Latest / Ageless and Timeless Podcast® / Stephen Carbon, debut author, lifelong musician, writer, photographer and business entrepreneur

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Stephen Carbon, debut author, lifelong musician, writer, photographer and business entrepreneur · Ageless and Timeless Podcast®

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Aloha. Today is our Hawaiian Day, and our guest is a new author
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and of poetry called The Poetry of Aloha, and his name is Stephen Carbon,
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and he is here with us from Delaware, although he does have a
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home on the island of Kawaie in Hawaii, and um the Poetry of Aloha
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is his debut into poetry. But he's also in his in his anthology of
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poetry are also some of his photographs. So he's a photographer and a poet
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and a musician. And we're going to be treated today to a video of
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he and his group called Carbon fourteen who play in live in Delaware and elsewhere,
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correct, Stephen, that's correct. Where else do you play? Well?
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We play all on the del Marva Peninsula between the state Pennsylvania, Virginia,
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Maryland, Delaware, pretty much the mid Atlantic, the mid Atlantic,
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And in the background you're hearing and hopefully seeing some of the music and video
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of one of our favorite sons of Hawaii, and that's brother is Unfortunately,
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he passed away in nineteen ninety seven, not before he was honored, after
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which he was honored posthumously, of course, by lying in state at the
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State House. I think he's the third, only the third person in the
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history of Hawaii that was and he was a non government person that was given
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that honor. So, brother, is anyone who is familiar with his music
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knows he sings like a bird and one of the most beautiful voices you will
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ever hear. This is over the rainbow and hopefully you can see some of
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the beautiful scenery that is so much a part of the Aloha State. And
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by the way, Stephen, did you see in the news that Hawaii was
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given the honor of the number one place in the world in the country I
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mean to live for the second year in a row, the happiest, the
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happiest place to live, the happiest place to live. Did you see that?
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Yes, I did see that. Well. So Stephen and I do
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not know each other by living in Hawaii, but both of us have had
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the experience of having residency in the Garden on the Garden Island of Kauai.
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I was there off and on for twenty five years as a real estate developer.
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Stephen was there as a visitor who took in all the beauty and the
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joy of getting away from his business in Delaware to have a an injection of
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paradise and aloha, and this is what has inspired him to photograph and write
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and play music. So I had a question though, Stephen, do you
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do any Hawaiian music when you play with your band? We were not that
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type of genre music of Haian style or the reggae music. However, I
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am a big fan of those styles and always take in any shows I can
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when I'm in Hawaii. Right, but is mostly a classic rock, I
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dance performance band. That's what I thought. But maybe you'll segue there and
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maybe when you moved to Hawaii after you retire, that could become your next
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career, you know, because that would be so phenomenal. But you,
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I know, you said you have a ukulele. Now you have to get
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a slack key guitar. That will be the second acquisition for your genre into
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Hawaiian music. You never have too many guitars in life. Sure that is
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true. So just curious in your band, you're not the lead singer?
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Who what? What exactly is your position? I'm I am the bass player
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and a backup vocalist. I also sit on a few drums. I do
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play drums as well, and I'm pretty much the leader of the group and
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the founding member of the band. So if it goes back many years with
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an original lineup of artists that I work with, and well, I noticed
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that I noticed on I can see on the video that you have a Hawaiian
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shirt on. Thank you so much for dressing for the occasion, for our
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right and you're giving us the chakra. Thank you so much. We're just
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a little background. So anyone has visited Hawaii knows how special the experience of
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paradise is, particularly when you absorb it as non tourist. And you can
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go as a tourist, but if you really want to appreciate particularly I know
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the island of Kawaii the best, as does Stephen. However, all the
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islands have something to offer, but Kawai is very, very spiritual, and
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people always ask me why did you pick Hawaii as a place to develop real
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estate, and I always tell them, well, it's because, you know,
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San Francisco is my home for my entire adult life, and that's where
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my heart is. As we know from Tony Bennett. However, my soul
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is Jill in Hawaii, and Stephen, I think you and I share that
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experience of no matter where we are in the world, Hawaii still is in
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our soul. And I think the question I would ask you is why is
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that for you? What is it about the garden Island of Kauai and Hawaii
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in general that you believe is in your soul at all times? Yeah,
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it's a very charming experience to go to Hawaii, especially the island of Kawaii
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itself is just a botanical wonder and joy of nature experience photograph and just to
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be a part of that experience in life has had a deep effect on my
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writing and my full personality and sort of a mental, spiritual and physical cohesiveness
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that I find from the Aloha spirit that has befriended me so to speak.
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So and how do you define the Aloha spirit? I define that as the
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combination of irreverence for peace, love, nature, and harmony of humanity.
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It's more than just the greeting of hello and goodbye. It's very much a
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philosophy of life, as the ancient Hawaiians have created their philosophy over many hundreds
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of years centuries of isolated living. So it is a kind of a unique
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experience. The spirit of Aloha is original in its own design. And you
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know, it's interesting, Stephen, when you're living there, it's almost like
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a third world country, even though it is the fiftieth United States. And
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we have to remember that because people often forget. And so, you know,
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we always say the mainland when we're talking about the living in Hawaii,
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that if we're going back to, not the United States, as some people
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mistakenly say, but to the mainland. And that's very important to the Hawaiian
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people that you you know, you say that as they're very proud to be
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or most are very proud to be part of the United States. There is
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a very colorful history, as we both know, of Aloha and also of
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the When I say kind of like a third world it's it's Hawaii is unique,
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and that it has its own language, its own music. You and
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I both know that the music is, as we heard from Bretta, is
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is daunting music and it has a lot to do with love and nature.
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So it's interesting that you would pick the poetry of Aloha as the title of
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your book. So let's delve into that a little bit. We're going to
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show a cut the cover of your book here for a moment. There it
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is and you can see that's the Nepali coast, right, that's correct,
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that's the Kalilal Valley valley. You photograph that, that's correct? Yes,
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did you? Did you photograph that from the Waimea Canyon side or from the
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Hanalei side. That it's from the Waimea Canyon side on one of the canyon
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lookouts right across the Kalilau Valley out towards the North Pacific right and northern are
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of the island. Very sacred place to the ancient Hawaiians right as well.
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It's just a beautiful place to see. Yeah, interesting that the ancient Hawaiians
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actually lived in that valley and um and there was what we call in Hawaiian
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an ahopua, which means from the mountain to the sea, and that is
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what the Kalau Valley was. Although it's very very difficult land uh to farm
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that they did, interestingly enough farm that land and taro was one of the
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major crops as you as you know, Stephen. However, the ahopuaas have
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disappeared. Unfortunately, most of them are are gone now. The definition of
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anahoopoa from the mountain to the sea was an economic subdivision that the Kings bestowed
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on their elite the nobility for their loyalty, and basically it was economically subsisting
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where the hunters in the mountains would trade with the farmers would trade with the
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fishermen, and they could live economically subsisting on what was basically grown and hunted
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and fished right there in that piece of land. So they became like a
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financial fiefdom in a sense. And of course this loyalty was reinforced for the
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elite by having this kind of a gift. Actually, just to give you
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a little aside, I did own a nahoopua on Kauai. It was called
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it's called Kayala, and it's on the east side of the island and it's
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from the Makalaias from the mountains to the sea at Donkey Beach. You probably
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know where Donkey Beach is, Stephen right, yes, and and uh Kayleah
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Beach. So you know, we owned the entire ocean front piece of land
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at Kayala above the high water mark, and then we don't need numerous acres,
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about sixty seven acres of ocean front land and that today is the bike
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path that you probably have either used or you certainly have written by it correct.
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Yes I have. I'm very very proud of that. But you know
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this isn't about me. But I just wanted you to know that I have
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such a powerful feeling for you because of who you are and what you have
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done to basically reinforced through your writing and your music, I mean, and
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your photography the spirit of Aloha. So let's go back to the book and
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tell us a little bit about some of the poems that you wrote and why
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they are so special to you, and maybe even quote one that's shorter so
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that we can put it into our memories. Yes, definitely, so a
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very compelling sense of emotion to put this book together. It was more or
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less a labor of love and just a joy of photography of the island and
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from those images and from the and the Aloha spirit of the people. This
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book evolved from just personal writings to become, you know, a full book
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of poetic and photographic beauty and just my overwhelming, you know, sense of
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emotion that I have about the island, the lifestyle, the all the people
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that I've met there on the island have been so gracious and inviting. This
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This book is a tribute to them and to the island into the spirit of
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Aloha. So is the Princess of Aloha that's featured in some of your poetry.
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Is that a real if it's not too personal to ask, is that
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a real person that you're referring to. Yes, it is h a semetry
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there between an island girl and the island of Hawaii itself, an intermix of
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love between the two, and the poetry is about it's up to the reader
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to interpret, but it's sometimes it's you just don't know if I'm talking about
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the island or an individual or accommodation of boat. So it's sort of a
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you know it. Yeah, well, I would say that that is one
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one lucky Wahini. That's so cool that you had a real person to thank
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you so much. Is dedicated to her. However, she wants to keep
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her anonymity with it, so I will leave you know. Of course we
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understand. That's why I qualified by saying I don't want to Yeah, I
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don't want to pry, but it is very clear it is a heartfelt,
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you know, experience that I had with her, and then the poems are
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a dedication to her spirit of Aloha that has blessed my life so changed my
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whole direction and philosophy. So is this going to be an anthology or is
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this just the first of many other books that you're thinking of writing, Stephen,
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Yes, it is. Actually I'm actually in the process of writing some
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new poetry and hopefully put together a second addition to Poetry of Aloha and release
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that and the first book. Ultimately, I do want to write music to
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the lyrics, turned some of the songs into Hawaiian songs. Ah, So
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I wasn't far off when I suggested that this was coming. I didn't know
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that, but I'm happy to hear that. There are some Hawaiian musicians that
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I need to introduce you to that I think could be a great influence on
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you. So we'll do that off camera. But they're certainly Makana, who
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I told you about, is one of my close friends. He's the slack
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key prodigy trained by Sonny Chillingsworth and Gabby Pahanui, two of the classic Hawaiian
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musicians. So he would be one, and well we'll talk about the others.
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But the point is that they can be a great influence on you and
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maybe even help you to compose, uh, some of your poetry to music.
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Correct, It would be an honor to work with those musicians and be
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able to put some of this poetry to music, and Hawaiian music in particular
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in that style and right you get the poems and the lyrics loop are are
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just waiting for music, you know, and a spirit to be applied.
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Hey, so Tony, can we take just a quick little moment and play
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the brother Is video again, just so that people get the real sense without
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me speaking for a moment or Stephen, so they really understand the soul's connection
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that the Hawaiian music has for all of us who appreciate that genre. So
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just for a moment, Stephen, we're going to play and Newland into myself?
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What do wanderfol lass skies of blue lassy house away and the brightness of
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deed I like to die and into myself? What a wonderful the colors of
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brainbow so pretty in the sky, oh so unfaced of people passing by to
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see freshaking ansing it. How do you do BA really say? I love
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you? I hip babies by wasting, they'll learn much more than we will
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know. And think to mysel what wonderful someday wish unbelievably beautiful Hustephen. It's
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just a purity to his voice, I know, and you appreciate that being
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a musician, probably more than most people. There's one other song that I
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think Tony wanted to play, and that's Over the Rainbow. That's the one
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that nobody can walk away with a dry eye. Um. So in a
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couple of minutes, we'll we'll segue to that Over the Rainbow and keep the
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a Loha spirit powerful within within this uh, within our discussion. So we
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can continue to refer back to one of the great Hawaiian musicians. But let's
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talk about you as a musician. So you you have a group and it's
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called Carbon fourteen. Why why that name? Carbon fourteen is a name that
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goes way back many years. It's the carbon fourteen in the scientific definition is
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the is a radioactive isotope that's used in carbon date testing of fossils and archeological
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materials. And our band is the element of carbon is, you know,
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the universal element of life. Everything that exists organically contains carbon. Our music
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is like the element of life. Its theoretical, It transcends all races,
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cultures and just brings a spirit together humanity, no matter who you are,
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what country you live in, And is it the group the group that you
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founded, the same group today playing together? There? There are different members
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that have come and gone over the years, but I'm the founding member that
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goes back to nineteen eighty nine. It's group and so I've been that's a
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long time, Stephen. I didn't even I didn't think you were even that
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old. I'm blushing things. Well, is it would it be okay?
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Would it be okay with you if we thank you? Yeah? No,
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I was gonna say it, would it be okay with you if we listen
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to one of your performances? Yes? Yes, certainly? This is uh
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one of our most popular songs. We play music that that we feel touches
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people's hearts, entertains, puts a smile on their face, makes me want
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to get up and dance. Sorry r holes. Yeah all right, so
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I bet one of those is Van Morrison. Okay, right, wee girl,
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that's actually one of my favorite songs. So let's go and listen for
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a moment to Carbon fourteen Stevens group. He's been there since forever nineteen eighty
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nine and singing brown Eyed Girl. Ye lay stipping in each other lovers anybody?
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She cried, Tuesday, Tuesday, so slow, don't down to your
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transist green. My hand side came all giving Van Morrison a run for his
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money. Oh my gosh, what's with this cowboy hat? Tell us about
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that? Oh my gosh, that's my that's my traditional uh hat I usually
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wear in Hawaii, and I wear it at a lot of shows and events
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that we do, and it's just become a trademark of my music and my
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presence persona, so to speak. And obviously it comes in handy when you're
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hiking the trails Hawaii, Stephen, do you know the name of the uh
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the name of the word for that in Hawaiian, the cowboy. I've heard
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it, but I can't. Okay, I'll tell you. It's called paniolo,
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paniolo poo. That's who you are. You're a paniolo, at least
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that's one side of who you are. Um. I think you have many
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personalities or many sides to you, and a lot of depth. Obviously,
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you brought it there, you are, you brought it with you. Oh
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my goodness, very cool, very cool. So in your experience in Hawaii,
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where have you found the greatest moments of your joy? What at what
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time and where and what were you doing? Just give us an idea of
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how the beauty of Hawaii has penetrated your soul. One of my most favorite
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times of the day is early morning or sunrise on the southern shore of Hawaii
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along the beaches of Mahalapoo and Poipoo Beach areas. It's just magnificent sunrises there
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over the Pacific every morning that are just photographs just don't do it justice.
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I would really highly recommend anyone just witness that in person to realize the full
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effect. But I do enjoy that area of the islands in the morning.
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Early morning some of my most favorite times to photograph nature and the awakening of
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the island. And I also enjoy going up to the north shore La Kalilao
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Valley trail hikes. It's just beautiful scenery up in the Nepali coastal areas and
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all on the beaches, all the way up through the to the north side,
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So there's just beautiful scenery everywhere throughout Hawaii. It gives me a thrill
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of life and vitality, just instills a feeling of just wanting to share that
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with the world. And that's the purpose of poetry of Aloha, poetry photographies,
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to share that experience in my own creative expression. So we we said
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that you might read us a little excerpt from your book. So would you
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take a moment and pick one of your most favorite little poems? Not too
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long? What our time gets limited. That's something that you will present who
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you are and what you are trying to convey in your book. Would you
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do that for us? Yeah, if you don't mind up, I'll read
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a short segment from one of my poems. This is called Prisms. Oh,
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yes, that's your most famous one. This is a friendship of Aloha.
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Is beyond horizons yet to be found, where the prisms of the sun
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kiss the sea, clouds of cumulus disappear into the midst of the Macai.
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Opulence of earth and sky meet dreams of humanity, The reflections and brilliance of
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nature's creation, weave the fabric of life, gentle reminders of faith beyond our
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horizons, to touch the softness of early eating stars in the warmth of another
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hand. Eyes of blue meet darkness of hers on the caressive waves, islands
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and worlds apart, but a dream shared by my wandering poetic hearts. Wow,
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so would you interpret for us what you were trying to say through your
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poetry? Sure? This is uh, my own creative expression of witnessing the
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beauty of the nature of Hawaii and aloha. When I say opulence of earth
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and sky meet dreams of Humanity's one of my most revered expressions. I like
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to use sort of my own interpretation of my life and nature and how those
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two we've weave together. And then it's also about, you know, a
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note to a special person out there, And that's what I mean by softness
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of early evening stars in the warmth of another hand. My poetry is the
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poem is about the beauty of nature, my love for both that and the
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intimacy of another soul spirit of aloha that brings us together. Now you're making
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me get tears in my eyes, Stephen. That is large. It's kind
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of hard to describe myself because these poems come from a in a very real
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place, very visceral feeling. And you know what makes it even more compelling
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is that you're a businessman by day, your your other life, and so
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you have this duality of being both very entrepreneurial, analytical day to day running
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a business with all the responsibilities of a CEO and a successful one too.
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I would say in Delaware, they're right with your um your company. Why
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don't you talk for a moment about that and how that fits into the whole
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genre of your poetry, music and photography. Yes, well, my business
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life is is also sort of you know, an inner drive, an entrepreneurial
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spirit that's driven me for many, many years. It's brought a lot of
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great success my way, and it's basically has enabled me to experience, yes,
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the the Hawaiian lifestyle and be able to grant me that time and dedication
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to the to the islands and my love of the islands and the time I
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spend there are all, you know, based on that business aspect of my
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life. So one does tie in with the other, but there's a true
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separation between my my creative side and my business personality. There is a difference
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in those realms. And well, I think where I is, you know,
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is you know the way that's been very good to me, has blessed
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my wife in many ways and has given me the ability to expand upon that.
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Now I experience of aloha in Hawaii. So five five years from now,
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where do you see yourself, Stephen, I see myself playing in the
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Hawaiian reggae band Hawaii somewhere perhaps and writing music and continuing my my you know,
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pursuit of aloha spirit to share with the world. Um, my goal
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would be to eventually invest in a farm, organic farm orchard type property on
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Kilauea area of the island. Let's uh, you enjoy my days waking up
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to the Hawaiian sunrise, so Poipoo might be uh left is a memory and
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the north side of Kilauea, and that area might become your new home on
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the islands eventually. I would I would want to have both places, not
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to sound to you know, selfish in my ways, but I would keep
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what I have as an investment type property and share that with other people vacationers
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for us, anyone who my friends who like to come to the island to
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visit would be a place for them to enjoy. And I would have my
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slice of heaven on the northern shore of the island. But it's something that
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I know would would not want to give up my you know, either location
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that hopefully I have the opportunity to invest in I think there's a you know,
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a lot that I have to learn and live and realize through my experience
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there there's a calling for me to that island in some respects. Well,
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I can certainly figure that out. I'm still figuring it out. Yeah,
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And I certainly I would love to help you with understanding that because that's where
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I made my presence on Kauai was of course on the north side and east
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to north and starting at Kayleah, but then going north to Kilauea at Secret
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Beach, and I think agriculturally, we had some of the most beautiful holdings
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there on the north side. So anything you need to brainstorm about that,
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I'm happy to do that. We had a nursery that was one hundred and
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thirty beautiful palm trees and organic garden and all of that. I think I
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mentioned to you when we first spoke that one of the greatest joys of my
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life is picking your your dinner, going to your garden, looking at all
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the beautiful produce, picking what you want, and within five minutes you're eating
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some of the healthiest food that on God's planet, and and you know it
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hasn't been sprayed because you've endered that garden. So uh, that is I
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think one of the greatest gifts that you can have nutritionally supporting yourself from from
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the land that you've that you've been the steward of and nurtured. So that
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I applaud you for wanting to do that, and I think you're going to
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have an amazing experience and it doesn't have to be commercial. This can just
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be for you. And it always amazes me that Hawaii imports so much produce
36:31
from the mainland when the soil there is you know, you know the infamous
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brown the red dirt of Kauai. That red dirt is rich in nutrients,
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and you know, this easy to grow grow a produce there. It's just
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it's a it's a major segue from the sugar the history of sugar on the
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island and looking for new opportunities to replace that massive industry. But anyway,
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little people like you and me, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. That's the
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theme of our podcast, and here we are you being a great example of
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that, Stephen, and I know there's an amazing future if you do embrace
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that opportunity on Kauai. Yeah, I'm very you know, attached to the
37:22
farm life. I'm where I have a farm here in Delaware, h That's
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where I'm at right now. I have a horse farm here for many years,
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right. No. I enjoy the land and the space and just the
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realness of nature around me. So I hope to transition that into another lifestyle
37:45
in Hawaii in the next five years. So before we segue again to brother
37:52
is when we as we close today, what what is it, Stephen,
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that you would most like to leave with our viewers today? What is it
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that you would most like to teach them through the medium of your communication,
38:07
through the poetry and the and the photography and the music. So just you
38:12
know, maybe in one sentence, tell us what is it that I am
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trying to teach I Stephen Carbon I'm trying to teach the world. I'd like
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to bring a message of peace, love, love and reverence for nature and
38:28
fellow humanity. And he's trying times of turmoil and political unrest, wars.
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There's just a need for this spirit of aloha to transcend through society. That
38:49
is beautiful. So that is your legacy, Stephen, right, Yes,
38:52
it is all right? Well, let's listen to Brother e Is and we'll
38:55
come back of one more time. And we're going to listen to over the
38:59
Ring Bow was if Tony can bring that on for us? Wonder who who
39:22
side well, Oh Loue Bow we hid the jeems that you jeem once in
39:42
the love the bar side, when over the bow blue bos fly, the
40:02
dream that you dream of jeems little go too. Someday we ship on the
40:15
stuff with a b buzzer far behind be you were troubled, milks like lemon
40:28
drops high above the gimman up to where you'll find me somewhere over Thereabow bluevers
40:45
fly and the jeems that she did to bow white or why can't tiehind well
41:01
trees greenland muses too, I'll watch them blue for me and Newland Well,
41:15
Stephen, When I listened to that music, I must admit I do not
41:20
have a dry a dry eye, how about you? Yeah, it's very
41:27
moving. Just the simplicity of the melody, the ukulele and his voice just
41:34
combine to just create a higher, higher element of being. I think it
41:42
touches all of us, you know, Stephen, so true and I was
41:49
I was blessed to see him in person perform on Kauhai. Actually, uh
41:54
yeah, they had to bring him on stage with a crane. Oh yeah,
42:00
yeah, I know he had a lot of health Well you know,
42:06
it didn't detract from his musical heart anyway. No, he cared, he
42:10
cared, He embodies the Aloha spirit. And and before we close today,
42:17
I just want to dedicate this segment to you, Stephen forum being our guest
42:28
on our podcast and being so connected to your heart. Because you are a
42:34
head person in the day to day life of running a business, you have
42:37
also embraced your heart and you have become a person of connectivity with the land,
42:45
the what we call in Hawaiian the ainah, the spirit of the land.
42:50
And I just want you to know how much we all admire what you
42:55
are trying to accomplish and we want to wish you the best of luck and
43:00
continuing this journey that is so so important. I know you are focused on
43:07
so many issues that are both challenging for the Hawaiians as well as spreading the
43:14
word in the universe about the Aloha spirit. So thank you so much,
43:20
Stephen for being our guests today. That's why I appreciate your invitation Michelle to
43:28
be a guest on your show. I was very flattered and humbled to be
43:32
asked, and I appreciate your generosity spirit well. Thank you so much and
43:38
we wish that many many more times that we will have an opportunity to hear
43:43
about you in the future. I know you wanted to offer our viewers some
43:47
special what we call our friends and family discount, So maybe just take a
43:54
moment before we say goodbye, say Aloha to plane what it is that you
44:00
would like to share with our viewers and also how we can connect with you.
44:07
Well. Certainly, I invite everyone to visit my website, Poetry of
44:13
Aloha dot com. There is some wonderful photography on the site as well as
44:21
some of my newer writings of poems that are free and available to anyone who
44:29
wishes to take a look and just curious about the writing and my authorship.
44:37
There is a discount available for anyone watching this podcast to go to my website
44:44
and personally email me that they solve this show a podcast event and we are
44:51
willing to discount either copy softcover or hard copy of my book Poetry Beloha.
44:59
My twenty percent oh provide and so we definitely want to promote the spirit of
45:09
aloha and anyone who can take this book and pass it on to someone else,
45:16
that's what I would appreciate. Is the book now in publication in Hawaii
45:22
or or or elsewhere like on Amazon or Yes, you can currently download the
45:30
online version from Amazon, Kindle, Barnes, and Noble Okay. There are
45:35
also bookstores on Kawaii. In uh there's a bookstore in a little town called
45:42
Hanna Pepe Talk story Books the most popular bookstore on Kawaii. There are there
45:50
are auditions there at for sale, as well as on the Big Island at
45:57
Kona. Stories is another bookstore that has graciously accepted some editions of my book
46:07
to be sold. But you could send out copies personally to our viewers if
46:13
they contact you by email. That's what I think is going to be very
46:16
clear to people that they can email you, that you're so personal and so
46:22
responsive and so approachable that they can come to you and say I saw you
46:28
on Michelle Hughes's podcast or on Ageless and Timeless, and thank you so much
46:34
for the twenty percent discount, and then you'll take care of the rest.
46:38
That's correct. We'll contact them back personally by email and get all their details
46:45
and address information to ship to and arrange payment, and certainly you know,
46:53
we invite everyone to come check it out. Very good. Well, mahalo
46:59
neewa. Thank you very much, Stephen. We're so happy you could be
47:04
with us today and wish you all the best. H invite and hopefully you
47:12
know, I think hopefully we'll meet again. Oh I'm no, we will,
47:16
and hopefully that'll be in paradise. Okay, very good? Well poipoo
47:24
or secret beach? How's that north and south? We'll get we'll be get
47:29
both covered, all right, Very good, Stephen, can you take care
47:31
of howebeah halloha? Well, we took a little journey without getting on an
47:38
airplane. Hopefully you enjoyed the little slice of paradise that uh we shared with
47:46
you today. Stephen certainly embodies the spirit of what amazingly Howley, which is
47:54
what we're the Caucasians are called when we're in Hawaii. The Howley's that can
48:02
really embrace the feeling, the deep feeling of aloha. It's almost truly is
48:07
like a religion or a spiritual journey to be a part of the Hawaiian culture
48:15
and to really and truly embrace the history, the music, and the beliefs
48:22
of these beautiful Polynesian people. So I just wanted to dedicate other than to
48:28
Stephen, wanted to dedicate today's show to some of my very personal friends who
48:34
I hope will watch this podcast. And that's the new mayor, or actually
48:37
not so new anymore, but the mayor of Kauai is Derek Kawakami, a
48:44
very old friend of mine, and the former mayor, Bernard Cavallio, also
48:49
a very close friend. And then three of my very very special staff members
48:54
that I hope we'll watch this and that's Luigi Massello, who was my general
49:00
contractor and general manager, and Gloria Jablana who worked for me for a decade
49:07
being my special assistant. And the third one is my CPA, who I
49:12
couldn't have lived without, and that Samantha shets Line. So to all of
49:15
you and to Stephen, Aloha. This is Michelle Hughes saying goodbye and mahala
49:22
from Ageless and Timeless