From Honolulu to Santa Barbara - Happy New Year!

Although as I type this we are already 2 weeks in to 2020, Happy New Year Everyone. Here is an update of what is going on with me. 2019 was a whirlwind of a year. It has challenged me in so many ways. I honestly didn’t know if I would have the courage to do what I did last year. I never really thought I would actually move away from California, let alone LA. And to move to Hawaii. Who is this person? But I put it out there and it was manifested for me. I knew I wasn’t going to live in Hawaii long term. I thought it would have been a bit longer but 14 months on a beautiful island ain’t bad. And now I know what it take to live there so maybe I will retire there. Who knows. What I do knows is that living in Hawaii has changed me for the better. 

Hawaii is a wonderful place with an amazing culture and beautiful people. One might ask "then why leave"? I guess I may ask myself the same question later in life but what I can tell you is that right now I just need more. I need to be close to family, friends and a community that I miss being a part of. I need that in my life. Hawaii is simply no replacement for those things for me. So the plan was to move to Portland in April 2020. I was already working remote for a company in Portland. Both my wife and I loved the Portland area and it was a lot closer to LA than Honolulu. But to quote Woody Allen, “If you want to make to make God laugh, tell him your plans”. 

In September 2019 I got a call from University of California - Santa Barbara to interview for the Director of Client Success position. I had several rounds of interviews and in November I flew to Santa Barbara for a last round of interviews and to take a tour of the campus. I accepted the offer around Thanksgiving and currently I am ending my second full week in my new position. It has been awesome. I love the campus, the team, my boss and the work. I feel this is the right fit for me. I fly back to Hawaii on Saturday, January 18th to start to pack and move while enjoying my last month and half living in Hawaii. We plan to be moved to SB by March 1. I am excited to start our life in another beautiful location and what is more perfect after Hawaii than to come to paradise that is close to home. Hawaii has been amazing and I am so glad we both got the chance to call this magical island home even on a short term. It has been challenging for sure but so worth it. So back to California we go but quite a bit different this time. 

As I start to plan the move back to SoCal I am reflecting on my time here.  As I stated previously, sometimes you have to remove everything from your life to see exactly what you need in it. I am so grateful that I have had this experience and now when I return to the islands it won't be as a tourist but as a former resident and that's pretty cool. Leaving here is bittersweet. I have learned a lot about myself here. And now I feel ready to come back to SoCal to a different yet beautiful city and set down some roots and be a part of the community that I love so much. Santa Barbara to me is another dream come true but this time within driving distance to LA! I think I am going to enjoy it there. I think this career path in the UC system is a good thing for me. Only time will tell but I feel very optimistic of the next part of my journey. I never expected life to hand me such gifts. All I know is that I will continue to pay it forward when I can. Right now I plan to take moments out of the chaos to truly appreciate what has been provided for me. All I can tell you is none of this would have happened if I didn't take a risk. Risks are scary. But ultimately rewarding. I will miss Hawaii. I know that now but I am glad to be coming home to SoCal.

Half a year in Hawaii! A lot has changed!

Well I am into my 7th month here on Oahu. Crazy. A lot has changed in my last blog post 3 months ago. First off I no longer work in Hawaii. I was offered a remote position at a company in Oregon. This means my 2 year plan of living in Hawaii is now a little over 1 year plan but that is ok. I do love Hawaii but I do miss my family and friends back on the mainland and this position offers me the opportunity to still live in Hawaii for a bit longer while the wife and I plan on what is next for both of us. So here are some further observations of living in Hawaii from my perspective.

1)    Aloha is real. Aloha as a word that gets thrown around a lot but Aloha as an attitude and way of living is very real. I don’t think I (or anyone really) could ever do it justice by trying to encapsulate what it means in words. It is truly a feeling. You get it living here. I will always be grateful for what this place as taught me as far as compassion and empathy goes. Aloha is more than a marketing slogan and a greeting. I plan on going back to mainland with the lessons this island as taught me and and continue to practice it wherever my life takes me. But that being said…

2)    It’s hard to make friends. Well for me at least. I know by talking to others who have been on the island a while, that this is the case for many. My wife on the other hand has had no issues making some great friends here. I am not sure if it is because I know my time here is temporary so I may not be mindfully willing to get connected on a deeper level or maybe it is the opposite. People may not want to get to close to me knowing that I won’t be here long term. In either case I have found plenty of great people to hang out and “talk story” with but I really haven’t found anything deeper yet. I tend to be very social but very guarded at the same time. I only have very few in my inner circle and maybe I need to allow that to loosen a bit but by in large its been pretty isolating.

3)    I brought too much stuff. I should have really thought about bringing most of my record collection here. I know I have to now move all of that back at some point next year. Being a vinyl collector isn’t the easiest when it comes to relocating!

4)    Career growth is limited here. I was lucky to find a solid job in Hawaii that paid mainland wages. That is not often the case. That being said, one thing I didn’t realize when I got here was that career growth is limited here. If this opportunity would have happened to me in 10-15 years and I was closer to retirement age I could have easily stayed here. But I am still young enough to want to grow in my career. I still want to learn and move forward. I just didn’t see that happening here in Hawaii for me and that is one of the main reasons that prompted me to take this new job in Oregon. I just didn’t want to stagnate here. I could have easily done that. I think in the long run I made the right decision for my career as a whole. And now, I know what it takes to retire in Hawaii so maybe one day I will be back. For more info on getting a job in Hawaii read this.

5)    Poke. I fucking love poke. I always have. I am talking real poke. Not this point and pick, Subway style stuff going on in the mainland. I mean going to a glass case with 15-20 styles of marinated raw fish in various sauces and seasonings and getting it by the pound. I got my favorite spots for Poke here and even Safeway has some great fresh ahi shoyu poke. I hear there is great poke in Carson and around the south bay of LA. I may have to try those out when I am fiending for some good stuff when I get back to living in LA but for now it’s poke all day every day for me.

6)    Oahu is more than just Honolulu. That goes without out saying but so many people come out to Oahu and only stay in Waikiki and don’t really get a chance to discover what the island is really about. When I started coming to Oahu in 2000 I made it a point to explore the island. We would rent a car and just drive around find spots outside of the tourist zones. Living here as allowed me to opportunity to really explore this place like I could never do just being here a week. Each side of the island is unique. Even in Honolulu there are so many sections of town that visitors don’t really check out. I would suggest if you have the time getting to North Shore, The Westside and East side of the island. I still have so much to explore. I haven’t really had a chance to explore the middle of the island yet but that is next. Even when I move back to mainland I know that when I do come back to Oahu to visit, it will be with different eyes and for that I am forever grateful.

7)    It’s true about Mexican Food. I have heard so many times that there is no good Mexican food in Hawaii. That isn’t an issue when vacationing here but living here is a different beast. I do miss getting some good Al Pastor tacos. In LA there was so much great Mexican food. You can get all kinds of great regional Mexican food. Want some Mole Negro? There is a spot for that. Want some Mexican seafood? Oh you gotta try this spot. Well you find no such luck here in Hawaii.

8)    Hawaii has changed me. I am so appreciative of this move. When I was back in LA for a short trip in May, my cousin asked me if I had regretted moving here (he knew I was missing my friends and family) and I told him absolutely not. I do not regret this move at all (except perhaps moving all my records here). Living here and working here has shaped me in ways that would have never have happened if I would have stayed in Los Angeles. I know this move has challenged both my wife and I but I firmly believe that this adventure (as we are calling it) will move us to be more understanding, compassionate and loving people (and couple). I do miss LA but I know I will be back (in fact I am coming for a month starting August 16th). And knowing that I now feel that I can really enjoy this place while I am here. 2019 so far has been hard, amazing, challenging, and yet satisfying. Ultimately this has been rewarding in ways that I won’t even fully realize until I am done with it. Mahalo Hawaii.

3 Months In Hawaii - What I have learned so far about relocating to the islands

So, I am at the start of my 4th month living in Honolulu. What a trip. I never thought I would be living here. Just 6 months ago I was vacationing here and now I call Hawaii home. This has been a one hell of a change in my life. I have learned quite a bit in my 3 months so far on Oahu. Here are some items that have stuck out to me.

1)    It’s expensive here. I know everyone says it but yes everything is expensive here. Food and housing especially. Lucky for me I was used to a higher cost of living, coming from Los Angeles, but it is still a little shocking how much certain things can cost. I can’t imagine coming from the Midwest or south where cost of living is much lower. If you are familiar in living in LA, SF or NY, Honolulu is much more manageable.

2)    You are not on vacation. I landed here on a Sunday and I started my new job the very next day. At no point did I feel like I was on a vacation living here. I think some people come here thinking that life will be like a vacation. It isn’t. It is hard work to live here, especially first moving here. I came here with about 4 bags. Clothes, computer and some DJ gear. My wife came with me the first week but then had to go back to LA to handle moving our furniture and more importantly handle moving our dogs. The first few months I was sleeping on a blowup bed and pretty much by myself.

3)    Finding a rental with dogs is tough. I am not sure why. This island seems very dog friendly but finding a rental that takes dogs is VERY hard in Honolulu. It might be that the short-term rental market (VRBO, AirBnB) is so prevalent here that people don’t want pets to help with quick rentals. Looking online at apartments and rentals, when you filter your search with those rentals that take dogs, it cuts it down by more than half. Little dogs are easier to deal with when looking.

4)    My situation was unique. To even consider moving to Hawaii, there were certain criteria in a job offer that I would need. I honestly didn’t think I was going to get an offer that I would seriously consider because I have read so many stories where people take less money in their positions to move to Hawaii. I honestly got an offer that I couldn’t refuse. That is not the norm here. I was very fortunate to get the offer I received, and I am very grateful that I was provided the opportunity to move here.

5)    There will be hiccups. As I often say, “paradise comes with a price”. Moving here required a huge leap of faith for my wife and I. Lucky for me I already have friends and family on the island and those connections helped me quite a bit when moving here. Before my wife and dogs arrived in April, there were moments of depression. Wondering why I was doing this? Was it worth it? There was a lot of self-doubt. I have never moved away before. I have been in the same general area my entire life. This was a huge change that I am still getting used to. This was a personal challenge for me to do this. I still take it as a challenge every day. I am here to test myself, in my career, in my personal space, in my music. Regardless of the trials and self-doubt, this will be worth it.

6)    Hawaii is beautiful. I mean I know that goes without saying. Before I lived here, I have been to the islands a lot but now I see it differently. I am getting to know the neighborhoods, the local spots. The people are beautiful. There is definitely an aloha vibe and it is real. That is one of the main reasons I love living here. The vibe is tough to beat. I am glad to be in Honolulu though. I don’t think I could last on one of the other islands. I do enjoy the city life and Oahu is the only island that has a major city. I discovered that I am very much a “townie” (the Hawaiian equivalent to “urban”). While I love the ocean and beach, I am pretty much a city dude.

7)    Starting over as DJ actually a good thing. Lucky for me I have good connections here in Hawaii, so I have been pretty much been able to get regular gigs here so far. But I have to rebuild my name and brand here. People don’t know me here as well. So, I have to spread my brand, meet the players here, get involved in the scene. It helps that there are people that have spent time in LA here and know what I did in LA the past 27 years but yeah for the most part, it is me going after gigs, pushing my sound and brand out there. Not a bad thing at all.

8)    I miss LA. I do. I love Los Angeles. It is my home. While I live in Honolulu right now, LA is always home to me. But LA will be there when I am ready to go back, I have a good plan to focus on certain things while I am here. Los Angeles is full of distractions and while I miss them very much, it also got in the way of me focusing on my relationships, my music and my IT career. All things that I plan to do while I am here. I do admit I feel isolated here. Not that this is a bad thing, but it is real. I miss road trips to the central coast and  bay area; desert parties and I miss my music community in LA. But I will be back a few times a year until I move back to mainland. This is a unique experience that not many get to do in life. I get to live in Hawaii. That is pretty awesome. I don’t know how long I will be here, but I know that while I am here, I will enjoy my time here.

27 years later - The story of my first rave gig.

1992. What a crazy year. It was the year the rave scene really got going in Los Angeles. It was the first time the mainstream media ran stories on what was happening in the dark warehouses in downtown LA in the early morning hours. The infamous “Do you know where your kids are??” media coverage only helped grow the scene. The more the news and media tried to cover it negatively, the more people wanted to go find out what these raves were about. For me, I was already listening to techno and house for years. I first got into House music in about 88-89. I heard “French Kiss” by Lil Louis and just was floored. I was about 15 and I thought it was just incredible. I really got into the Chicago Hip House sound of Doug Lazy, Mr. C and the like at the same time.

I graduated High School in 1991 and I had already been DJing for about 5 years at that point. So when a new style of music first caught my ears, I was all about it. I first remember hearing techno on Mars FM. I was blown away. I started buying the records I would hear on the mix shows on Mars. I would especially listen to Tony Largo’s show on Saturday nights. I would make my way to DMC and Street Sounds on Melrose on the weekends and just pick up these tunes. I just fell in love with the scene on Melrose in the early 90’s. It was just a great place to be. I was young and I was really starting to explore the city more. I used to ditch school in my senior year and just cruise over to Hollywood and go record shopping. It was were I wanted to be. So when I started buying techno in late 91 and early 92, I would collect the rave flyers that were at every record shop you would walk into.

One Saturday afternoon in February of 1992, my friends and I were in my garage listening to the tracks we just bought on Melrose. We were looking at all the flyers and someone said (could have been me), let’s go to a rave tonight. It wasn’t planned, it was just a spur of the moment decision. We got ready, met up and rolled out to Hollywood to the map point. Getting to the party was half of the adventure of going out in those days. We bought tickets at the map point, then had to go to pay phone (pre cell-phone days) just tofind out we had to go to a limo parked in downtown LA and knock on the window to get further directions. We finally made our way to a venue on Washington and Oak called “La Casa”. We walked in. And things were never the same for me. I found my home. I found where I belonged. I found meaning and purpose. After a night of dancing, we got to my friends house around 6am and I just wasn’t ready for bed. I was buzzed with excitement. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to DJ raves!

There were no websites, social media or even email addresses back then. All you had on the back of the flyer was some phone numbers to voicemails that gave more information on the party and then on the day of would provide the location to the map point. I had been recording my own mixtapes for a while so what I decided to do was call all these voicemails and leave messages with a bit of my mixtape on it. I purposely cued up a section where I scratched since I thought it was pretty unique for the rave sound. I left messages on every voicemail on every flyer I could find. I knew it was a long shot but I didn’t know any other way to get in. One night I was in my garage DJing and my mother yelled out for me to pick up the phone. I picked up and on the line was Koko, aka The Kandyman. He had a party coming up called “Under The Kandyground” and asked me if I would like to maybe open the show. I couldn’t believe this. No fucking way. OF COURSE!! He asked me to come over to his house and audition a bit. A few days later, my friends and I went down to the San Fernando Valley where I met up with Koko and played some records for him in his bedroom. He asked me if I wanted to play and jumped at the opportunity.

The main flyer was already out but they were doing a mailer and told me they would include my name on that. I remember when I saw the mailer. It was the first time I saw the name “Thee-O” on a rave flyer. I told myself, I could get used to this. I helped promote the party. Went to stores and dropped off flyers. Koko and I got along very well and we would soon be DJing partners. On the night of the party I hung out with Koko in Hollywood and then went to the location. It was at the infamous La Casa. I remember getting up on stage and starting to play right before they opened the doors. I didn’t get a huge crowd of course but that didn’t matter. I was DJing at a fucking rave in downtown LA. How cool is that! I played my heart out for a slowly filling room and after my set DJ Dan go on the decks and I just watched in amazement at his skills and technique. It was a wonderful night. After that night, Koko and I started making mixtapes together, DJing together and pushing each other forward. That night was the start of it all for me. The music, the people, the vibes. Still at 45 and 27 years later, I just can’t seem to get my fill. Thank you Koko for giving me a shot all those years ago. And thank you to anyone who has danced to one my sets over the past 27 years. You are my continued motivation. I am not sure if I have another 27 years but I know I got a few more left in me. See you on the dancefloor.

The Long Goodbye - Live at Re:Love Aloha (01/06/2019)

I have been in Hawaii exactly one month as I write this. What a crazy adventure this has been. When I announced, in the middle of December, that I was leaving Los Angeles and moving to Hawaii it didn’t quite seem real. As the days went on in December and I started preparing to move by purging, packing and shipping, it became more and more real. My last gigs in LA were so much fun but there was a hint of sadness at each one. It all came to a head at the special going away re:love park party on 01/06/19. I actually got there early to bring my XDJ decks for use at the party. I dropped them off and then grabbed some brunch with my friends Koko and Bernard Thomas in the valley. I went home, downloaded some tracks and thought of how I wanted to end this party. I was hoping I could make it somewhat special and memorable.

When I got to the party DJ Dan was wrecking things. I was so happy that DJ Dan came out and provided his skills and talent for the festivities. Having him there just really set the right tone for me personally. DJ Dan was first DJ that I spun with at my first gig in LA back in 1992. Fitting that he be the one to help me say goodbye to LA. Even for a bit.

When I drove in, I just couldn’t believe how many came out to say goodbye to me. Walking around the party, I kept running into friends everywhere I turned. People I haven’t seen in years came out of the woodworks to give a hug and a hope to see you again. It felt amazing. I was overwhelmed. I wanted to have a group photo taken so that I could display it in Hawaii. The professional photographer wasn’t there yet but we got some good group shots before I went on.

After the group shot, I went on and although I DJed 2 hours, it went by so very quickly. I played new stuff and old stuff and things in between. I was just feeling it. The love in that canopy was real. I never wanted the feeling to end. At one point my wife came up to me and asked, “Is there anything you need?”, my reply was, “For this to never end”. Bret Wallace told me I could play past my allotted 2 hours but I felt I had the right way to close this party and I wanted to get most of the crowd to be a part of it. After the last song of my set, I played “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and I couldn’t help but to start to cry. It felt like there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It is a moment that will live with me forever. Thank you LA. Thank you for that. I needed it.

It was such a beautiful way to end this long chapter of my DJing in Los Angeles. I have been blessed to be a part of so many LA events over the past 27 years. Being an LA DJ is such a huge part of my identity that it is very hard to let go. But I took this opportunity to live in Hawaii as a challenge to myself. I just thought I would always be in LA. Maybe retire in the central coast one day. I never thought I would be given the opportunity to try something like this out. I just had to do it. It may not be forever, I might be back in a couple of years. Who knows? I just know that I would always regret this if I missed out on this chance to try something new. But LA I miss you. I really do. I am sure I will come out in a couple of months and drop a set or two and I really hope you are there to say hello.