Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - May 31, 2023

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK MAY 31, 2023
Lint Trap
An Unwavering Vision
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to Waccomplish it; the time will pass anyway.” — Earl Nightingale
ho could have imagined that Forth Worth,
It’s no secret to the people who know me that my fa- vorite color is black. Nearly every car and truck I’ve owned has been black. As far as vehicles go, owning a black car is a true commitment. If you don’t keep it clean and polished, it looks the opposite of cool. In my case, the opposite of cool is lazy.
Texas, known as “Cow- town,” would become a center of classical music? But if the Van Cliburn In- ternational Piano Competi- tion held there could have that effect, why not create a world-class international piano competition in a tour- ist destination like Hawai‘i? Fifteen years ago, it seemed an impossible goal, but that is what I envisioned for Hawai‘i with the Ke‘alohi International Piano Com- petition.
up on the dream of hosting a world-class piano competi- tion in Hawai‘i. At the same time, the kinds of obstacles we faced showed that much success came because many people shared the same vi- sion. Determination, tenac- ity, optimism and patience were major factors in bringing the dream to real- ity. Without those, it would still be 15 years later, but we would not have heard 15 outstanding musicians.
Lisa Nakamichi is an in- ternationally known con- cert pianist and recitalist, and founder of the Aloha International Piano Fes- tival, which is now in its 16th year. In June 2022, she launched the Ke‘alohi International Piano Com- petition in Honolulu, which will be held again in 2025.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
One hundred percent of my excuse for this is because as soon as I wash my car, it either rains or I experience my own little version of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds. That’s right, I believe that birds target my car specifically because that is the nature of their job. They keep car washes and detailers employed.
By mutual agreement with my wife, much of our furniture is leather and therefore black. For the most part we have similar tastes in decorating style, but between her and our daughter and after watching Love It Or List It on HGTV, they are suddenly inspired to incorporate pops of color.
For such an undertaking, full support from the Ha- wai‘i Symphony Orchestra was critical, as we would need its partnership and its performance of three full piano concertos for the fi- nal round of competition. Doggedly pitching the idea for more than a decade, I remained convinced that someday, someone would grasp its value. Sensing an opportunity and the right timing in the summer of 2021, I threw the idea to Dave Moss, the new HSO president. His enthusiastic
A moment captured at the finals of the Ke‘alohi International Piano Competition with Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra. PHOTO COURTESY LISA NAKAMICHI
Although our daughter has a great sense of style, she tends to go for the trendy, TikTok-inspired looks. I’ve come home from work on occasion to find that they both repainted our bathroom in a color that I can’t even pronounce. It kind of bugs me since I didn’t get a say in it. But pick your battles, right?
“let’s do it!” launched us into immediate preparation. But as months of planning during COVID dragged by without a venue, things looked bleak. I was on the verge of postponing the competition, when sudden- ly both Blaisdell Center and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Department of Mu- sic tentatively agreed to the dates, with the understand- ing that they might shut
down if COVID rates rose. Worrisome now was the short lead time. But re- sponse from young pianists around the world was over- whelming, and 15 phenom- enal pianists were invited to compete. Watching the fi- nalists play their concertos with the HSO in June 2022, was surreal. Had all these years really culminated in
At least they don’t have any involvement with my office, which is mostly black with my side chairs, desk chair and couch in leather. Of course, my desk is black. You could almost say my office is my home away from home. That is truer than not because of all the time I spend at the office.
Regarding my wardrobe, it is also predominantly black. A long time ago, I read that wearing the color black makes you look slimmer. Since then, black clothes are a big part of my “look.” Not quite like Johnny Cash or Honolulu Star-Ad- vertiser’s famous John Berger, but sometimes pretty close. Another advantage of wearing black is the color matches everything, so like Albert Einstein, I don’t have to do a lot of thinking about what I’m going to wear. However, I recently had an experience from wearing my go-to black T-shirt. The other day, my wife and I needed to buy a new bathroom rug.
this moment?
I am proud for not giving
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: BRONZE
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so we went to Ross Dress For Less. My wife picked out a fluffy white rug and asked me to carry it. I shifted the rolled-up rug from arm to arm. She turned around and saw that my shirt was covered in white lint. I also noticed that she was walking way ahead of me so I called out to her. She said she didn’t want to be seen next to me and have people wonder why she would let her husband go out in public with a shirt covered in lint.
I then posed a legit question, “ Then why do you do that when I’m not covered in lint?”
rnagasawa@midweek.com
with Lisa Nakamichi