Well, my baby has finally arrived. It took 1 whole year (again), but I pushed and I pushed and am ready to deliver it to you today. Hope you can make it down to Rice Fest at Ala Moana's Magic Island today between 10am-6pm.

Check out the below for an hour by hour breakdown of the day's festivities including celebrity & chef cooking demonstrations, "Riceipe" cooking competitions, live entertainment by Jody Kamisato, Bruce Shimabukuro and a Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii, a SPAM® Musubi Eating Contest, and a Guinness World Record™ attempt to create the Largest SPAM® Musubi in the world!

2nd Annual Hawaii Rice Festival
Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park
TODAY from @ 10am-6pm

10am - Rice Fest (at Ala Moana's Magic Island) starts, hosted by 102.7 Da Bomb's Bruddah Bryan

102.7 Da Bomb's Bruddah Bryan

10:15am-10:45am - Ukulele performances by Jody Kamisato & Uke's Rising Stars

Jody Kamisato & Uke's Rising Stars

11am-11:20am - 1st Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Chef Kent Thompson and Hawaii News Now's Minna Sugimoto)

Chef Kent Thompson and Hawaii News Now's Minna Sugimoto

11:30am-12:30pm - "Riceipe" Cooking Competition - Amateur Division (including Leticia Buhr, Cathy Nobriga Kim, Loreen Matsushima, Mao Moeng, and Joan Murata).

"Riceipe" Competition Amateurs: Leticia Buhr, Cathy Nobriga Kim, Loreen Matsushima, Mao Moeng, and Joan Murata

12:30pm-1:30pm - "Riceipe" Cooking Competition - Professional Division (including returning champ Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi from Tokkuri Tei, Executive Chef Wayne Hirabayashi from the Kahala Hotel & Resort, Executive Chef Hector Morales from the Turtle Bay Resort, and retired chef Kent Thompson).

"Riceipe" Competition Professionals: Chef Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi (Tokkuri Tei), Executive Chef Wayne Hirabayashi (Kahala Hotel & Resort), Executive Chef Hector Morales (Turtle Bay Resort), Chef Kent Thompson (retired)

"Riceipe" Cooking Competition - Judges (11:30pm-1:30pm) - Food experts John Heckathorn from Honolulu Magazine, Nadine Kam from the Honolulu Star Advertiser and Melissa Chang and Mari Taketa from Nonstop Honolulu.

Judges John Heckathorn, Nadine Kam, Melissa Chang Mari Taketa

2pm-2:20pm - 2nd Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Chef Mavro's George Mavrothalassitis and The Cat Dish's Catherine Toth)

Chef/Proprietor George Mavrothalassitis (Chef Mavro) & Catherine Toth (Cat Dish)

2:30pm-3pm - Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii

Taiko Drum Performance by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii

3pm-3:30pm - Ukulele performance by Bruce Shimabukuro

Bruce Shimabukuro

4pm-4:20pm - 3rd Celebrity/Chef Cooking Demo (with Maui's Sea House Restaurant's Executive Chef Craig Erickson and KHON2's Justin Cruz)

Executive Chef Craig Erickson (Maui's Sea House Restaurant) & Justin Cruz (KHON2)

4:30pm-5pm - Guinness World Record™ for Largest SPAM® Musubi - Official Weigh-In

5pm-5:30pm - 2nd Annual SPAM® Musubi Eating Contest

5:30pm-6pm - Contest winner announcements

6pm - Rice Fest concludes

All Day (10am-6pm)
* Rice Donation Center - Donate your brown rice to Lanakila Meals on Wheels and white rice to Hawaii Foodbank
* Guinness World Record™ attempt to create the Largest SPAM® Musubi
* Live Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt - Compete in this Tweetup/Scavenger Hunt for a chance to win great prizes!
* Rice Education Booth - Learn all about Rice from the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Professor of Nutrition Dr. Maria Stewart, and
* The Keiki Zone - coloring contest hosted by members of the 2011 Narcissus Festival Court from 10am-2pm, bouncies, balloons and fun from Douglas Odani, Crystal Face Painting & Tattoos by Lei Crystal Tattoos, and games from JMJ Gaming.

2011 Narcissus Festival Court

And let's not forget about all of the participating vendors & booths:

• Bruce Shimabukuro / The Ukebox
• Douglas Odani - Balloon Twister
• Dr. Maria Stewart - University of Hawaii at Manoa Professor of Nutrition
• Grandma G's Kitchen
• Hawaii Book of Rice / Watermark Publishing
• Hawaii Foodbank
• Hawaiian Style Chili Co.
• Island Fruits
• JMJ Gaming
• Kat's Sushi
• The Keiki Zone
• Lanakila Meals on Wheels
• Lei Crystal Tattoos
• Oceanic Time Warner Cable
• Ono Local Foods
• Ono Pops
• Project Grad
• Raised on Rice
• Sam's Kitchen
• Shiga'licious
• SNOW |F|A|C|T|O|R|Y|
• Taste & See Delights

Hope you can make it down to experience another long year of my blood, sweat and tears for this event... See y'all there!

Wow, an actual non-"Where In the Hawaii" post. Amazing right?

So I thought I'd send us into the weekend with an extra hop in our step since many of y'all seem to vibe on the topic of music. How this particular subject (1-Hit Wonders) came about was really quite simple. I was recently updating the playlists on my iPod and kept coming across all these musicians and bands that had a song or two that I really liked but didn't really want to waste precious hard drive space to house their entire albums to. So finally, I just created a playlist called "1-Hit Wonders" and threw um all in there. I won't tell ya everything I got in that playlist because I wanna leave that for you guys to come up with in the comment area below, but here are some of my favorites!

• Postive K - "I Got a Man"
• Montell Jordan - "This is How We Do It", and, of course...
• Biz Markie - "Just a Friend"

Yeah, I guess I used to listen to a lot of rap back in the day. Haha!

So how 'bout it? What/Who are your favorite 1-hit wonders???

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2nd Annual Hawaii Rice Festival
Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park
Sunday, September 11, 2011 @ 10am-6pm
For more Info: RiceFest.com / Facebook / Twitter
To RSVP: Facebook Event / Twtvite

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Happy April y'all! Had one late night tonight, so I'm basically typing this one with one eye open and da oddah one fast asleep! More on why I had a late night, but for now, hurrr's this week's photo. Hungry yet?

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Photo #1

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? - April 6, 2011

Points for Photo #1...
* Best Caption!: 3 points
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Name of dish (Duh!): 1 point
* Name of island (*grin*): 2 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points
* Google Street View link?: 2 points

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Last Week's Results:
With only two pics last week we had two winners: Coconut Willy and Paco. 'Grats C Dubbs & 2Pac! Check out da leadahboard below for da updates!

Da Leadahboard (Round 3)!

• 32.0 - carokun
• 21.5 - Coconut Willy
• 21.0 - Paco
• 08.0 - Takeshi, honugurl79
• 05.0 - tweetpeep22
• 04.0 - che, k15
• 03.0 - SteveO, bB, tita leerz
• 02.0 - sooooogs
• 01.0 - kuya.d

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You Can Do It If You Try/Nandemo Dekiru (なんでもできる) - Alvin "Pops" Okami
Earlier tonight, I was fortunate enough to be invited to an event called "KoAloha Mai", a live webcast of local artists (like Herb Ohta, Jr., David Kamakahi, Jon Yamasato, Manoa DNA, & Pali), hosted and streamed out from KoAloha Ukulele Factory via Channel808.tv. One of the treats of the night was when Alvin "Pops" Okami performed "You Can Do It If You Try/Nandemo Dekiru" a song he selflessly dedicated to the people of Japan who are currently suffering due to the tragic earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Here's the performance that literally gave me chicken skin! For more information about the song and to find out how you can help, visit KoAloha's Nippon Relief page here!

Click here to read Bruddah Alvin Okami's story behind the inspirational song!

You Can Do It If You Try/Nandemo Dekiru - Alvin "Pops" Okami

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Have a happy VH07V Wednesday y'all! Don't forget to post your guesses below k? Shoooots!

These Tuesday posts are getting later and later yeah? Before you know it, da buggah goin' run into our Where In Hawaii Wednesday post. Oh well, better late than never ah?

So I guess it's obvious that I nevah watched Hawaii Five-0 live last night - hence the lack of a Five-0 post - but feel free to use the comment area below to chat up about the show with your fellow peeps anyway. I heard rap singer Nas made an appearance. Hah?

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This weekend, I attended two events that had some killah live music and I wanted to post some videos I took to showcase the local talent we have here in Hawaii.

The first one is of a rock band called Elephant (who performs every Saturday from 9pm-2am at the Irish Rose Saloon in Waikiki). Lead man Kevin Jones is a talented DJ for Star 101.9FM, a better singer/rock star, and an even better friend. Check out Elephant performing a cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" below.

Elephant - "When Doves Cry"

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The second band is called Heart & Soul, comprising of two talented ukulele players: Chris Salvador and my buddy Jody Kamisato. I recently featured Jody (and other fellow Kaiser High grads) in my November AroundHawaii article: "Cougar Pride - Three Kaiser High Grads Making a Difference"). Jody is the owner and head instructor at Ukulele Hale, and Chris is a young, but talented player with sick vocal skills. Below is a short clip of them covering Pure Heart's "How Can I Get Over?" at their recent CD Release Celebration Party at Gordon Biersch at the Aloha Tower Marketplace.

Heart & Soul - "How Can I Get Over?"

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Here's a little bonus cut from one of my favorite Youtube singers, an obvious ode to John Tyner's experience with the TSA. OMG Hilarious!

David Choi - "Please Don't Touch My Junk"

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Kay, das all. Have a good Tuesday yo!

Wow, lots of big Hawaii news as of late. From the election results, to Bruno Mars getting busted for cocaine, to the premiere of Hawaii Five-0. Thought it might be time to dust off "News Day Tuesday" for all y'all to sound off on some of these topics. Holla!

* Election Results?
- Pretty much went how I thought it would.

* Bruno Mars?
- Pretty disappointing. I was interesting in trying to line him up for an interview, but not so much anymore...

* Hawaii Five-0?
- I unfortunately had plans last night and missed it, but hope it does well for the sake of the state. Will definitely try to catch the next one.

* Top Chef?
- I know, I know, it's not really Hawaii related and the season is already pau, but you guys always seem to wanna talk about it so hear ya go! LOL!

P.S. In case you missed it: Scenes from the Rice Fest!
P.P.S. Here's Mars' latest single: Just the Way You Are. Good shtuff nonetheless.