The Morning After: Mission to motivate

When I sat down to write this week, I started to think about why I’m doing this. With all the effort that I put in, I wanted to explain my intent.

First of all, no, I’m not using this column as a way to get into nightclubs for free or to meet cool people. I think that the Honolulu Star-Advertiser chose me to do this because I already had the guest list on lockdown.

Second of all, I’m not writing this as self-promotion. I’ve had a mission statement with my best friend, Tiare Thomas, for our company, Shimmer & Lace, and it’s been a mission statement that has carried over into different aspects of my everyday life.

My mission? To promote and encourage art, music, and culture so that we can motivate all generations to keep creating. And this column gives me an avenue to write about local musicians, designers, and restaurants — all while having a good time.

WITH THAT in mind, this weekend was great! I thought it was going to be hard to top last week since it was so eventful, but this week was definitely one of my top 10 favorites.

I started off with a quick trip to the recycling center with my mom and former Board of Education member, Denise Matsumoto. Afterward, she treated me to a meal at The Honolulu Burger Company. If you’re a burger fan, you’ll love this place. With local beef, a variety of cheeses, and freshly baked buns, it’s everything I want in my burger.

Not to mention, the sweet potato fries are delicious as well!

After a long nap, I got ready for “Fashion’s Night Out” at Ala Moana Center. The annual event takes place during New York’s Fashion Week and is a pretty neat fashion event for Hawaii. Every year it becomes larger and larger, but there is one thing that stays the same — every luxury store hires really handsome boys to hand out champagne. I think that’s my favorite part.

After enjoying some eye candy, we watched a few of the fashion shows at Center Stage. There was a show on the hour, every hour.

I also got to catch a glimpse of Star-Advertiser Style Editor Nadine Kam as she judged the Neiman Marcus event for local designers.

Here are a few photos of the pieces presented:

WHILE WALKING around the mall later that day, I ran into the Nocturnal Sound Krew’s DJ Compose and DJ LOGOENSK. Compose asked, “Hey, wanna jump on?”

Being the DJ enthusiast I am, of course I took the opportunity. DJing in a mall should be a weekly thing. It’s fun, and it feels like the people walking by are actually strutting to the beat.

With so much energy around fashion, it didn’t take long for Tiare and I to get into our own shopping trouble. Luckily we scored on super amazing bargains at Michael Kors, and we both got new shoes.

But the best part was the handsome lifeguard we convinced to carry our bags. It was almost a dream, and definitely made it worth every dollar we spent. Kamu Davis joined us for the late night happy hour at Morton’s Steakhouse.

I found out about the late night happy hour here from my friend, Alyson Helwagen. Every night from 9 p.m. to closing, it’s actually quite brilliant — you can enjoy a few glasses of wine and appetizers, then walk out of Morton’s having spent $20 or even less.

FRIDAY NIGHT was an early night for us because Saturday was a big day for me.

I started the morning at Town Restaurant for an “ARTafterDARK” advisory appreciation lunch. If you haven’t been to this monthly party yet, you’re really missing out. This all-ages event encourages families and people interested in art to come to the Academy for cocktails, socializing, art premieres and live entertainment. It’s held every last Friday of the month, and all the proceeds go to the Academy for the production of community events like the Children’s Art To Go program.

There are approximately six to 10 members (including myself) who work all year to come up with themes, ideas, and innovative ways of creating this event. Then we work with event coordinator Bernadette Santos to execute our crazy ideas.

We’ve only worked together for a brief time, but I’m pretty sure she realizes I’m really wild when it comes to coming up with innovative ideas. I think the memory of a geo-dome built by hippies in the middle of the Academy’s courtyard will live forever.

After the meeting, I joined fellow board member Ken Kawauchi for a BBQ and surprise birthday party for one of his friends.

There was enough food to feed an army, but it was the BBQ ribs that topped it off for me. I’ve recently learned there is a difference between BBQ and grilling. BBQ takes time to marinate, and usually includes a dry rub. Grilling is just throwing meat on the grill.

Interesting facts.

I didn’t know the birthday girl, orthodontist Shelly Kawamoto, but she showed to be a sweetheart in the short conversation I had with her. And we both have a secret name we don’t like in common.

The view was amazing! We had to stop for a photo, courtesy Alyson Casey.

AS THE sun set, we had to get going to the “Underground Art Rock and Fashion” event at Doris Duke Theatre. Presented by local promoter and musician Josh Hancock, this event needs to be a weekly. The concept is to obviously promote local talent — but also to provide an opportunity to perform in an established venue.

“I have seen many concerts at the Doris Duke over the years, and always thought it could be a cool event to have local bands play,” said Hancock. “But it never really seemed appropriate, as normally they showcase classical music and acoustic music — never live rock bands. (So) when the theatre manager Steve Mobley asked me if I would be interested in curating a music showcase at the theatre, I immediately jumped on it.

“Mobely himself is a musician and music enthusiast so I think he was excited about having something new in the theatre and it just worked out that I also work there and could help organize and coordinate the event.”

I’m going to sit down with Josh and pick his brain a little bit more soon. He’s a really influential person in this indie rock scene and has done so much for the community and younger generations.

Back to the event — I did get to catch one of my favorite bands, Clones of the Queen, whose lead singer, Ara Laylo, has been a close friend for some time now. I look up to her beyond our friendship, because she’s a talented young lady — from being a musician to being a graphic designer, and just having a really good head on her shoulders. COTQ’s music is perfect for a cinematic score, or just to zone out and day dream.

We couldn’t stay too long, but I did catch Nick Daubert from Linus The Band. As it was one of their last performances, many of their supporters came out for this show. Their final performance was last night at NextDoor for “Broadcast.” It’s sad to see more than 10 years of a band sticking together going through a change that might mean an end.

Leaving the theatre, we rushed to Apartment3 to get our dance fix in. You know those awkward moments where you don’t have a drink in your hand, nowhere to sit and no one has quite hit the dance floor yet? It’s kind of that point where you’re just standing around.

Well, we decided to take the opportunity to do a photo shoot with the striped walls as we waited for the crowd to pick up. We even convinced a graphic designer from MidWeek to join our fun.

As the dance floor got crowded, there was one guy who caught my eye. Besides his eclectic outfit and hair, his dance moves were phenomenal. I couldn’t help but wonder if his hair was real.

I also caught a brief conversation with Kalei Akaka before she got swept away in another convo. I even scored a picture of her surrounded by these fun boys.

The night ended well with the perfect amount of dancing. Just in time for me to get some rest for Sunday’s festivities.

MOST SUNDAYS are lazy, but not for Shimmer and Lace. After a quick meeting, I put my stylist best friend to work by helping me style an outfit from Acid Dolls for the “Hawaii Five-0″ world premiere that I’d be attending with Taryn Manning.

She helped me select a sample dress that hasn’t hit the store yet, but will be apart of the Fall Collection.

After we accomplished our mission, we stopped at a surf contest sponsored by Surf Garage. We got there just in time to watch Keegan Edwards being announced the winner of the Men’s nose-riding division.

If you ask me, this was better than watching the MTV Video Music Awards. We said hello to our surfer friends, then stopped at the lifeguard tower to cause some trouble.

Look out for these hotties because they’ll be hosting a fundraiser for another group of lifeguards heading to California to represent Hawaii in a contest. I’m hoping they auction off Kirk Ziegler (pictured below). I’m going to start saving my money now for that event.

After the sunset, Tiare and I were in the mood for some jazz music. So we headed to Lewers Lounge for some warm soup and live music by painist Noly Paa. This is one of my favorite places to visit, with nightly live entertainment, a large selection of cocktails, and a mellow ambiance. I’s the perfect place for a date, or just to hang with your best friend.

I headed to bed early, because Monday was a huge day for me. It would be my first time walking down the red carpet.

xoxo,
Lacy