Ken Emerson @ Storybook Theatre

Ken Emerson To Perform at Storybook Theatre
           
The Storybook Theatre of Hawaii presents Ken Emerson as the featured artist for Friday, May 29th's 'Dakine Peace Garden Party' in the Spark M. Matsunaga International Children's Garden of Peace. The show starts at 7PM and is a benefit for The Storybook Theatre of Hawaii to raise funds for the peace garden whose dedication is scheduled for August 8th. Friday night is 'Art Night' in Hanapepe town and the stores, restaurants, and galleries are open and a festive atmosphere abounds.

Kenton Robert Lopaka Emerson is a San Francisco bay area born/ Hawaiian island bred guitarist who covers many musical genres. He has played his special blend of Blues/Jazz Hawaiian guitar for 40 years and is still running strong. His original compositions and performances on ’Slack Key Guitar Vol 2’ (Palm Records) helped bring in the first ever 2005 GRAMMY award for Hawaiian music. ’KE’ recently played on Donald Fagen’s 2007 GRAMMY winning "Morph the Cat" album.

Hawaiian music runs a common thread throughout his family’s roots. His mandolin playing grandfather Ray Emerson lived in the islands beginning in 1917, and his Grand Uncle Ed played jazz saxophone on the famous Matson Liner ‘Malolo’ in the early to mid 1930’s. His mother Alice was a featured ukulele performer along with her twin sister Agnes at the 1939 world’s fair exhibition in San Francisco. The ukulele she played at that venue proved to be Ken’s first ‘guitar’ at age 7.

In between his love of traditional Hawaiian music, Ken has played and/or toured with many luminaries in the musical world beyond Hawaii including Todd Rundgren, Taj Mahal, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, Donald Fagen, Dave Mason, Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Graham Nash, San Francisco’s Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann, Pablo Cruise Band and The Rowan Brothers.

Dividing his time between Kaua’i and San Francisco, Ken plays many local venues and festivals and is a frequent visitor to the east coast of the United States as well as Europe and Asia.
  
This event is open to all with donations being gratefully accepted at the door which opens at 6:30p.m. Refreshments and CDs will be available. For more about this event and Ken Emerson please visit http:www.storybook.org http://www.myspace.com/kenemersonguitarist . Storybook Theatre is located at 3814 Hanapepe Road. Additional information at 335-0712.