The Thieves of Kailua - On the Waikiki
After watching The Descendants and thinking some hard thoughts about Hawaii, I was reminded of the Thieves of Kailua album and how much I love it. The title track to that album, which I wrote about a while ago (on the euthanized version of this blog), is easily one of my favorite songs of the past ten years--I can and do listen to that song dozens of times in a row when I hit upon it. And "On the Waikiki" is the sweet little song that leads right into "Thieves of Kailua." If you were an ungenerous critic, incapable of love, you might say this song featured something like the re-animated spirit of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo," but you would be majestically wrong. "On the Waikiki" comes nowhere close to the perverse wave-fucking of "Kokomo," and is instead breezy ukulele pop, where Jason Holstrom (the man behind the project) sings about strolling on the Honauma Bay and all the peaceful/idyllic aspects of his trip, which nicely sets up the scene where the titular thieves show up and steal his wallet (in the next song). I feel like this album should be more widely known than it is. If I were more industrious, or smarter, I would write a small chapbook about "The Thieves of Kailua" and print it on thin sheets of Koa wood, then pay for the project after the fact through a Kickstarter which offered only incentives like, "I will carve you a pile of artisan mulch," or "I will pre-chew 10 oz. of gum for your convenience (you provide the gum)." No one wants that, so buy this album.[BUY Thieves of Kailua]