Welcome to The Rock Lounge

I am sure the genre has already been created, but I’m calling it a first for me. “The Rock Lounge.” Since Jazz has been made a ‘dirty word’ I have had to switch gears yet again. Thanks to corporate radio all a person gets to hear are rehashed oldies and a very limited playlist of 3-chord-no-brainers. All new music can be played on ukulele and that is saying something not-so-complimentary. I love my ukulele but a guitar or the piano was once the gold standard for writing decent songs, and very few are accomplished at either one. Bruno Mars is the exception to the rule, by the way. As for me, I must now start to pay homage to the music I heard as a teenager. My career up until this point, focused mainly on the music my mother played at home on a good old-fashioned record player. Jazz, for the most part, was my musica delight, filling my head with complex changes, lush instrumentation, and pop singers of the era who would throw a little scat in there to spice things up. But I started listening to the radio much more and developed a taste for Pop, Rock, and R&B. I have not only memorized melodies and lyrics, but guitar and piano solos, sax solos and the like. I bring those childhood memories to the fore and present to you, ‘Rock Lounge’. I am certainly not the first to do so, but try and find a Black Hawaiian singer songwriter in the islands who knows this music as well as I do. You will be hard pressed to do it. I bring you a new perspective on an old tune or two with myself on congas and vocals accompanied by Alan Okuye on electronic keyboard. On the rare occasion that he gets to play a real piano, you will feast on an enhanced fare. But for now, we are a small sound with big potential, already causing audiences to wonder....”are they on to something here? What is this crazy new sound?” Visit us at Viaggio on the corner of Kapiolani Blvd and Ward Ave, second floor of the luxury car showroom. Valet parking is free and so is the love of Rock Lounge. We start at 8!