Hawaiian musician from Maui, Willie K, said that it had been a very long time since he performed in a parking lot.
And there he was in the middle of the Keauhou Shopping Center parking lot, singing songs and talking story to benefit the Hawaii Food Bank.
Willie talked about being in grade school and singing scat music like Ella Fitzgerald (the shower story), and listening to his dad, also a performer, sing his special kind of music.
Also Willie K performed a few Italian opera tunes with such power and gusto, tunes he's been working on after a trip to Venice, Italy, tunes he will perform with the Honolulu Symphony in the near future. They were quite impressive.
When I commended him on coming to Kona, Willy responded by saying that he has been to this side of The Big Island quite a bit lately, studying up on his family's history. His father was from Kona.
There were some slight feedback from the vocal echo, and one of his guitar effects wasn't working causing the guitar to cut in and out, and a little static from a bad contact at his guitar cord connection, and he didn't do his Huli Huli Chicken song that he performs in
Barefoot Natives (another one of his musical projects).
But these were minor things when you are sitting in the middle of a parking lot listening to
Willie K tell stories and sing songs.
(photos by Randy Magnus)
The undefeated Konawaena High School Girls Basketball Team hanging out for a fashion shoot at Osuma Surf Shop, chillin' before this week's playoff games toward the State Championship. 
Round 3:
Last night we found reggae recording artist Tuff Lion
and his posse performing away at the Kanaka Kava Bar in the Coconut Grove Marketplace.
It was a rasta good time for all who attended,
and even Zach the owner of Kanaka Kava was present only a week after getting out of the hospital for a cancer operation. We all wish him well.
The entrance to the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden.
It was time for the 3rd Annual Avocado Festival (and Randyl Rupar's birthday celebration.)
Everyone could make their own sushi roll, featuring avocado. They tasted great.
Benjamin was back to his old self, suspending people upside down.
Some of the local guys drove down from Mauna Kea a pickup truck loaded with snow and made a snowman outside of Huggos on Friday night.
A new sport has sprung up here on the Kona coast. It is what one guy referred to as "Portuguese Horseshoes."
Kaleiula of Hot Lava 808 wants to wish everyone a very happy Valentine's Day. 
On Saturday evenings from 7pm to 9pm you can hear the uptempo jazz sounds of Byron Johnson's keyboard out in of the Beach Dog Internet Cafe in the Kona Square (across from the Kailua Pier.) 
Salsa En Fuego! featuring International recording artist from New York City, Luisito Rosario. With performances by ESPN World Salsa Dance champions Charlene Rose and David Nieto, The Son Caribe Band, DJ Tiger, Salsa No Ka Oi, and much more. Dress to Impress.
I went to see a friend who owns a Thai Restaurant in Keauhou Shopping Center, only to find out that she had sold the business to another Thai family, who is now running the cafe.
I went to Denny's yesterday for their Super Bowl promotion of a free grand slam breakfast. The place was packed, and the service was as bad as it always is - twenty minutes before I flagged down a waitress to take our order, and our plates sat there for five minutes before they were served to us, but as the guy next me who to was sitting next to buckets to catch the water from the leaking ceiling from the ac unit said, "No bad for free." I guess it depends on if you don't mind waiting for something you may not otherwise eat. Maybe next time I'll try the breakfast at U-Top-It or Island Naturals, something a little more locally-based and organic.
Hawaiian musician from Maui, Willie K, said that it had been a very long time since he performed in a parking lot.
