ByKathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Kipapa Rush strums Hawaiian music at the Sheraton
Moana Surfrider Hotel yesterday evening. Currently hotels
and nightclubs are the only regular venues for local music,
but the state wants to see something more, much as
New Orleans' Preservation Hall provides a venue
for that city's jazz heritage.

---

State sounds out isle
‘Preservation Hall’

Many say Hawaii should do
for its music business what
New Orleans and Mexico
have done for theirs

By Jerry Tune
Star-Bulletin

Taking a cue from New Orleans' Preservation Hall, the state is tossing out the idea of developing a place in Kakaako where musicians can gather and play Hawaiian music and the public can come and enjoy the show for a fee or donation.

The state Department of Business and Economic Development is organizing a meeting for later this month to discuss the problems and possible solutions for the struggling local music industry. Alex Achimore, development manager for the Hawaii Community Development Authority, is scheduled to give an overview of the Hawaiian-style Preservation Hall idea at that meeting.

(No date has been set for the brown-bag seminar but anybody interested in more information can call Mike Markrich of DBEDT at 586-2412.)

A Hawaiian-style Preservation Hall is similar to what developer James W.Y. Wong has been talking about for many years.

"The state should come in with the first step, just like the government in Mexico runs the Folklorico (music performers)," Wong said.

Preservation Hall, located in an old warehouse in New Orleans, employs 80 musicians and charges $4 a person for jazz performances. The hall, a nonprofit organization, also sells recordings worldwide on the Sony label, and touring acts are sent worldwide to play jazz.

Those three sources of revenue pay for the hall and stimulate tourism, according to state officials.

Wong, who is best known in Hawaii for operating Paradise Park in Manoa with its exotic birds, said he does not know how much a Hawaiian-style music Preservation Hall would cost. But he said he believes that if the state backs an entertainment complex as part of its Kakaako redevelopment, there will be plenty of private investors to step in and develop it.

The idea strikes a harmonious chord with some isle musicians.

"I just heard about the idea but think it would get great support among the community," said David Strattford, president of the Hawaii Songwriters Association, which has 100 members. He said his group would be willing to donate time and help raise funds for the project.

Hawaii-produced music is a $8 million industry in retail sales, with 15 percent of the sales going to Europe, Japan and the mainland.

However, even with that success, the state estimates that nearly half of the 1,500 professional musicians in Hawaii do not work steadily.

Performers have suffered as Waikiki hotels and entertainment venues cut back on the number of singers and musicians. The popularity of karaoke also has reduced the need for booking musical groups.

The Musicians Association of Hawaii, Local 677, has 850 members but Strattford said employment has suffered in recent years as more hotels use computerized music to create a big sound, rather than hiring several musicians.

He said the "musical instrument digital interface" system has been used increasingly since 1983. "With the MIDI you can make two guys sound like 20," Strattford said. "So the hotels will use two musicians instead of four or five."

Musicians take day jobs to survive, and some work more than one job, he said.

Milton H. Carter Jr., president of Local 677, has been to Preservation Hall in New Orleans and supports a similar venue for Hawaii.

"It's a pretty good idea," Carter said. "We're also looking at other ways to promote our music internationally."

Still, Jan Yokota, the authority's executive director, stresses that there have been no formal proposals on a "Preservation Hall" in Kakaako.

"It's just an idea which has been talked about," she said. "There are several ideas that could go in the makai area."

Gov. Ben Cayetano has suggested a $60 million aquarium for Kakaako. Restaurants and retail shops along the waterfront of Kewalo basin are also being discussed by planners.

The future of makai Kakaako is part of a master planning effort by the HCDA. The first draft is slated for October and the final plan may be adopted early next year, said Brad Mossman, deputy director of the state DBEDT.

No specific site has been identified in Kakaako for a local Preservation Hall.

But there are warehouse buildings scheduled to be available in September, when the city moves its public works operations from 13 acres near the Children's Discovery Center at Ohe and Olomehani streets, makai of Ala Moana.

However, those buildings are more than 40 years old and the state does not know whether they can be rehabilitated for a music hall.