Hi Everybody, it's me, Fid

 If you're here, it's likely because you're at one of my live shows, thanks for being here!

Over the course of the show, you'll hear classics from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s.  There'll be some Classic Light Rock, songs by Creedence, The Eagles, Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Jimmy Buffet, and many others from that era.  Fifties, including songs from Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and others.  You might hear some classic Folk music, from guys like James Taylor, Jose Feliciano, and Dave Loggins, and others.  Some authentic traditional Hawaiian music might also make into the set,and if you are a mea hula (hula dancer), it would make my year of you would share your dance and our culture.  A few original songs may also appear throughout the day or night.

Besides singing along with the guitar, you'll also hear a lap steel guitar, a real live Hawaiian ukulele, a harmonica that I promise won't sound like a cat in heat, a fiddle, and maybe even a five string banjo.  Please know that anything recorded after about 1985 or so, I've probably never heard it.

My Band:  All the instruments you hear are real instruments played by me, Fid.  Thanks to multi-track recording, I'm able to play all the parts, one at a time, and store them in my little tablet.  The little guys are very good at doing what I tell them, they're always on time, they don't give me attitude, and they don't eat much.  It's technology, folks, if you don't climb on board, you get left in the dust.

At most places I play, you can sing along, yell stuff in the songs, dance - chair, aisle, beside the fireplace, or wherever else you can find.  If you're a smartass, please share :D .

So, please enjoy the show, and know that I'm happy to have you here.

Fid

Ok, all the important stuff is above this line, anything from here on is just stuff :D .

So, hi folks, it’s me, Fid, talkin’ to ya, no third person B.S., no publicist style back story.

Originally from Hawaii, got my first ukulele when I was ten, as every local Hawaiian kid does.  Mine was a ten dollar beauty (and I don’t mean that sarcastically) with “Duke Kahanamoku” scripted across the front.  I loved it, played the hell out of it.  A couple years later, I ended up with an old Sears Silvertone 12 string guitar, and piggy back style tube amp – also Silvertone.  Being the naïve kid I was, I traded the old beat up guitar and amp for a shiny new guitar, that was in reality, a piece of junk.  So, instead of a decent guitar and great amp, I had this Watkins Rapier and some cheap transistorized thing that my dad bought at an electronics store for a hundred dollars.  When I went to him and said I wanted a Gibson ES-335 and a Fender Bandmaster, he replied, “You’re not Chuck Berry, you know”.  So much for that, I quit trying to do the electric guitar thing shortly after, then, working a summer job, I bought a Classical guitar from Harry’s Music Store in Honolulu.  I carried it around for the next few years, and finally threw it out because the bridge assembly kept flying off.  No music until I turned 22, working in a transmission shop for five years, I literally traded my transmission tools for a brand new Les Paul Custom and a Fender Super Reverb amp.  Took the stuff from San Diego to Hawaii, where I tried to get into the music business.  After my first band failed miserably, I got hired by my first “professional” band.  Looking back, I’m pretty sure they hired me because I was no threat to anybody.  Leaving out all the gory details, I went from Hawaii, to Nashville, to Texas, back to San Diego, then back full circle to Hawaii.  I had my own country band, “Rio” all through the 80s.  After wandering aimlessly around the country, I landed back in Hawaii in 91, at which time I started playing mostly Hawaiian music, which I did until I left Hawaii in 99.  I spent the next 3-1/2 years in England, being the lead guitar player for a British girl country singer, playing “Gentlemen’s Clubs” all over that country.  3-1/2 years in San Diego, making some of the best money I ever had, then off to Florida, Austin (Texas), Peru, Tucson, San Francisco, San Diego (again), Portland (Oregon), Reno, and now, South Lake Tahoe, where you see me right up there on the stage :D .

My prized instruments include:

My main electric guitar:  Telecaster style made with Warmoth koa/maple body, maple/rosewood “Boatneck”, Fralin lead pickup, Gibson humbucker in the neck position.  I wouldn’t trade this guitar in for anything in the world.

Fiddle:  I bought this fiddle out of a “Music Emporium” catalog – back in 1980.  The Barcus Berry company put their sticker right over the sticker of the violin luthier’s, so I don’t know what kind of fiddle it is.  All I know is, there is not another one that sounds as good acoustically or amplified – to me. Most electric fiddles sound horribly nasal, but not this one.

Ukulele:  Sonny D. one of the premier Hawaiian ukulele luthiers, built this one specially for me.  I’d bought one from him a few months prior, and some wiseguy picked it up – right off of my stage when I wasn’t looking, and walked off with it.  So, Sonny said “Give me a couple weeks”.  So, during that time I would stop by his shop just to spend time with him, he had stories, experience in ukulele building, and lots of other interesting stuff to tell me about.  Couple weeks later, when I stopped in, he said, “Come back”, so I followed him to the very back of his shop, where he picked the very last one hanging from the ceiling, and handed it to me.  After the first two notes, I knew it was exactly what I wanted – sound, feel, and look.  I’d told him a while earlier about an old Fender Super Reverb amp that I had, that was broken, he traded me straight across for it.  This was back around 92. Sonny was one of those guys who knew his stuff, he could tap on a piece of wood to know when it was ready to use, and he was proud of every piece of every instrument.

Lap Steel:  Also around 92, I decided to try to build a lap steel, so, I went to a local wood supplier and paid $90 for a raw piece of Hawaiian Koa.  Being that I’m not skilled enough in woodwork to do all the intricate detail, I took it to Claude Higa, a woodworker who had a little shop in Kalihi.  He was another of those detail oriented guys who was hugely proud of everything he did, and his skills were beyond my comprehension.  I designed the thing to resemble a canoe paddle, and Claude proceeded to do the cutting and routing.  I sent to Lindy Fralin, a known guitar pickup maker, to make a custom made pickup.  I had to draw it, so he could make it the proper size.  I sanded and sanded and sanded, until I was happy with how it felt.  I spray painted the fret markers on it, and put it all together.  I say with pride, and some amount of self deprecating humor, there is not another one like it in the universe :D .

I have several other instruments, but these are the main ones that I use for my live shows.

That’s all for now,

Fid