OUR copy editor Mark Coleman stopped me as I passed by and handed me a plastic jewel case containing a compact disk. Newspaper staff can
make music, too"I told you I'd give you a Potato Cannon CD some day," he said proudly as I examined the slick cover caricature of a potato wailing on a guitar.
Coleman plays bass, sings and wrote several songs on this debut Potato Cannon album, "Monday Night Live," which was recorded from the band's performance on KTUH-FM. Star-Bulletin writer Burl Burlingame is featured on guitar, harmonica and vocals and also composed some tunes.
I was immediately jealous that I had dropped out of the precursor band that later became Potato Cannon.
We formed a Christmas party rock band several years ago with photographer Ken Ige, Burlingame and me on guitar, artist Kevin Hand on drums and food writer Betty Shimabukuro on keyboard. Features editor Nadine Kam and executive assistant Tessie Seabolt handled the vocals.
After our one and only performance, Coleman told me he was inspired. "Your band didn't have a bass," he said. "I'm going to learn to play the bass for next year's Christmas party."
Right, I thought. But sure enough he reconstituted the Christmas party band a couple of years later and they were playing stuff so far beyond my capability that I had to beg off.
I should have stuck it out as Coleman and Burlingame did in a series of groupings that eventually became Potato Cannon. Back then, somebody described Coleman as "tone deaf" and Burlingame couldn't tune his guitar without the help of one of those electronic gizmos. Now they have a very good CD out.
Ige plays solo gigs as a singer/guitarist and you still can occasionally hear Kam's soaring voice bringing down a house. Hand has taken his pen to Chicago where he's no doubt drumming in some blues joint and Seabolt has temporarily retired to full-time motherhood.
Shimabukuro wrote a story that is helping to raise funds for the University of Hawaii Rainbow band, for which she once played clarinet. They gave her a band scholarship even though she couldn't march and blow her horn at the same time.
I suppose that's no worse than paying the freight for a football coach who couldn't win any games. The education certainly wasn't wasted on Betty. For a musician, she turned out to be a great journalist.
Our Christmas party band barely scratched the surface of the Star-Bulletin's musical talent.
Copy editor Seth Markow hosts a jazz program on public radio. Columnist Charles Memminger plays guitar and wrote a song featured on Robert Kekaula's last album.
REPORTER Helen Altonn starred in a rock video called "Free Yo' Mind," another Christmas party venture that included guest bits by most of our staff and was filmed by our photo crew. Reporter Gordon Pang is one of Hawaii's finest karaoke singers and his colleague Rod Ohira is a master at spinning the platters. He gets it from columnist Dave Donnelly, who was one of K-POI's original Poi Boys.
It got me thinking about the nature of our newspaper and the people who work here.
We make folks really mad sometimes and it's hard to take some of the nasty letters and angry phone calls. But it's just the business we're in. We make waves. We bear bad news. We shine bright lights in dark corners. Lord knows, we make mistakes once in awhile.
But I take comfort in knowing that with so much music in our hearts, we can't be all that bad.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
Previous Volcanic Ash columns