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SUDDENLY SIENA Kauai girl sees Silver Screen in her immediate future

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2 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019

TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK

FRIDAY

MONDAY

SUNDAY

BOOK SIGNING, FUNDRAISER 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tahiti Nui luau room, Hanalei Music, pupu and prizes. Local authors Lahela Chandler Correa and Ann Hettinger will be signing “Aloha: What it Means to My ‘Ohana.”

“SWEENEY TODD — THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET” 7 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets: kauaicommunityplayers.org SATURDAY

10TH ANNUAL PEDAL TO THE MEADOW 8 a.m. Hill bicycle race from Kekaha to Kokee Cycle from sea-level Kekaha up to Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow in Kokee State Park. Sign up and get details at PedaltotheMeadow.com.

“SWEENEY TODD — THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET” 7 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets: kauaicommunityplayers.org ROCK CONCERT 6:30 p.m., Porter Pavilion, Anaina Hou Community Park, Kilauea Mike Love and his four-piece band performs, with Sashamon as the opening act.

BANANA POKA ROUNDUP 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Kokee State Park Family-friendly event features Hawaiian music, basketmaking, children’s games, crowing contest, forest crafts and hands-on exhibits from over 10 environmental organizations. Info: 335-9975, kokee.org

FREE GROUP FUN BICYCLE RIDE 8:30 a.m., Lydgate Beach Park An informal, 40-mile group ride along the Eastside coastal path, to the Kilauea overlook. Info, registration: 639-9018, pedaltothemeadow.com

HOLIDAY CLOSURES Memorial Day means all county, state MANA TIME TRIAL BICYCLE RACE and federal offices are closed, includ7 a.m. registration, 8 a.m. race start, ing all county transfer stations, all HI-5 redemption centers and the Puhi Kauai Raceway Park, Mana Metals Recycling Center. The Kauai The Mana Time Trial is a competitive Bus operates on a modified schedule. bicycle road race for cyclists and triathletes. This 10.8-mile race starts TUESDAY and ends at MacArthur Park at Kekaha AARP SMART DRIVING CLASS Beach. Registration, info: pedalto1 p.m. Kapaa Neighborhood themeadow.com.

Center CYCLE ON THE STRIP CRITERIUM $15 AARP members, $20 for all others.

Check-in noon, races 1 p.m., Kauai Learn the effects of aging on driving Raceway Park, Mana skills and how to save lives, property Timed bicycle lap races. Public invited and money. Registration required. to watch (free) – bring chairs, pop-up Info, registration: Jim Jung, 822-0448 tents, refreshments, hats, sunscreen.

THURSDAY No alcohol or animals. Sign up and get details at pedaltothemeadow.com “SWEENEY TODD — THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET” 4 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse Tickets: kauaicommunityplayers.org

WALK THE 88 SHRINES Guided tours at 10 a.m., noon, 2 SWIM CLASS REGISTRATION p.m., Lawai International Center 9 a.m. to noon, Lihue Civic Center The center’s tranquil path in Lawai Pi‘ikoi Building Valley is open to the public on the For sessions for children ages 5 to 11 at second and fourth Sunday of each the Kauai High School pool. Sessions month. Donations accepted. Info: begin June 4 and July 2, Tuesdays, 639-4300, LM@hawai.r.com, www.

Thursdays and Fridays. Info: 241-4460 lawaicenter.org

21ST ANNUAL GOVERNOR’S LUNCHEON 11:30 a.m. Koloa Landing Resort Gov. David Ige will give a legislative update. Reservations: 245-7363 LIHUE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION MEETING 7:30 a.m. Duke’s Canoe Club, Kalapaki State Senate President Ron Kouchi and state Reps. Nadine Nakamura, Jimmy Tokioka and Dee Morikawa are scheduled to give a summary of the session.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bill Buley | bbuley@thegardenisland.com | 245-0457 ADVERTISING: displayads@thegardenisland.com | 245-0425 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: tgiclassified@thegardenisland.com | 246-0325

Photo by Nathan Johnson

Kauai native Siena Agudong, 14, plays a teenage con artist and the title role in the Netflix series “No Good Nick.” ON THE COVER: In another Nathan Johnson photo, Agudong relaxes.

SIENA IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Young actor from Kauai has flourishing career with more roles on the horizon BILL BULEY TGIFR!DAY

“I’m not going to say who, but someone gets punched and I’m going to punch them,” the iena Agudong is going to hit 14-year-old said, laughing.

It’s actually her character someone.

And she’s looking forward SEE SIENA, PAGE 3 to it.

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TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019 | 3

Siena Continued from Page 2

“Nick” in the Netflix series “No Good Nick” who does the punching, but it’s a part Agudong is having fun with.

The daughter of Kenny and Karen Agudong recently finished filming more episodes of “No Good Nick,” in which she plays a teenage con artist who comes into a family claiming to be a distant relative.

“Some crazy things start to happen,” Agudong said.

“Her cons and twists.”

It’s a role she loves “because there are so many things I get to play around with.”

Comedy and drama among them.

“I really love playing such a layered character,” she said.

Agudong is at ease during a half-hour interview, smiling and laughing often.

She has good reason to be cheerful, as she just landed a role in a new movie not yet announced so she can’t give any details.

“I’m really, really excited.,” she said.

Born and raised on Kauai, Agudong has been acting since she was 8, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Sydney. She was involved with Hawaii Children’s Theatre, playing an Oompa Loompa in one of her first roles.

Her first big break was in 2014 when she portrayed Lulu Parker through her role on ABC’s Texas Ranger drama, “Killer Women,” which aired in early 2014, according to IMDb. She has been in Nickelodeon’s “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn,” as well as playing Tiffany on TVLand’s “Teachers.”

She earned several Young

her freshman year. She also studies acting and works with coaches.

“And she’s also been very blessed to have this incredible team that’s supported her,” Karen Agudong said.

Her mom, a Realtor, says her daughter is very driven, takes nothing for granted, and has worked hard over the last six years.

Agudong is homeschooled, and just finished

Acting and academics (straight A’s) are a lot to juggle, Karen Agudong said, but it can be done well “if you love what you’re doing.”

SEE SIENA, PAGE 5

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Photo by Nathan Johnson

Kauai native Siena Agudong.

Entertainer and Young Artist award nominations and, in 2017, was awarded “Best Guest Starring Young Actress 12 & Under” for the Young Entertainers Award.

IMDb reported that last year, she had a lead role in Nickelodeon’s series “Star Falls” as Sophia Miller, a strong-willed teen. She also played the lead role in the 2018 film produced

by Warner Brothers and Nickelodeon, titled “Alex & Me”, an inspirational soccer movie starring Olympic Gold medalist Alex Morgan about a teenage girl working hard to pursue her dreams.

That’s a role perfectly suited to Siena Agudong.

Despite her growing success, she remains humble.

She enjoys hanging out with family and friends at the

beach and surfing. She also loves soccer and skating.

She travels a few months each year for her career that often takes her to Los Angeles. While it all sounds exciting, it’s hard work.

“It’s a lot of sacrifices,” said Agudong, who will turn 15 in August. “You have to work really hard and you have to make sure you’re like 100 percent in it because if not, it’s really tough.”

But often times, it’s like living a dream.

She’s inspired by seasoned actors Sean Astin and Melissa Joan Hart, who play her parents on “No Good Nick.”

“I feel so blessed to be around crews and casting members, it feels like family,” she said. “That’s pretty awesome.”

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4 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019

TASTE OF HAWAII

Kauai’s biggest food festival set for June 2 at Smith’s Tropical Paradise

JESSICA ELSE TGIFR!DAY

T

aste of Hawaii is celebrating its 30th Ultimate Sunday Brunch event on Sunday, June 2, but the culinary festival has technically been around longer.

It’s been postponed twice in its 32-year history — after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, and in 2018 due to the Kauai floods and Hawaii Island volcanic eruption.

That’s because Taste of Hawaii brings together top chefs from all the Hawaiian islands, and many of those chefs, even those on Kauai, were too busy with disaster relief to make the festival.

“The eruption happened 15 days before our event, and the flooding was 45 days before our event,” said Josie Cortez, president of the Rotary Club of Kapaa, which hosts Taste of Hawaii.

“The impact went much further than just damage to the restaurants. The restaurants maybe were OK, but the employees weren’t,” she said.

Postponing the 2018 Taste of Hawaii was a difficult decision, Cortez said, but allowed the Rotary Club of Kapaa to switch from party planning to disaster-relief efforts and help Kauai recover.

“We got a pass to go up to the North Shore, so we’ve been taking trips up there when someone needs something,” Cortez said.

Working with the island’s social-service organizations, members have been driving up through the roadblock and convoy that’s kept part of the North Shore isolated for more than a year. Members recently delivered a dryer to the Wainiha area.

“At least we’ve been able to get out there to help. We’ve been

Dennis Fujimoto / TGIFR!DAY file

ABOVE: Taste of Hawaii brings together residents and visitors alike to stroll through the gardens at Smith’s Tropical Paradise in Wailua and sample food, drink and music from around the islands. BELOW: Chefs from around Hawaii demonstrate their skills.

working closely with the food bank, too,” Cortez said.

And while the Rotary Club of Kapaa has been helping out with disaster relief, they’ve also gotten another full year to plan the 2019 Taste of Hawaii.

It’s going to be a Sunday lineup of 16 local bands playing on four different stages, more than 25 chefs from around the islands, and drinks from more than 10 vendors, all set at Smith’s Tropical Paradise.

“You get to stroll and savor the wonderful gardens while sampling all this magnificent food,” Cortez said. “And the way we set up the event, regardless of where you’re at, you’ll hear music.”

Taste of Hawaii debuted the first festival of its kind in the state in 1987 at Coco Palms. Then, the

goal was to put on a food festival with about 15 chefs and to sell 500 tickets.

Since then, the event has grown to encompass all of Smith’s Tropical Paradise’s 30-acre botanical and cultural garden. The Rotary Club of Kapaa caps ticket sales at 1,500, and they sell out every year.

Cortez says that’s about all the event can handle.

“We don’t want to grow it (too much). These chefs are donating time and food,” she said. “If you increase it to 3,000, how do you feed 3,000 people?”

Taste of Hawaii is from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Park at Vidinha Stadium and take a free shuttle over to Smith’s starting at 10 a.m. Shuttles hawaii.net, or $125 at the door if run every 15 minutes. available.

Tickets are $100 online, tasteof- •••

Jessica Else, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@ thegardenisland.com.

TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019 | 5

Siena Continued from Page 3

Siena did from day one.

“I loved theater. I loved acting. I realized that was what I wanted to do,” she said. “What I love about it is just the process.”

The trim teen, who stands 5-1, wants to be in action movies and do her own stunts. She would love to meet Duane “The Rock” Johnson, Tom Hanks and Melissa McCarthy.

While she’s upbeat and enthusiastic, it’s hard not to have doubts and be discouraged at times when she’s turned down for a role she thought she would get.

But that’s when her support base kicks in.

“They tell me, if you don’t

get it, so what. Move on to the next one,” she said.

“There’s so many people who audition for that one role. It’s not like just 10 people. It’s a lot.”

She attributes her success to her Kauai ohana (she has two other sisters, Kayli and Sara), who encouraged her “throughout this awesome, ridiculous journey.”

“I think that’s something that’s special, how many people believed in me,” she said.

Siena is a big believer in staying positive.

“You work hard, put your heart and soul into it, give it your all,” she said. “That’s all that matters. It’s a given. It’s crazy. It’s a big dream.”

That attitude is paying off.

Photo by Nathan Johnson

Siena Agudong

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People recognize her more often these days, but again, Agudong doesn’t let it change her.

“It hasn’t really registered for me,” she said.

You can follow her at the usual social media outlets, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

“That’s where all the kids are,” she said, smiling.

Her advice for anyone pursuing a career that might seem like a long shot is straightforward and from the heart: “I would say believe in yourself for sure, have that drive. If it’s your dream, than nothing should stop you.”

••• Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 2450457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.-

6 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019

FASTER, STRONGER, HIGHER, AND SMARTER, TOO BILL BULEY TGIFR!DAY

M

y good friend Judd Jones, who recently had to give up writing his column on health due to work demands, recommended a book he believed could help me.

That book, by John J. Ratey, MD, is the national best-seller, “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.” The cover goes on to state you can “Supercharge your mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen your thinking, lift your mood, boost your memory, and much more.”

I can’t tell you how the book did all that for me. This is not one of those easy reads that you glide through to relax at night. It’s fairly complex and demands your full attention if you want to understand everything it says. And it says a

whole lot.

••• BOOK REVIEW But before we get bogged down, I want to make clear there is one overall message in “Spark.” And that is, “aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.”

What, you ask, is aerobic exercise?

Well, running is aerobic exercise. So is walking, biking and swimming.

Pretty much, it’s what gets your heart pumping and gets the blood circulating faster, the muscles working harder, than when you’re doing nothing, like watching TV at night while eating dinner.

I like this book, naturally, because it supports my basic belief for some three decades, that exercise is the key in our fight against everything, physically and mentally. I have long believed that running is the cure for what ails us. It’s why I run every day, with my latest streak at 30 days (over 60 if you count a day when I

ran to work and home, three-fourths of a mile each way). A world of runners, I’m convinced, would lead to a better world. Perhaps I’m too optimistic about that, but running in the morning makes you an optimist.

All that said, Ratey’s book outlines the link between the body, the brain

and exercise. Now, that sounds simple. But fully grasping it, in scientific terms, is far from simple, and in some areas you have to be as intelligent as Ratey to get it.

However, don’t get discouraged.

He sums it up this way: “I have faith that when people come to recognize how their lifestyle can improve their health span — living better, not simply longer — they will, at the very least, be more inclined to stay active. And when they come to accept that exercise is as important for the brain as it is for the heart, they’ll come to it.”

Of particular interest to me was the chapter on aging and how some people age well, maintain sharp minds and strong bodies, while others do not. The critical factor, Ratey writes, is exercise.

“Exercise is preventive medicine as well as an antidote. Ages happens. There’s nothing you can do about the why, but you can definite-

ly do something about the how and the when.”

I tried not to get too caught up in the complexity of the details, as my brain can’t process them. But I took to heart its overall theme: keep moving. Run, bike, swim, walk, skate, whatever you like, whatever gets you out there, whatever gets the blood pumping faster, your heart beating stronger, your muscles working harder.

“You are built to move,” Ratey writes. “When you do, you’ll be on fire.”

I agree. Little is better than returning home from my morning run soaked in sweat.

If you’d like to read this book, I’ve got a copy. I’ll be happy to let you borrow it. Just swing by our office and say “hello.”

••• Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@ thegardenisland.com.

STRAY CATS IN FINE FELINE FORM ON 1ST ALBUM IN 26 YEARS JEFF KAROUB ASSOCIATED PRESS

ably a little huskier as time marches on.

No doubt they’ve got the throwback sound down on fter 26 years, the Stray “40,” named to celebrate their Cats are back with a anniversary. Fans looking for a new album. And the good time will find it, including seasoned felines are in mostly on the lead-off “Cat Fight (Over fine form.

A Dog Like Me).” Like the Cats’ The boys who brought classic “Rock This Town,” there’s rockabilly back into the maindancing, drinking and fighting. stream in the 1980s haven’t Well, this time it’s mostly fightlost a spare snare. The simple, ing — two women tussling elegant rhythm section of over the affections of the drummer Slim Jim Phantom and bassist Lee Rocker remains, narrator, the aforementioned “dog like me.”The music rocks providing a solid foundation for guitarist-singer Brian Setzer. so joyously, you can deal with the tomcat-foolery.

Setzer’s guitar still shimmies Another highlight, “Cry and sways, and the voice is still Danger,” offers a tight musical there — though understand-

A

a gem in both its full band and a cappella versions. One new song delivers the melodic groove and inverts the Beatles’ goods: “Desperado” shines with “Day Tripper” riff. Coupled with soaring, aching musical lines a boppin’ bass and tambourine from Setzer. Yet those come from his guitar, not voice, in this shake, you’ve got an original that’s a worthy callback to the instrumental. That’s no knock against it, but you can almost 1965 hit by another rockabilhear him singing with his guily-besotted band. tar and wonder what it would So, if “40” rocks ‘n’ rolls, then what’s lacking? Something that have been like with words.

Bottom line? The Stray Cats Setzer and Co. have also done can slink down the alley any so well: craft enduring, memorable melodies. Go back and way they choose. And this collisten to “Stray Cat Strut,” which, lection shows they’ve still got for all its goofiness (meee-ow!), some life (lives?) left. Still, it feels contains one of the best bridg- like a bit of a missed melodic opportunity when you know es in all of pop music. There’s also “I Won’t Stand In Your Way,” what else this trio can do.

••• MUSIC REVIEW

CHECK DA SCENE

TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019 | 7

DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY

Brenda Elson, Kai Mertz, Kim Mertz, Nyah Mertz

Emily Hartshorn, Nicole Bissara, Makoa Villaflor, Sarah McKamey - Stonehenge

Ella McCann, Ocean Amador, Halia Laney-Tinder

YOUTH BANDS BATTLE IN POIPU

T

Kiana Mertz, Giselle Harrison, Valerie Sappington

Kara Swink, Aaron Swink, Isaac Castillo, Ariana Franks

Ron Margolis, Jeremy Hartshorn, Julie Hartshorn

Pualea Fleming, North Krovoza, Starlyn Krovoza

Danya Agustin-Melendez, Tiffany Ferrer, Shaniah Pu‘ulei Kohatsu, Zoey Betzer, Danika Ferrer

Danny Cruces, Keoni, Diane Rubio

he Battle of the Bands (for middle school students), presented by Bandwagon and the Aloha Angels program, wrapped up a school year of work by students under the Adopt-a-Band program, administered by the Aloha Angels and Bandwagon Music Center.

Jeremy Hartshorn of Bandwagon praised all of the students for their courage in taking the stage before an enthusiastic audience at the Kauai Christian Fellowship theater, the students coming together under the restriction of not having played with each other prior to this year’s program.

This year’s field included eight groups ranging from the Hanalei School to Waimea Canyon Middle School, an increase from the three groups in 2018.

Guests were treated to offerings of hot dogs, pizza and Auntie M’s pies for enjoying outside the theater, and between sets. The Bandwagon van was also plugged in and ready to rock.

Ron Margolis, Jess Penner, Mike Odo

8 | TGIFR!DAY | Friday, May 24, 2019

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