Some things take a little longer to happen...Part One

As the 70's Nightclub Reunion IV event was coming to a close a really good friend of mine looked at me and said, "What a concept, what a concept." Candy Au and Robin Kimura for sure have come up with some concept. It's pretty amazing how all of this came about and so cool to see bands that played in the day reuniting for the right reason and how much people of our age group and even some younger ones enjoyed getting together for a blast from the past.

One of the really feel good stories to come out of all of this is the story of Glass Candle. As I talked to Glass Candle lead singer Doug Rivera I believe that he mentioned that he graduated from high school in 1969. Ah, finally the puzzle was coming together for me. Glass Candle was finishing up as a band in the 70's just as I was graduating from high school myself. So it was no wonder I didn't recall ever having seen them play, although the name Glass Candle in itself was like, "Wooh, Glass Candle". In the day this was the band. Icons in the Hawaii music scene in the day, these were the men among all the boys. They were what all of us wannabes wanted to be, and here they were in the flesh reunited on stage again.

From the Glass Candle soundcheck at about 1pm that Saturday you could just feel the vibes, feel the electricity. It was so cool to finally hear the band during their soundcheck and meet in person people I had always heard of and looked up to. And they did not disappoint at all. Not only great musicians and singers but they were so down to earth, respectful, humble and just good people enjoying the moment. Doug Rivera who was actually found about a week or so before the event told me, "I would never miss this opportunity to do this." But perhaps one of the coolest things to come out of all of this was Glass Candle bandleader Robert Shinoda writing in an email to our band's leader Robin Kimura, "If it wasn't for this we would probably have lost touch with one another and perhaps never seen each other again ever." Well, i paraphrase a bit here for a lack of memory, but when I saw that, wow!!!!! So true Robert and that was just soooo cool.

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @