Always Music Pita Kotobalavu can’t stop

by MYLES DANNHAUSEN JR.

Kai “Pita” Kotobalavu remembers distinctly the moment he fell in love with music. He was 7, walking down a road in a tiny village on the island of Viti Levu, where he grew up in Fiji, when the music flowing out of an Assembly of God church grabbed his ear and wouldn’t let him go.

“That was the first time I heard music like that – a live band,” he says. “The first thing that hit you was the drums. Then the guitar, and the base, and like – wow, it’s amazing! All I did from that point on was watch and learn and play. My grandparents were Methodist, but I’d run away from the Methodist church to go listen at the Assembly of God church. Then my uncle had a band, and I would watch him play. I was always in music.”

Kotobalavu played everything. “I can’t say I’m a keyboardist, or a guitarist, or a drummer – I play it all,” he says. He soaked in every sound he could. He loved the blues, Elvis, The Crickets and especially Mick Jagger.

“I loved how he took the mic and controlled the stage,” Kotobalavu says.

“He was just the best frontman I had ever seen. He walked on stage and demanded the audience watch him.”

That stuck with Kotobalavu as he became a performer – first in Fiji, and then in Hawaii, after he and his brother moved there to follow his mother. But the islands are small – his village had about 300 residents – and he wanted more.

“I wanted to explore,” he says.

When his son’s mother moved home to Wisconsin, his exploring went somewhere the island kid had never considered. In 2002, he moved to Appleton to be closer to his son. Kotobalavu was 29 and living in a small, cold, Midwestern city where his long dreadlocks and dark skin didn’t exactly blend in.

“At first when I came here, it was very hard,” he says. “I’ve been called names; I’ve been called the n-word; but I put the music first. I can’t get involved in the negative. I’ve got to be positive. You try not to take it personally, and you try to put it back out in a positive way.

“So far it’s worked for me. My mom is a white woman. I never judge someone by their skin. A person could be having a bad day, and that’s why they act the way they do. I believe people do change, and maybe I can help them change.”

Brilliantly Cut Here in Door County

a long way since then. She has studied with the region’s foremost authorities in jewelry design, goldsmith work, and gemology. T. Simon is a member of the Jewelers of America and the Gemological Institute of America. Opening her own business in 1997 the business has grown and expanded in many ways.

nation’s top jewelry brands and designs, the options are endless. Also, keeping up with the trends by attending multiple jewelry shows per year around the County.

Owner Tricia Hanson’s long-standing passion for gemology and gold smith work began many years ago after she entered a design competition and won. Hanson and her business have come

“Taking time with each customer gives them a personalized experience, “Hanson said. She enjoys the creative process, from envisioning an idea, to making it turn to a reality, to seeing a customer’s reaction to the final piece. “ To see a customer have tears of joy is a rewarding feeling,” she said. So is getting to work side by side with my daughter and my sister. Alongside Hanson is her sister, Tracy Jorns, who serves as the store’s manager and creative design process. Celina Simon, Hanson’s daughter, assists with sales.

Customer service is a top priority, and it really shows when you enter the store. In addition to the retail area expanding over the years, so has the instore goldsmith work. Recently adding a laser welder to work on more complex and difficult repairs. In store goldsmith work, offers a piece of mind for the customers that their jewelry will be cared for.

Having built her business from scratch during the past 25 years, Hanson has advice for other entrepreneurs: “Work hard and be ready to give it your all, and put in long hours, it will pay off and be so rewarding”.

For more information visit T. Simon Jewelers or Contact Tricia, Tracy or Celina at 920-743-2206 or online at www.tsimonjewelers.com

Kotobalavu formed a band called Unity after moving to Wisconsin, and its mix of reggae and rock instantly found a following on the stages of the state.

“I knew I wanted reggae, but I wanted a mixture,” he says. “I didn’t want straight reggae. A California vibe, but not California. I wanted a mixture of everything from funk to blues with a reggae vibe.”

Not long after the band started catching on, it received a request to fill in for a July Fourth show at a little barn venue in Fish Creek called Fishstock.

“We came up and rocked that place and fell in love with Door County,”

Kotobalavu says. “That’s where Unity really exploded. So when we play here, we feel we’re home.”

The reggae sound stood out, but so did his undeniable stage presence.

“For me, it’s being in tune with everyone else who’s out there,” Kotobalavu says. “It’s never been about me. It’s always been about the people out there. Once they feel your energy, it just hits a totally different level. It’s more of a spiritual thing. It’s a natural high. When music goes through me, it literally goes through me. I can feel everyone out there. The crowd elevates you, and the next thing you know, you’re elevating them. But you are the one steering it.”

Whether the crowds are huge or small, Kotobalavu has a few rules for his band: You play 100%, or you don’t play at all, “like every night is your last night – you never know your next day.” And you don’t drink or smoke on stage, which is no easy ask in the world of bars and musicians.

“I used to drink. I smoked weed,” he says. “But when I got into this business, an old fellow says, if you want to be successful, you don’t touch those things. If you drink or smoke at the show, you are out of the band. The stage is a temple. It’s like going to church.”

For two decades, that temple has found a place about 20 times a year in Door County’s bars and on its festival stages. For several years, Unity closed Fall Fest weekend with the local crowd at JJ’s La Puerta, and now the band plays new venues such as the Peach Barn Farmhouse & Brewery and Alpine Resort.

When I caught up with Kotobalavu by phone in late May, he was a few hours away from playing a summer kickoff show at Husby’s Garage Bar – a favorite spot where Packers running back AJ Dillon once took the stage with the band. As we spoke, Kotobalavu was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for the colon cancer that has wreaked havoc on his body for the past year and a half.

“I’m sick, but I’m good,” he says with confidence. “It kicks my butt, but I get up and do it. I have people who help me; the band has my back.”

The band is now made up of longtime bassist Timothy Perkins and drummer Kelvin Ayres, plus lead guitarist Curtis Ayres and keyboardist Greg Pagel. Together, they’ve stepped up to deliver the band’s trademark energy when Kotobalavu has had to step back. He remains the centerpiece, however – the frontman – even if he now must pace himself a bit more than in his prime. Last year he had to cancel two shows for the first time in his career.

“I was in the hospital, and I thought I was going to go,” he says. “I lost 50 pounds and couldn’t stand up.”

But Kotobalavu got back on stage – and continues to get back on stage – to the tune of 200 or more shows each year.

“The music is the thing that heals me,” he says. “I’m grateful. I’ve lived a life people can only dream. I’ve lived that life. If my life is playing until my last breath, that’s the dream.”

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