Pride. Relief. Accomplishment. Excitement. Hunger. Achievement. In addition to wanting to do the whole thing all over again, these were just a few of the feelings we had as we sat down to share our celebratory meal after last Saturday's Alu Like performance. Like all things, after 3 months of anticipation, the big day came and went - and faster than we expected. Our performance included a mixture of nerves and excitement, aloha attire, nice black shoes and polished instruments, all contributing to make it a fun day for everyone.
Our hard work and practice over the course of 3 months helped to create Funk Band history. Not only was it the first time we've ever performed with freshman members, it was also the fastest we've ever compiled a full-length, 45-minute set list (9 songs!). However, as with all accomplishments, we couldn't have done it all on our own. We have to thank our friends and family and all the great folks at Alu Like (especially Auntie Lani and Kalehua) for helping and supporting us. Not only did we get the opportunity to perform for a great cause, but Kalehua even got us on the radio the day before to promote the event, play some of our music and hang out in the radio station - how cool is that? And not to mention Mr. Jeremiah for supporting and believing in us (and making sure we had a place to rehearse!) and the other Lab School faculty members who came to watch us play. And of course, there's always Mr. Agena who was there with his 3 video cameras documenting our show - be sure to check out our YouTube channel for the some new video posts! And of course, we had lots of special guests sharing the stage with us and filling out our sound and even taking over the lead vocals for our hana hou, I'm Yours. Thee Laborettes (we missed you Alexis!) lent us their beautiful voices on most of our songs, as did our ubiquitous and distinguished alumnus, William Pascua, who always seems to be there when we need him. And Marc James Uy (with help from The Laborettes) in addition to helping Melissa on Time After Time, sang a beautiful version of Jason Mraz's superhit, I'm Yours. They all worked hard and our performance would not have been the same without them.
Now that we've got the ball rolling, we're all looking forward to more upcoming performances. Next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll be performing for the ULS Japanese sister schools. It'll be a chance to do a number of mini-performances in a short amount of time and work out more of the kinks in our set list. Farther ahead, the Funk Band will also perform for the Homecoming festivities in the latter part of January and our school's recyclathon in February. Be sure to check back for more details and more performance dates!
Of course for now, after the Thanksgiving holiday, we'll be heading back into the woodshed to continue practicing. We have some new songs we'll be doing with Thee Laborettes, more funk, more world music and more surprise guests in the works. And we promise to try and keep up with our blog posts!
So we're looking forward to seeing you in our audience soon, but in the meantime, keep groovin' green!
The ULS Funk Band
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