TGIFr!day

Week of Friday, January 26, 2018 | Vol. 6, No. 4

Check da Scene

Grinds & Da Kines For Your Weekend

A NEW SAIMIN IN TOWN

Saimin Dojo adds new twist to old standby www.kauaicountyfarmbureau.org • www.facebook.com/KauaiCountyFarmBureau

SATURDAYS 9:30am –1pm

On the Kauai Community College Campus

Visit Mayette, Aurora and Rosario at Baltazar Aggasid Farm for your locally grown fruit, vegetables and flowers.

From Farmers Market to Farm Fair The Kauai County Farm Bureau Supports Agriculture

2 | TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018

CULTURAL CRAFTS, MUSIC AND DANCE

TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK FRIDAY

“A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM” 7 p.m. Puhi Theatrical Warehouse.

Musical comedy by Kauai Community Players, directed by Arnold Meister.

SATURDAY

BENEFIT CONCERT: FOR HALAU KA LEI MOKIHANA O LEINA‘ALA 4 p.m. craft fair, 6 p.m. concert, Grand Hyatt $30 general admission, $65 VIP. Info: 639-9033 SUCCULENT WORKSHOP 9 to 11 a.m. Kauai Nursery & Landscaping, 3-1550 Kaumualli Highway Learn how to create your own succulent container garden. Info: 245-7747 KAUAI ISLAND CRAFTERS FAIR 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Church of the Pacific, Princeville.

REEF AWARENESS TRAINING 10 a.m. Kukui Grove Center Eyes of the Reef training with Katie Nalesere; 1 p.m., keiki activities including coral claymaking, gyotaku fish printing and more. Free.

KALALAU TRAIL WORK 7:30 a.m., meet at trailhead Tools provided. Bring water, food.

SUNDAY

SHAWL MINISTRY FUNDRAISER 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Immaculate Conception Church, Kapaia Road.

Info: 245-2432 WALK THE 88 SHRINES IN LAWAI Tours are 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.

Info: 639-4300, lm@hawaii.rr.com, lawaicenter.org KANJI CALLIGRAPHY CLASS 10:30 a.m. to noon Koloa Jodo’s Mission, 3140 Waikomo Road. Beginners welcome. Materials provided. Donations appreciated.

742-6735, www.koloajodo.com ARTISAN FAIR 1 to 6 p.m. Princeville Community Center Info: Sue, 652-8586 MONDAY BILL FERNANDEZ BOOK LAUNCH PARTY 5 to 7 p.m. Kauai Museum courtyard The Kapaa author will be selling and signing copies of his latest John Tana novel, “Gods, Ghosts, and Kahuna on Kauai.” Light pupus.

MAHAULEPU FULL MOON WALK Sierra Club moderate, four-mile hike.

Info: Bill Snyder, 652-1718

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Makali’i event shares Hawaiian hula and mele JOHN STEINHORST TGIFR!DAY

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et mesmerized by the Hawaiian cultural arts while benefiting hula dancers.

The annual Makali’i concert highlights award-winning Hawaiian music and hula. Proceeds will benefit dancers entering the Merrie Monarch hula competition in April, as well as the Queen Lili’uokalani Keiki Hula Competition in July.

Presented by Halau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina’ala, the event is set for Saturday at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Grand Ballroom.

“It’s going to be a wonderful evening of everyone coming together celebrating life and all that is Hawaiian and celebrating aloha,” said kumu hula, Leina’ala Pavao Jardin.

Photo courtesy of Mike Teruya

Heleo Yokotake (front center) performs with members of Halau Ke Lei Mokihana o Leina’ala during the October 2017 Ho’ike.

Na Hoku Hanohano award-win- her backing guitarist, while her ner and concert headliner, Natalie brother plays bass.

“Natalie’s music touches the Ai Kamau’u, will be performing heart, so it’s such a great reminder traditional mele. Her husband is

two locations!

BAMBOO GRILL & SUSHI

Enjoy a complimentary basket of fresh hot chips and a cup of salsa per table.

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Breakfast is served from 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Lunch is from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., and Dinner is from 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Wi-Fi available, and they can also cater any occasion.

Bamboo Grill & Sushi, formerly Richie’s Restaurant 2978, is located in the Anchor Cove Shopping Center next to ABC Store.

Dining can be done inside, or on one of the patio dining tables which has a view of the Kalapaki Bay.

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TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018 | 3

Shops, Restaurants & Services at Ching Young Village:

Photo courtesy of Mike Teruya

Breeze Pavao performs hula at the October 2017 Ho’ike.

to all of us to live with love,” Pavao Jardin said.

“They’re just incredible, and it’s been awhile since she’s been on Kauai, so this is going to be really nice,” she added.

Other appearances will feature the Maui band, Homestead, along with special guests Waipu’ilani Flores, falsetto singer John Mahi and Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. as the master of ceremonies.

“Now more than ever, with everything in the world going on, we just need aloha,” Pavao Jardin said. “In our Hawaiian culture that’s the foundation of who we are. I just feel we need times like this when we can get together and celebrate the

culture of this land.”

A special hula performance will also take place with Kauai’s three mayoral candidates, Derek Kawakami, Lenny Rapozo and Mel Rapozo.

“They’re going to be actually dancing the hula,” Pavao Jardin said. “So some of my students have been meeting with them individually, working with them and training them.”

“They’re really quite amazing,” she said. “I’m excited to see what they put on for the public.”

The concert has been held at the convention hall for the last decade, but this year marks the return to the Hyatt, the original host venue.

In October, Halau Ka Lei

Mokihana o Leina’ala celebrated 21 years since its start.

Today, the halau has nearly 300 dancers.

“It’s just a night and evening of celebration, and the students can share hula with their parents and families,” Pavao Jardin said.

Outside the ballroom, the craft fair will start at 4 p.m. with Hawaiian music and hula beginning at 6 p.m.

General admission costs $30, and VIP admission is $65.

“It’s definitely a night to not miss,” Pavao Jardin said.

Tickets are available islandwide at outlets such as Brick Oven in Kalaheo, The Wine Shop in Koloa, Aloha ‘Aina in Puhi and Vicky’s Fabrics in Kapaa.

Info: 639-9033

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4 | TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018

NEW NOODLES Saimin Dojo offers twists on traditional Hawaiian fare JESSICA ELSE TGIFR!DAY

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eavy wheat noodles, rich broth, smoke meat and fresh Photos by Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island veggies come together as Saimin Dojo sits alongside Kuhio Highway in Waipouli, adjacent to the Kapaa fire unique twists on Hawaii’s station. plantation era provisions at the Saimin Dojo, now open in Wailua.

Located next to Food Land, the new noodle house’s menu offers saimin, barbecue sticks and plate lunches; all local-style in a sit-down restaurant. Prices range from $2.50 for one shitake barbecue stick to up to $13.50 for saimin.

“We wanted to do local food that we enjoy,” said Josh Tamaoka, who owns the business with Josh Planas and Brandon Baptiste. “Ramen is popular in the state, but we want to do our take with highly local flavors.”

Saimin Dojo is Tamaoka and Baptiste’s second business venture together.

Their first is Wailua Shave Ice 11-10pm • Sun-Wed Kauai, still slinging freshly and 11-1am thurs-Sat flavored shave ice from a truck in Kapaa.

“That was a stepping stone,” Tamaoka said. “We 5-5134 Kuhio Hwy, Hanalei always wanted a restaurant.”

(808) 826-6277 tHenui.com

Photos by Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

TOP: Joshua Planas stirs the big pot of soup stock.

BOTTOM: Alyssa Launder-Chun serves up a Smoke Meat saimin at Saimin Dojo.

The pair pulled Planas into the picture, and with his culinary schooling at Kauai Community College, the trio has developed a menu based off of a soup that takes 12 hours to make and contains zero MSG. The Smoke Meat Saimin

is one of the more popular dishes, Baptiste said. That dish costs $12 and the 12hour broth is combined with fresh noodles, local style “shmoke” pork belly, a soft egg and vegetables.

“We get the noodles custom made in Oahu,”

TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018 | 5

Photos by Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

TOP to BOTTOM: Vegan saimin at Saimin Dojo. Smoke Meat saimin at Saimin Dojo. Smoked Meat plate lunch at Saimin Dojo. Katsu and Curry plate lunch.

Planas said.

The “Shmoke Meat” plate lunch is also a favorite at the Saimin Dojo and the meat comes with two scoops of rice, potato salad and pickled vegetables.

“We’re bringing back what we grew up on and making it affordable. We get to be able to cook like that,” Planas said.

Affordable dining is a priority for the Saimin Dojo, and while everyone is welcome, Tamaoka, Planas and Baptiste said they’re hoping the restaurant will become a local-style place where families can eat stress-free.

“We’re making sure the price point stays good,” Baptiste said, “where you can come take the family out and where someone could come eat every day.”

And while the kids dive into a keiki bowl — $5 for saimin, spam, kamaboko, and egg, adults will soon be able to sip on a brew or some wine.

“We’re in the process of getting the beer and wine set up, and maybe sake,” Baptiste said. “We’ll grow the menu too, as guys get trained better. We’ll add more veggie dishes, things people can enjoy but they’re slightly different.”

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily.

“We’re taking things in stride. It’s been good fun,” Baptiste said.

Jujitsu is part of life for the owners and the original vision for Saimin Dojo was a school upstairs with the saimin house on the bottom level, and that’s still a possibility as Saimin Dojo grows and expands.

“The goal is to revamp stuff that we grew up with and do things we enjoy,” Baptiste said.

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6 | TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018

WHAT A WILD RIDE AWAITS READERS CYNTHIA & ED JUSTUS SPECIAL TO TGIFR!DAY

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n the tradition of unique and memorable writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, and Edward Abbey, Hawaii

author and radio personality Sheriff Norm Winter (owner of “Ideas Music & Books” in Honolulu, formerly called “Jelly’s”) has written a novel which is unforgettable!

“Radio Revolution: Make America a Real Democracy” covers the wild and incredible adventure of a once-famous Kauai DJ named Danny Fall. This eccentric DJ has a vision: to change government in America, fundamentally through an amendment to the constitu-

present and promote the push for the constitutional amendment!

He embarks on this bold quest with a small group of dedicated yet quirky friends, and it is a wild ride!

From starting with a single station willing to take the risk on this concept, it spans across all of Hawaii, and causes ripples not just in the music world, but his radio station competitors, too.

Though Danny is met with

tion which would remove all private money from political campaigns and instead be funded in a non-partisan way by the government.

And how does he intend to make this happen?

DJ Danny Fall has an unprecedented notion: by making the selection of music on radio stations a democratic process, whereby the people vote for the music they want heard the most (not the music companies), and using this format to eventually

underhanded motives of others, his endeavors bring us, the reader, to the streets of Washington, D.C., to a massive concert in front of the FCC building, to a panel

FORWARD MOTION OF ‘MAZE RUNNER’ STALLS IN 3RD ENTRY NEW YORK — Moviegoers who come late to the “Maze Runner” franchise, which now numbers three, will doubtless have one very reasonable question: Where, pray tell, are all the mazes I was promised?

Alas, the maze of “Maze

Runner” — referred to as “the Glade” by the few dozen teenagers who were mysteriously dropped into it — has been in the rearview since the first 2014 installment, a modestly budgeted YA adaption and a bit of a “Hunger Games”

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knockoff. But what the two sequels, first “Maze Runner: Scorch Trials” and now “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” have lacked in labyrinths, they have made up for in running.

Literal running but also a genuinely kinetic forward movement. The “Maze Runner” films, which have all been directed by former visual effects supervisor Wes Ball, move better than the average dystopia. So many fantasies bog themselves down with backstory and world-explaining, but the chief pleasure of the “Maze Runner” films is that the characters are perpetually grasping their predicament

right along with the audience.

And like the previous chapters, “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” picks up right in medias res. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his close-knit crew of escapees-turned-rebel fighters (Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Rosa Salazar, Barry Pepper) speed after a train on a desolate plain, hop aboard, and when security guards for the nefarious organization called WCKD (short for World in Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department, and pronounced “wicked”) start swarming, they outwit them, and, somehow, fly away with a train car full of kids.

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They are among the few left on Earth immune to a virus that turns all into zombies. In “Maze Runner,” they escaped the enormous concrete maze they were plopped into with their memories erased. By “Scorch Trials,” they realized the institution that sheltered them (WCKD, under the command of an icy scientist played by Patricia Clarkson and a severe commander played by Aidan Gillen) wasn’t to be trusted.

They broke out and joined with a band of resistance fighters. In “The Death Cure,” they try to free the remaining lab rats, including their pal Minho (Ki Hong Lee), who are housed in the last remaining city, a walled-in cluster of skyscrapers.

The “Maze Runner” trilogy has essentially skipped from high school (the Glade) to college (WCKD) and finally into the urban workplace.

Just one with, you know, zombies and poor health care options. But these are very

before the Department of Justice, and even to the Oval Office to meet the President of the United States himself!

“Radio Revolution” is an inviting and engaging read, full of fascinating history of radio, music, and government. It will make you think… what if it were possible?

••• Ed and Cynthia Justus are owners of The Bookstore in Hanapepe.

JAKE COYLE ASSOCIATED PRESS sincere movies about the fellowship of friends trying to survive together and figure out just who they can trust.

“The Death Cure” is the biggest budgeted, most bloated and longest running entry for the franchise. It maintains the movies’ quick pace before stalling in an overlong finale. It should be a mutually understood condition that if you’re going to name your movie “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” you’ve got to turn in a cut under two hours.

But if the “Maze Runner” films have chronicled major stages of young adulthood, they have graduated a few along the way. O’Brien has shouldered the films well, even as much of their enjoyment derives from the scattered ensemble of characters actors (Giancarlo Esposito, Will Poulter, Walton Goggins).

For too long “The Death Cure” stays in one place; it’s best when on the move. And now, it’s probably time for Ball to move on, too.

CHECK DA SCENE

TGIFR!DAY | JANUARY XX, 2014 | TGIFR!DAY TGIFR!DAY | January | Sept. 30, 26, 2016 2018 | 7 7

DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY

Freya Callahan, Lea Loo Michael John Anderson, Alexis Freeman

Tina Albao, Jaime Arreola

Nancy Kanna, Karen Silver

Jaira Robia, Lea Nuesca

John Balbin, JR Guerrero

Shannon Nishio, Lance Hirai - Honolulu

Lisa Kobayashi, Sissy Sarabano

Waialoha Kaina, Nikia Gray, Kanani Silva, Amelia Warner, Kiani Silva, Makenna McVey, Kina Rita

WHO WILL BE YOUTH OF THE YEAR?

K

auai will be sending five candidates — Michael John Anderson, Alexis Freeman, Jessica Herman, Kody Kobayashi, and Kimberly Matutina — to compete for the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii Youth of the Year.

Joining them will be participants Bryden Ka‘auwai, the current Hawaii Youth of the Year, ‘Ekukai Goias-Medeiros who did a great job with the Hawaiian oli and presentation of gratuity to Jaime Arreola of TS Restaurants (Duke’s Canoe Club at Kalapaki). Jannelle Puplava will also join the group as participants to gain further experience when it is their time to take the stage for Youth of the Year.

The Kauai Showcase presented by the Kauai clubs of the Boys & Girls Club allowed the candidates and participants to show their skills and further hone them for the competition, Saturday on Oahu.

Kimberly Matutina, Koby Kobayashi, Jessica Herman, Bryden Ka‘auwai, ‘Ehukai Goias-Medeiros, Alexis Freeman, Michael John Anderson

8 | TGIFR!DAY | January 26, 2018