie G
●      Kealiʻi Reichel
●      Keauhou
●      Keoni Ku
●      Kimié
●      Ledward Kaapana
●      Nā Hoa
●      Nā Wai ʻEhā
●      Robi Kahakalau
●      Sean Cleland
●      Sean Naʻauao
●      Waipuna

The show is sold out, but it will be televised live beginning at 7pm HST on K5 (Spectrum Channel 22 and Hawaiian Telcom Channel 13). Both the pre-telecast awards and televised awards can be viewed online at https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/nahoku/ beginning at 5:30pm HST.

​         BOBBY MODEROW, JR.
                     INSPIRED
                Lokahi Records       https://www.bobbymoderowjr.com/





​Honolulu, HI - Bobby Moderow, Jr., founding member of the six-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award--winning group Maunalua, is releasing his long-awaited debut solo album "Inspired". The album showcases Moderow's prowess as slack key guitarist, singer (including his trademark falsetto), and songwriter. It features a blend of three original songs and covers of favorite, meaningful songs written by others. A Hawaiian cowboy at heart but staying true to his slack key roots, some songs are in Hawaiian and others have a bit of that country flair.
 
"Inspired" begins with a treasured recording of Moderow's mentor, the late renowned slack key master Raymond Kane, who walked onstage during Moderow's 1990 performance at the first-ever Hilo slack key festival and explained to the audience the meaning behind the song he had begun to play. It is the only recording of them together. Moderow apprenticed under Kane, who was proclaimed a National Living Treasure by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts in 1987, and awarded funding for the apprenticeship program under which Moderow studied. As part of his desire to give back for all the he received under "Uncle Raymond", Moderow in turn teaches others, including groups of elementary school children at the Grammy® Museum for the past few years. He is also currently teaching at the University of Hawai'i West Campus on O'ahu.
 
"Rainbow", one of Moderow's original songs, was inspired by his eldest daughter leaving home for college, but it's also for others who have left Hawai'i to pursue their passions elsewhere. The song's message is that no matter where life leads you, you can always follow your rainbow back home to your roots.
 
In "Music in Heaven" Moderow writes about his passion for music and his musical heroes who have passed on, and how he prays that the music won't stop when he passes. As he was sitting in a coffee shop trying to finish writing the song, struggling to find an ending, a homeless man who was listening told him how much he liked the song and said, "Why don't you just take your guitar up there?" Thus, the closing lyrics were born.

James Taylorʻs "Carolina In My Mind" is Moderow paying homage to the musicians who have given him so much. His great respect for Taylor, whose music helped Moderow realize that itʻs ok to express yourself through music, is the reason for this songʻs inclusion on the album. This
particular song is difficult to play, but the way Taylor plays it is similar to the slack key styling that Moderow loves so much.  

"Inspired" was produced by Moderow, Kamuela Kimokeo, and two-time GRAMMY® Award winner Dave Tucciarone (who also engineered) - all of whom also worked on the vocal and music arrangements. Guest musicians include Kimokeo; Makana (slack key guitar on "Ka'a Ahi Kahului"); Zanuck Lindsey (Telecaster on "Rainbow"); and steel guitarist Denny Hemingson (Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Rogers) on "Music in Heaven" and "Woke Up With You on my Mind".

This is Bobby Moderow, Jr. Inspired.

The CD will be available in retail stores beginning May 17, and at online outlets soon after. 
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Listen to clips of a few songs from "Inspired"

The services and celebration of life for Hawai’i’s beloved Jacqueline “Skylark” Rossetti will be held on two days in May and June 2019.

The first celebration will be on O‘ahu at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell on Saturday May 18.

The doors to the Waikiki Shell will open to the public at 5:00 p.m. with the service and celebration starting at 5:30 p.m.

The second celebration will be on Saturday, June 1 at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo, Hawai'i. Public visitation will begin at 12:00 noon, with the celebration starting at 1:30 p.m.

                                                 ~~~~~~~~

Skylark Rossetti, legendary Hawai’i broadcaster, passed away from complications from end-stage renal disease surrounded by family and friends on March 20, 2019. She was 65 years old. In addition to being part of the broadcast community, she consistently pushed the envelope in the promotion of Hawaii music, especially music in the Hawaiian Language, or ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i.

After graduating from the Kamehameha Schools in 1971, Skylark attended San Francisco City College. While in California, someone mentioned she should try a job in radio because of her collection of Hawaiian music. She started working at radio station KPOO in San Francisco, where she excelled. Upon returning home she worked at radio KNDI, continually working her way up and eventually running the station - something that was unheard of by a woman in the 1970s. While at KNDI, she became a voice for the young artists and groups of Hawai’i, including lifelong friends the Mākaha Sons of Ni‘ihau.
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Skylark also worked with other legends in the broadcast community, including a young program director named Krash Kealoha, and a young hula dancer, entertainer, and actor named Kimo Kahoano. Together, they created the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards in 1978, to celebrate excellence in Hawai’i’s music industry.

Skylark not only hired many of today’s well-known broadcasters (or gave them their start), she mentored many in music, broadcast knowledge, and emcee duties, working with three generations of Hawaiian broadcast personnel. With her voice and her presence, she became one of the pillars in the Hawaiian music and broadcast industry. She emceed Ho‘ike night at the annual Merrie Monarch Festival, and she also worked the television broadcast of the Festival itself. She broadcast from the launching of Hokule’a, and she was one of the first on Kaho‘olawe in the protest days of the 1970s. She also advocated for and told the stories of many issues of Hawai’i and Hawaiians.

In radio, she stepped away from KCCN in 1986 to start a hybrid of Hawaiian and Top 40 music. In 1990, along with General Manager Michael Kelly and radio announcer Billy V, she put KCCN FM 100 on the air - the world‘s first radio station playing Hawai’i and Hawaiian music 24 hours a day on the FM dial. KCCN FM 100 would be the #1 station in Hawai’i within a year.

Rossetti moved to Hilo in 1992 and became part of the broadcast industry and community on Hawai’i Island with radio stations KWXX-FM and KAPA Hawaiian FM. She also worked with Economic Development and the County of Hawaii.

She was recognized as Outstanding Hawaiian Woman of the Year in 1984, Broadcaster of the Year in 1991, and won two Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards, first in 1993 and then in 1996. In 2011, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts.
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Sky is survived by her long-time companion Kimo La’au, her children Imaka Lindsey, Kilohana Lindsey, and Makana Rossetti-Ota, and six grandchildren.
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