Epic 90's...

Mullets, side ponytails, jelly shoes, Walkmans, Color Me Badd, Shai, and All 4 One.. All things that made the 90's for lack of a better word, EPIC... One of the last segments we filmed for the season finale of Hawaii HI-Lights was covering the Summer Sizzle 2010 concert held at the Neal S. Blaisdell center... Ummmmm, so that means I get to meet Shai? And All 4 One? AND Color Me Badd?? (Note: the interview with lead singer Bryan Abrams took place 4 days before he got arrested in Waikiki... Crazy!!) The 12 year old me who used to rock side ponytails with stretchy leggings with the lace at the bottom that reached mid-calf and the long ruffley t-shirts couldn't have been happier.. Little did I know that years down the road I'd actually get to meet these stars.. Garfield from Shai put it best when he said that they were the soundtrack to people's lives.. that quote made me smile.. so true... Bring me back to those 6th grade dances...

First to interview was Mr. Abrams of Color Me Badd (only 2 of the 4 boy band crew was able to make the concert)..



Next up was Shai! They were so fun to interview!! They even serenaded me acapella with "Baby I'm Yours"...




Backstage before the show got started..


All 4 One wasn't able to make the interview because they flew in the day of the show which happened to be the day after we filmed the interview portion... BUT I did get to meet them backstage and they were super nice.. Really just happy to be in Hawaii and performing for the crowd who sang along to all their songs!



Shai gave a pretty awesome performance I must say... so soulful!


Color Me Badd was the finale and performed with Hype 5-0 from America's Best Dance Crew!! After the show I had "I Wanna Sex You Up" stuck in my head for hours... Pret-ty sweet...


...the roots of 90's music has given us some of the greatest songs to reflect on our past...

LMFAO!!! Rock the Beat!!!

So I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing LMFAO at Pipeline Cafe for Hawaii HI-Lights!! They were pretty spectacular to say the least.. We had some drama getting the interview to actually take place due to miscommunication, but when did things in this biz ever run smoothly?? In the end, got mic'ed up and got the interview rolling.. that's when the pressure is on to "not mess up".. it's those instances where I'm like, ok, this is happening, it almost didn't, these people are donating their time to make it happen, don't screw it up (inner monologue).. Good thing the other party is usually not feeling the pressure and easy to talk to.. I mean it IS LMFAO, the group who sings "Shots! Shots! Shots!"...

Green Room at Pipeline Cafe.. scenery:


Waiting around in my new Dork Shades and attire for the evening.. Tribute to Michael Jackson sequin pants...



Last minute Glenda, our intern had the idea to get some shades to wear during the interview, so I thought of Dork Sunglasses, found the owners information and got in contact with him (extremely last minute.. I'm talking hours before shooting) and he got me 3 pairs of sunglasses, one for me and two for Redfoo and Sky Blu!!


Interview time!!




Next up was SHOWTIME!! Check out the gear the whole group was wearing... A-MAZING!






Is that a keytar?!?!


My official plus one.. Ms. Heidi Ribeiro... Rockstar...


This will air on our finale show, episode 9 on July 25th.. WATCH IT!

...to tall girls in the front row, rockin' to the beat...

Red, White, and Blue...

There are a few choice places to visit on the 4th of July to BBQ, hang on the beach, and watch the fireworks above... I spent mine this year in my own state of Hawaii.. Waikiki Beach to be exact! If you've never had the opportunity to spend our day of Independence in Hawaii, I highly suggest you make it a travel destination in the years to come.. I first had to film for Hawaii HI-Lights (shocker!) to cover the Regatta McFarlane canoe races that take place every year. Rows and rows of canoe racers and spectators line up starting at 8am until around 2 or 3pm, race after race to compete for the massive trophy's and bragging rights. Good thing call time was 10am at Duke's!



We had pretty little props for our table..



After filming we hungout and enjoyed the beautiful view of clear blue ocean and skies.. to die for.. Flotilla was off in the distance awaiting our arrival..




If you haven't heard of flotilla it's basically a man made island in the middle of the ocean.. man made of surfboards, paddleboards, canoes, boats, and floaties! A couple of the boats this year had music blaring from it, one boat had a full on band doing some old school rock songs and another had some electro-pop music.. People find various ways of getting out to the fun.. Heidi, Giselle, and I decided to brave the waves on our floaties by swimming the half mile out from shore to get to the madness.. WE MADE IT!!




Sadly we missed the fireworks at the end of the night.. We were too busy stuffing our faces with yummy goodness from the Cheesecake Factory to notice any fireworks going off.. We literally missed it by like 2 seconds when we walked out.. oh well.. At least I got to play with some sparklers that weekend.. Maybe next year..


...for the love of America...

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place..

I've rock climbed before... But I've fake rock climbed where I got certified from a plastic wall with plastic rocks strategically placed to climb. Not saying those things are cake, but nothing prepared me for what we had in store for our rock climbing segment of Hawaii HI-Lights. I woke up that morning thinking I was going to be on those fake walls using my muscles to reach the top. I made the trek up to Mokule'ia Beach on the North Shore where we were informed that we were to hike up a mountain AND THEN climb this massive REAL rock wall. Ummmmm, what? This would be the mountain we were hiking... GULP... Good thing I had my Chuck Taylor's on!


I asked my friend Anna Dequintanaroo if she'd like to accompany us on our day of filming, but little did she know what she was in for as well..



Pictures from the hike up.. Not a bad view...



Sam (Camera) and Ian (Producer/Camera) also had to endure the hot temperatures and hike up the mountain in order to get the money shots..


Once we reached the top I realized there was a whole pulley system set up by someone I was told called the "bug guy".. He apparently attached ropes to chains and locks at the top of the mountain so you could attach your own ropes and gear so you didn't have to worry about figuring out a way to get to the top THEN hike... A pretty complex operation I tell you.. We had a few people help us get set up who are seasoned climbers..


Ian had to get up to the top in order to get the "above" shots while Sam filmed below so there were two camera angles... He was checking out how high he actually had to go... BUT he was able to get maneuvered aka "supermanned" up there!




We got a mini lecture on the correct way to climb from Jean.. I just wanted to hurry up and get up there, she made it look so easy!! Notice I said "look so easy".. First up was Nicole and she made it up super fast!



I went second and got hooked up to all the pulleys for safety... I struggled at first to get used to the rock and what I needed to do.. Let me just say that rock climbing definitely messes with your head and jacks up your body.. I got bruised up on my knees and back/shoulders.. I had to stop a few times and take breathers to gather myself and stay determined that I was going to get up that rock.. My fingers were clenching on to almost nothing on the rocks and when I pulled them away they got so stiff I had to stretch them out between steps.. I was definitely the slowest, but I made it! Reached Ian for the shot!!








Anna went last and outshined us all.. girl has mad skills!!



Our rock climbing episode just aired on episode 6, so check out all previous episodes on the KITV website!

..determination has never hurt so bad, but felt so good..