Ilisa Guitar

09/13/2024

This is an amazing accomplishment! Similar to Playijg for Change, but connecting young musicians from El Sistema around the world with one in space! Just beautiful!

Harmony of Resilience Recorded in space and sent to Earth via SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, Polaris Dawn crewmember and violinist Sarah Gillis invites you...

06/15/2023

We are deeply saddened to share the news that George Winston has passed on after a 10-year battle with cancer. George quietly and painlessly left this world while asleep on Sunday, June 4, 2023. George courageously managed serious cancers, including having a successful bone marrow transplant for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) in 2013 at City of Hope, in Duarte, California, that gratefully extended his life by 10 years. Throughout his cancer treatments, George continued to write and record new music, and he stayed true to his greatest passion: performing for live audiences while raising funds for Feeding America to help fight the national hunger crisis along with donating proceeds from each of his concerts to local food banks. Across an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years, George’s music first became known and loved by his fans with the release of his two most iconic albums, Autumn (1980) and December (1982). George's recordings evolved with the times while garnering a GRAMMY Award for Forest (plus five GRAMMY nominations) and selling over 15 million albums. George touched the hearts of generations with his acclaimed solo acoustic piano compositions. From his early days in Montana, Mississippi and Florida, to his later life living in the San Francisco Bay Area and touring to cities worldwide, America’s beautiful landscapes and natural seasons shaped his singular instrumental folk piano. With 16 solo piano albums to his name, George recorded brilliant piano music, which includes tribute recordings for Vince Guaraldi, The Doors, a Hurricane Katrina relief benefit, Gulf Coast and Louisiana Wetlands benefits, September 11 benefit, a cancer research benefit for City of Hope, the Peanuts episode “This Is America Charlie Brown: The Birth Of The Constitution,” among others. George’s legacy includes his beloved catalog as well as an archive of his own acoustic guitar and harmonica recordings, and albums by an array of Hawaiian slack key artists on his own record label, Dancing Cat Records. George is pre-deceased by his parents, George and Mary Winston, and is survived by his sister, niece and nephew.

The family of George Winston will hold a private memorial service. For donations in memory of George Winston, please visit:

Feeding America:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonFeedingAmerica

City Of Hope Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonCityOfHope

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonSloanKettering

05/05/2023

The Grotto at 500 Alakawa

05/04/2023

I think I am done decorating my cool (literally) little Grotto! It’s cozy and very functional. There is a lot of music and laughter in here, home of relaxation and joy. It’s a great day!

04/01/2023

I am musing on my public service reminder, an old heavy metal guitarist’s footstool I bought in 1975. Such a hard worker, this trusty piece elevated many feet to accommodate a guitarist’s position. It gave so many people a leg up that it collapsed several times under the weight of big guys. Each time, one of those guys took it home to solder, weld, rivet back into use. We all have been fond of that solid little footstool. I brought it from Hilo and accorded it a place of honor on my wall at 404 Ward, followed by walls at Ward Warehouse and Nimitz Center. It now hangs at 500 Alakawa, a reminder that I am also here to give people a leg up. It’s my pleasure!!

03/31/2023

This old guitar, if this old guitar could talk. She actually can. I bought this Guild F-30 in 1976 at McRae‘s Music in Hilo, a few months after I started teaching there. Hilo weather being on the damp side, the action rose to amazing heights, so I took it to an amateur repairman who stripped the truss rod. That’s when I took it to Bob Gleason of Pegasus Guitars. He called me up and said, “Ilisa, if this were any other guitar, I’d tell you to make a clock out of it.” He had to remove the fretboard and make a new truss rod. It still played stiff and I couldn’t play it for long. It wasn’t until I moved to Honolulu in 1993 and joined Island Guitars that I found just the guy to set it straight. Literally. PeterBond of https://www.bondguitarrepair.com laid hands on it and that did it. I have played this old guitar continuously since then. So light and easy.

03/29/2023

The Dale Miller album, “Fingerpicking Rags and Other Delights”, contains ”Inflation Blues”. Awesome discovery! I hope you enjoy it.

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupInflation Blues · Dale MillerFingerpicking Rags & Other Delights℗ 1975 Fantasy, Inc.Released on: 1975-01-01Compos...

03/29/2023

Crazy day complete with open freezer door and melted ice cream running all over the place, but as soon as I started “work” playing guitar with my student, all suddenly became well. I found this little book while unpacking my library and am investigating Dale Miller. He’s such a clean fingerstyle blues player! “Inflation Blues” is beautiful!

03/26/2023

Setting up a new musical space is great fun! This is about the halfway mark, with vibes developing nicely. I have taught out of many tiny rooms and one larger room. We had to climb old, rickety stairs to my first room (didn’t stay there long). Then there was the room I shared with a drum set and had a grand old time keeping the kids off the cymbals. One room had a leaky roof and flooded once or twice. I had a little closet in a mall (twice) and another room below ground level. This storage unit is a completely NEW experience! It’s calm, cool, clean, and quiet. Have a look!