Post #663609 by Hwnmusiclives on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 7:47 PM

So much to say… I don’t know where to begin…

I have been lurking on Tiki Central for nearly six or seven years. I might have spoken out sooner, but I am so outspoken on every other forum in which I participate, admittedly it was nice to sit back and learn from all of you.

I am a musician who has dedicated his life to the study and practice of Hawaiian music - despite that I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in New Jersey. I play steel guitar, slack key guitar, and ‘ukulele, but my specialty is Hawaiian falsetto singing for which I won a contest in Honolulu and a recording contract with Hula Records. (Check out my tunes on Rhapsody, Spotify, eMusic, or iTunes. Artists who have been mentioned on this forum - such as Bill Kaiwa and Raiatea Helm - were the awarding judges.) I have made the journey to Hawai’i countless times by now where I suppose my love of their music and culture was so keenly felt that many in the entertainment community have since taken me under their wing. I have performed with many of the legends of Hawaiian music - including such old-timers as the still living members of the Hawaii Calls radio broadcasts…and even Pat Sylva of The Surfers. I feel privileged to be accepted into this circle of what I consider to be the finest musicians in the world.

I came by my love of this music and culture quite honestly. For over 40 years, my father led a band on the East Coast which performed music which ranged from the most traditional Hawaiian to the tiki and exotica so loved on this forum. (Some of you may have caught the family act live when we performed at either the Kona Kai on City Line Avenue in Philadelphia, PA or the famed Hawaiian Cottage of Cherry Hill, NJ.) From my earliest years I was hearing this music and began a record collecting frenzy that continues to this day. I have a collection that is called upon by hula instructors in Hawai’i when rare songs cannot be found locally - a collection that rivals even Harry B. Soria’s of Territorial Airwaves (who I also count among my friends and who is directly responsible for my recording contract). I have any number of things that neither Harry nor anyone else has because they were handed down to me personally by the artists and their families - true “one of a kinds.” And as I learned to play all of those instruments by mimicking the greats I heard on these recordings, I can also tell you - with a high rate of accuracy - all of the uncited players on those vintage recordings simply by their style or tone.

I only recently decided to start sharing bits and pieces of audio from my collection - along with a musician’s view of the artists and performances - in what was first a podcast and later a radio show. But the radio station went bankrupt, and the complex web of copyright issues do not allow podcasters to use this material - even if the podcaster doesn‘t profit from it. So I have made my life easier by reducing my efforts to a semi-regular blog entitled "Ho’olohe Hou" - the Hawaiian for “to listen again.” Having followed your discussions for many years, I know that I am soon bound to touch upon music and musicians in my blog that have continued to elude the members of Tiki Central or shed some light on a bit of trivia you might not have heard elsewhere. My hope is that you will “LIKE” the blog on Facebook and that some of the discoveries you make there will spark further discussion over here - where I intend to stay as long as you’ll have me - as well as give you a few new old choice items to search for in your on-going crate-diving adventures.

I would love to get to know you all better, and I can only do that if I throw my hat in the ring. You will find the blog at http://www.facebook.com/hoolohehou or by searching Facebook on “Ho’olohe Hou” (with or without the Hawaiian diacritical marks). You can also drop me a line at [email protected].

Here’s hoping this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Malama pono,

Bill Wynne

P.S. Kaiwaza, I want to party with you. But I suspect we already know each other through our mutual steel guitar-playing friends around Honolulu.