I just got this via email from Amazon.com:

“We regret to inform you that the Hawaii state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, unless vetoed soon by Governor Lingle, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Hawaii-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of Hawaii.

Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.

But because the new law is drafted to go into effect July 1st, we will have to terminate the participation of all Hawaii residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from Hawaii residents.

The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on Hawaii residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Honolulu, including the sponsors, committee leaders, and House-Senate conferees. We also have explained by letter these unfortunate consequences to Governor Lingle, and have twice requested her veto.

Note that other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.

Governor Lingle’s website is http://hawaii.gov/gov, the Hawaii legislature’s website is http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of next steps.

Sincerely,

Amazon.com”

The State of Hawai‘i has been operating a tax amnesty program for the past month. When I heard about it I realized that I had not filed my GET forms for 2008, and stopped in to make sure that I was all caught up on paper filings and taxes. It was very enlightening. I found out that I had failed to file for a few years ago and apparently owed a few bucks for that year, and that I also had a few old licenses that I had either never used or not used for years. The clerk helped me cancel all of those as well as create a new DBA which is under under the sole license I have now. I didn’t even realize you could do that and assumed each DBA had to be a separate GET license. Anyway, one short phone call and a 15 minute visit to the tax office in Hilo and I had my “fresh start”.

The program ends Friday, so if you want a fresh start, too, you’d better get your gears in motion. Check the tax office’s website for details.

I laid out $9.95 for the iPhone 3.0 update for my iPod Touch last night, and just discovered why it was worth it – the standard US Keyboard now allows you to insert the vowel-kahakō characters and ‘okina. Here’s how you do it:

When you want to type an ‘okina-vowel, touch and hold down your finger over the vowel for a second or two, and it will pop-up a list of available diacritic characters (see the graphic at right to see how this list looks when I held down over the letter “a” on the keyboard). Whether the vowel-macron is to the right or the left depends on which vowel you are trying to type.

For the ‘okina, press the “123″ button to get to the keyboard with numbers and other characters. Hold down your finger on the apostrophe, and it will pop-up a list of curly quotes. Select the one that looks like a small number “6″.

That’s it! Another small step forward for Polynesian languages.

In spring 1985 I moved to Hollywood to attend Musicians Institute. On the first day of instruction all of us students (@500) gathered in the school’s performance auditorium for orientation. As a “getting to know you” exercise they had all of us in odd number rows (I was in row 1) turn around and introduce ourselves to the person directly behind us, then stand up and introduce that person to the rest of the class. Yes it took a while.

The fellow sitting behind me was a guitar student named Nick Nolan, about 19 years old. He was also the winner of the Van Halen scholarship that the school offered that year, having beat out several hundred other entries and earning some very complimentary remarks from Mr. Eddie VH himself. But Nick was a very quiet, humble fellow, and turned out to be my best buddy during my all-too-brief stay at the school. Just out of curiosity I did a Google search for Nick to see what he had been up to, and found that he’s authored quite a few instructional books and DVDs on rock guitar. I heard that he was also hired as a teacher at MI, but don’t know if he’s still there or not.

Leaving MI after only three months remains on my short list of big regrets. If I could have a “do-over” year, it would be 1985.

Wallaby spotted in Cornish garden

A wallaby with a baby joey has been photographed hopping around the back garden of a house in Cornwall.

The marsupial and her youngster were spotted by an “amazed” Brian Nash on his neighbour’s patio in St Breward, near Bodmin, on Thursday morning.

“She was just hopping about enjoying the morning sun,” he said

It is thought the female may have mated with a male wallaby which escaped two years ago from Trevathan Farm near St Endellion – about eight miles away.

Trevathan Farm owner Mark Symons said his wallaby is regularly spotted in the area.

“I’ve never seen him myself, but lots of other people apparently have,” he told BBC News.

“He was a healthy youngster, capable of living for years, so it could well be his mate and little joey.”

No parks or farms in Cornwall have reported a missing female wallaby, but she may have escaped from a private collection or been dumped by an owner who no longer wanted her.

Breeders and animal experts said a growing number of people in the UK were buying wallabies to keep their lawns and gardens in trim.

Mr Symons said wallabies could survive easily in the Bodmin Moor area, with an almost unlimited amount of vegetation for food.\
“They’ve no natural predators, although the joey could possibly be nabbed by a buzzard or a fox,” he said.

“A large dog could be a risk, but then a wallaby has the speed to escape.”

Mr Nash said the wallaby did not appear nervous of him, but was scared off by a cat.

“She bounced off over a hedge and was gone and I couldn’t see her after that,” he said.

“It was very strange – I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Experts said wallabies were well known for being able to find each other in the wild.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/8064473.stm

Last weekend my wife and I traveled to Kaua‘i to participate in the Kōke‘e Hawaiian Music Songwriters Camp. Kenneth Makuakāne, Puakea Nogelmeier, Kaliko Beamer-Trapp, Walter Keale and I taught workshops on haku mele and other aspects of songwriting. The camp was held at some cabins deep in Kōke‘e State Park, where I had never gone to before, and it was a very inspiring setting.

I did two workshops – one was an overview of some of the more common and essential elements of mele, and to demonstrate the composition and editing process, explained how my mele Facebook Hula came about. I provided them with both the first draft as it came to me a few weeks ago, and how I edited it to strengthen the text. The second was a workshop on collaborative songwriting, where Kenneth and I talked about how our collaboration works, and how we each need to sometimes compromise and be open to changes, and how both parties must work for the benefit of the mele – not our own egos.

Very few of the participants had sufficient skills to actually compose mele, though a a couple were experienced Hawaiian immersion teachers who wanted to venture into haku mele. We made it quite clear from the beginning that fluency in the language was a starting point, and that haku mele is a higher level of the language. In spite of their limited language ability, during the last session we broke them into groups, with each instructor helping one group conceptualize and create a single verse to a Hawaiian song. It left them all with a feeling of accomplishment, and also an appreciation that they had a long way to go before actually beginning to compose mele.

Kenneth and I will reprise our presentations at the Kaua‘i Music Festival in July, and will be joined by some world-famous composers such as David Pack (Ambrosia),  Jason Blume (Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and Jesse McCartney) as well as some prominent Hawai‘i composers. I hope some of you can make it.

Aloha Scott,
Do you have any preferences on wireless rounters. Is the Apple airport express worth the additional dollars? How’s the range? Any suggestions…

A Belkin 802.11n router from WalMart recently appeared in my home for no better reason than because it was on sale. Economy took precedence over reason as this is only the second product from Belkin not to violently piss me off so they may finally be hiring grown-up engineers.

I could have gotten an 802.11g like the Linksys for much less but my new iMac has the faster 802.11n card and I wanted to take advantage of the better speed and range while out-butching my housemate who has more tools than me in her garage. Linksys has been a good brand, though I’ve recently had trouble with cheaper models dropping the signal at inconvenient moments and their complete denial of Apple’s existence is at best inconvenient. When a tech support Walla tells me to click on “Start” to open Internet Explorer I know he will not speak well of me afterward down the pub.

Be aware that any extra features printed  on the box – especially in starbursts – will be irrelevant to Mac users, meant for PC idiots or outright lies. Most of the included software will either not work or screw up your computer so just hand the CD to the dog, ignore the instructions and plug everything in. If you don’t smell smoke – you’ve done it right.

The new Apple Time Capsule (802.11N) is great because while expensive it does include a backup drive which could save your life someday. Getting both is more convenient than pounding your head against the wall when you eventually erase something really important.

Finally, I love the Apple AirPort Express, you can’t beat the price and it’s a delight to travel with. The only limitation is that you can’t hardwire into it like the larger routers to get a little more speed, but you CAN plug it into your stereo and broadcast iTunes over the wireless network which will impress both the neighbors and any nearby livestock.

All 802.11n routers have better range and signal strength than their predecessors although your performance may vary. I’ve had computers refuse to recognize routers sitting right next to them on the desk while picking up stray signals from passing aircraft so in the end it’s all magic and ultimately depends on karma, diet and your skill at inter-personal relationships.

Being sheltered in Hawaii, the arts, the computer and music businesses most of my life I thought I had both met and developed a tolerance for a wide variety of wackos.

Many of my best friends will never be hired to work at a grocery store or operate heavy machines but their talents and agile minds make them more fun to play with than the regular kids.

One of my pals can sit down to any instrument and after a few minutes play like a pro. Not just technically, he can toss off music that bring tears to your eyes and make it all appear effortless. I once watched him do a five-minute comedy routine on a drum kit and without saying a word, reduce a room-full of people to helpless laughter. But his uncontrollable creativity also gets in the way of his career. Who wants a bank teller or car mechanic that constantly does stuff in new and funny ways?

When I worked for Apple’s software company, our best programmer appeared at work each day dressed in just a long, blue bathrobe. He’d sit on a bench outside the main foyer smoking, ignoring the stares of scrubbed and suited visitors streaming in to discuss multi-million dollar business deals. In advertising and at Apple the occasional loose nut was often seen as a feature – I wouldn’t be surprised if his cubicle was on the official orientation tour.

There’s no need to point out the eccentrics in music and the arts. Without them there would be no music or art businesses. They make great press, do good work and keep life interesting.

But then there is the dark side, the obverse of these enchanting performers, the secret psychotics who seem at first irresistible and seductively appealing but then rip out your heart, rip off your savings or tear apart your country – all the while appearing completely indifferent to the damage they cause.

In the last year I’ve had the misfortune of running across a couple of these toxic personalities and paid the price. While they didn’t get my money they did carve large holes out of my life and lay waste to those of us who thought they were friends. The result is that I’m now much more cautious about who I get close with. I’ll never again leave a toothbrush at someone’s house or completely trust my feelings without corroborating evidence in triplicate.

Statistically one in twenty-five people is a psychopath. This means that for every two dozen friends you have, one can hurt you and not give a shit. If we factor in the mildly psychotic, then you can expect to run across someone who should not know where you live every few years.

In defence, I have now instituted a policy of avoiding anyone crazier than me unless we are related. This narrows the selection somewhat. I also insist on only playing with people who can laugh and avoid anyone who has recently been on probation or gone off their medications. Professors are also suspect and except for the fact that I live there it’s a good idea to avoid anyone from Florida.

One day I saw a Facebook status update from my friend Kama Hopkins, noting that he was on the Pali Highway and it was raining. I thought to myself, “why the heck is he updating his Facebook status while he’s driving?”. I wrote a single verse of a song to tease him about it and to remind him not to do such dangerous things (turns out he was stuck in traffic at the time and not speeding down the road). Within about 15 minutes I had 7 verses and posted it on Facebook. Kama (a member of the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning group Holunape) then recorded it. Read the rest of the story here.

Next month marks the one year anniversary of my departure from Hawaii and a very long, lovely relationship. During that time I’ve crossed two oceans, left a former kingdom for one much more ancient, then returned to where I originally began forty years ago. Culturally this has been quite an odyssey, but in a few weeks I hope to be finally settled at the upper right corner of Florida a few blocks from where my father once managed a liquor store and my mom helped run the airport.

At heart I’m a country boy who always longed for the beaches, though growing up in the military kept me from becoming attached to any single place until twenty years in the richest, most beautiful place on earth grabbed me by the heart. My affiliation with Hawaii is permanent and something I am proud of. I will always say aloha and sign Shaka. Hawaii nei is where I come from, but not where I am.

Living inland in Richmond Virginia for the last six months has been a chore. Not just because of the weather, which is crap. The problem is that there is no “here” here. Richmond, and most of the cities I’ve visited in America are just locations, devoid of personality. They don’t incite the sort of love and pride I find in Hawaii and Florida because at the end of the day they are all interchangeable. Each street of strip malls and burger places looks just like the every other. Driving through canyons of stone and glass breathing fumes and getting lost is the same experience everywhere.

The unique character of a place seems to come from the inspiration of the land, which then influences the people. The interaction of these elements over time creates a culture. Denver has mountains to the west, San Francisco; its bay, New York; the limits and benefits of being an island. The extreme diversity of such places, rather than isolating their populations, somehow encourages the evolution of a common bond.

No one can mistake Honolulu or Hilo for Cleveland or Chattanooga. The bay front of St. Augustine is nothing like Miami or Baltimore. The valleys and coastlines of southern England give each village a similar Cornish character while the history and buildings of each helps maintain their individuality. There’s no way you could mistake Portreath for a village in Ireland or a town in the home counties. Centuries of singular experience have worn lines and torn scars into the fabric of these places. These patterns come from the interaction of the land, the people and their history. It’s not something a chamber of commerce can infuse by adding trees or changing a few signs.

Culture, like mountains and the sea is a continuum reaching from the past to the future. It passes through us, makes us who we are and supports the lives we hope to lead.

This evening I had the opportunity to share something with people across cultures and across the planet.

A friend of mine in Hawaii streamed a Metta practice from Kukuipuka haeiu in the West Maui Mountains. I’m not big on the kwacky stuff but Metta is a very functional, rational meditation that doesn’t require much in the way of hardware or assumptions. Best of all Kukuipuka is a wonderful haeiu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiau where my lovely ex and I once went to heal our relationship last Easter before our divorce.

The event was posted on FaceBook, and at the time I didn’t pay much attention except to note the location. But today I remembered it, logged onto the site and realised that for one of the few times in my life I could actually participate so I posted the URL in my FaceBook profile and checked to see who was on Skype.

It turned out that a pal from my high school band and the daughter of a lady I dated in the UK were online so the three of us, from all over the world, watched while chatting on the side. Not only was the short, grainy feed interesting and beautiful but the fact that it was shared with friends across the planet was very moving.

Afterward, the host accidentally left the audio fed live so we got to hear them laughing while they unplugged stuff which made the experience even more real and for a few moments brought the beauty of the island s back to life for me in a cold rainy city too far from any island.

I’m at the Short Pump Mall Apple Store in Richmond taking my landlady’s new MacBook in for it’s first check up. Her outgoing mail poked the weasel and even I couldn’t get the bugger to co-operate.  So, as we wait, I’m on a new Mini among about 30 people hacking my culture in public. There is apparently no recession for Apple Stores and the service here is typically impeccable.

The sun is finally out on the right coast of America after a weekend of freezing temperatures and too much of that fluffy white shit on the ground. Friction is back in force and those who survived the challenge are back on the road.

On a thematically relevant note, I’ve noticed that drivers here won’t let you in a lane unless without an overt threat of physical damage. Coming from Hawaii where almost everyone waves you through with a nod and a shaka, this requires some adjustment. I’m not an aggressive driver, preferring to pull over to the side until the parade passes so having to actively insinuate myself into a stream of alpha apes in large metal boxes has required some behavioural modification.

I’m sitting in the foyer of the public library in Tuckahoe, which is a vanished community now tucked against Richmond Virginia.

I came to drop off some BBC Sherlock Holmes DVDs and picked up a bit of poetry by my dear friend William Merwin. The libraries here in Jefferson’s state are quite evolved. Check-outs are done by dropping your stuff in a pile on a machine, scanning your card then tapping a screen.

On the way out I usually check my email. Now that a large portion of my communication is through. Facebook I automatically click that app on my iPod Touch which then spins unproductively until I remember that the library blocks Facebook.

Given the popularity of that service, blocking it is like in the old days when I couldn’t access the Internet at the Makawao library on Maui. That always pissed me off. Fortunately someone at HPLS saw the light and installed drastically mediocre Dell computers so that anyone accessing the internet in public would have a correspondingly mediocre experience.

Once again technology has gotten ahead of public service leaving us geeks frustrated and out of touch in the most public of places.

After spending last summer on the road, choosing a place to land has been more difficult than I’d imagined.

A year ago all I wanted was to get away from Hawaii - reboot my life and see what happened. So I spent last spring in the UK. Half of that time though was lost to pathological depression, the rest in blissful discovery.

Then there was an unexpectedly ecstatic summer in Florida, drenched in sweat and embraced by new friends and old family. Confirming the reality of those beaches over the holidays didn’t make it any easier.

Now I watch sleet freeze on the trees while bundled in layers. Letting the dog out is the closest this water ape needs to approach snow. I remember bundling against the off-shore winds in Cornwall and thinking THAT was cold. Sixty degrees in Kula was a challenge, but this mid-east coast weather defies community. I can’t walk to the pub or meet someone for Italian when nature has voided friction. I’d be a fool to walk much less drive.

So when a friend offered me a room in St. Augustine I was very close to packing it up and following the birds. But there’s a lot to be learned from cold and isolation. Bare trees and frozen rivers seem like old friends with new stories.

Recently my heart was opened well in advance of my expectations. I hadn’t planned on stumbling over a companion this soon. Finding someone else to care about seems to bring more warmth that the sun. As sister Wendy says: “Your home is where your heart is.”

I posted a few days ago about finding the Hawai‘i region in the iPod Touch, and apparently the system-level support is even better than I thought. I set up a few locations using the Weather application, and found that it displayed the days of the week in Hawaiian as well. Too cool.

What would be cooler would be to have the Hawaiian keyboard, too.

I did find that I could not post this screenshot to this blog using WordPress for iPhone application – I kept getting: “Communication Error. Operation could not be completed (NSXMLParserErrorDomain error 5.” Hmmm.