The family That Plays Together
Kevin Chang (left) of the band Kupa’aina, his sister Elina and her husband Tyrone Wells take to the stage at Anna Bannana’s Dec. 27 for some rockin’ family harmony. It will be a family musical affair at Anna Bannana’s next Saturday when the Chang family of Kaneohe, along with a husband/brother-in-law, take the stage for a night of pop rock. The living room of the Changs’ Ahuimanu
By Alice Keesing
E-mail this story | Print this page | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.us
|
when I came back, we’d be sitting around playing the ukulele.”
When Kevin went to the University of Oregon law school in the late 1990s, he began singing, too, along with his friend David “Kawika” Swanson.
“Kawika would get mad at me because I wouldn’t sing for people - in public,“Kevin says.“That year that he committed suicide, that’s when I started to sing more. ... I guess it was kind of for him.”
These days, Kevin is the main voice and composer for Island band Kupa’aina. He’s also working on a solo album and during the day he’s a field representative for The Trust for Public Land’s Hawaii chapter.
As for little sister Elina, she moved to the West Coast, graduated from USC, and met Tyrone at church, where he was a worship music minister. It was the music that brought them together.
“He said,‘Hey, I hear you’re trying to write some songs, I’ll help you out, here’s my phone number,’ ” Elina says.
The line obviously worked: The couple married at Kualoa Ranch in 2005, serenaded by all the vocal talents on both sides of the family.
Tyrone appears to have gotten into the Chang way of things, joining everyone on a family trip to Ireland last year, when Nelson again “forced” the kids to pull out impromptu gigs at the places they stayed.
|
“You should have heard him singing Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone to the drunks in Durty Nelly’s pub in Bunratty,“Carol says.
Tyrone is a breakout talent whom many predict is on his way to making it big. He grew up a skinny preacher’s kid in Spokane, Wash., with four musically gifted sisters.
It wasn’t until he moved to California that his own music came out - in a pulsing blend of pop, soul and rock. His music has been heard on numerous TV shows including One Tree Hill and The Bedford Diaries.
His second major label album, Remain, will make its hard release Jan. 27.
Elina and Tyrone live in Chino, Calif., where they have a home studio and lots of guitars around the place and songwriter friends dropping by to write and play. In addition to her music, you can find Elina online at www.tvlesson.com, where she gives lessons in everything from cooking sweet Thai chili chicken to how to get ideas for songwriting. She first started presenting when she was a student at Castle High School - you might remember her as the Eazy Tunes and Eazy Grindz girl on the education cable shows.
|
Tyrone is often on the road, and Elina joins him when she can, along with their 2-year-old Maltese terrier, Pono. Pono has been everywhere from Boston to Florida and Seattle to Arizona. The little white dog with the air mileage points is even along with the family on this Christmas trip to Hawaii.
Elina and her guitar will kick off the first set at Anna Bannana’s at 9 p.m. She promises a little bit about love, a little bit about faith and a little bit about life. She already has a self-titled debut CD under her belt, and she’s working on a second one with - get this - Tyrone’s sister Tamila.
At Anna Bannana’s, Tyrone will join her for a duet or two, most notably their tongue-in-cheek relationship song, Lucky, and Dream Like New York, which is something of a keystone in their lives and careers. They wrote it together when Elina took Tyrone to visit one of her favorite places, New York City. The couple took their guitars to the streets with the initial idea of busking.
“But we ended up going to Central Park instead and writing the song, which is inspired by the city and the Statue of Liberty,” Elina says.
Dream Like New York earned a place on the soundtrack for Fox’s animated film Everyone’s Hero and was a favorite at the Knicks’ games at Madison Square Garden.
The romantic that he is, Tyrone took Elina back to the very same spot in Central Park when he proposed.
Ain’t that a great family? It sure is great music.
Admission to the Anna Bannana’s concert is $10 for ages 21 and older. Doors open at 8 p.m.
Page 2 of 2 pages for this story < 1 2
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
