Erin Smith invited me to attend the Throwdowns CD release party at Maui Arts and Cultural Center last Friday. I called my friend, Cynthia Clark, and we headed to town to join the fun. We arrived at 5:30pm, thinking we were attending a brief gathering of fans and a short sampling of their new tunes. To our delight, we were pleasantly surprised with a full evening of a fantastic live concert featuring three acts in an intimate setting at the MACC's Yokouchi Pavilion. As we entered the event, we were each handed a Throwdowns "Legs of Our Own" CD and escorted to the paparazzi-like photo area where a photographer captured the attendees' cheesy poses for various websites.
The concert started with a lovely young blonde singer, Lily Meola, who was accompanied by her keyboard player. I was surprised to hear such a powerful voice come out of such a tiny thing! I would say her style was sort of folk/rock as she effortlessly swooned popular cover songs as well as a few sweet originals. At some points her voice sounded so amazingly angelic it gave me goose bumps! I had never heard of Lily before, but I am familiar with her brother, Matt, the young up and coming Maui big wave surfer. I'm sure Mom is very proud of all her accomplished kids! I will definitely keep my ears out for Lily as I think she has tremendous talent and will be singing on stages for many years to come!
Next up was Kimie, a beautiful rocker girl from the Big Island. Her full sound was soothing and inspiring. As she played her guitar, her voice filled the air with rock and reggae vibrations that magnified the female power that seemed to be the theme of the night. There were also some goose bump moments during Kimie's performance as the sun set behind the backdrop of the West Maui Mountains. Kimie, as well as Lily, performed a tribute cover to Amy Winehouse. Both ladies did an awesome job of channeling Amy's soulful pipes causing me to choke up a bit. A touching nod to such a tragically short-lived star.
As the sky turned indigo and the crowd filled the dance floor in front of the stage, a Hawaiian couple performed a powerful hula and fire dance. It was a super opening to Erin Smith and the Throwdowns, who began their performance with kick ass rock and roll songs from their new CD "Legs of our Own". The crowd immediately began dancing as the Throwdowns threw down some pumping music. Erin was in full form as she belted out some great new songs. The red haired beauty really knows how to electrify a stage! Marty Dread joined Erin on stage for an awesome performance of "Stay High", a killer song which he contributed to their new CD. The Throwdowns played some favorites from their last CD as well such as "Kihei Town" and did not disappoint their fans.
All in all the evening was a blast. Lots of great people showed up for the fun and all three female singers were extremely impressive. At the end of the night, everyone seemed to be filled with positive vibes and their sweet tooth for delicious music was satisfied. Many thanks to Cynthia Clark for bringing her camera and snapping some nice shots for this blog. I am proud to see all the great music coming out of Hawaii these days - especially from the ladies. Bring it on girls! We love it!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment