Train’s Monahan jams with Kahoano

BY JOHN BERGER / jberger@staradvertiser.com

When three kids wearing tourist-issue kukui nut leis came up to the stage at the Waikiki Grill Tuesday night and asked Kamuela Kahoano to play Train’s hit single, “Hey, Soul Sister,” the veteran entertainer couldn’t refuse. It wasn’t the song he had planned to play as the final number of his two-hour set, but if the kids had the courage to come up and ask for it he’d give it his best shot.

The result was a night Kahoano will always remember.

“I (sang) it higher than usual, but still a major third below (Train vocalist Patrick Monahan),” Kahoano said. He had sung the first verse and was into the chorus when he noticed the audience was looking off to his right.

Monahan was standing there watching him do the song — and for a brief moment, Kahoano freaked out.

“This wasn’t just someone who can sing the song better than me, this was THE guy who can do it better than me,” he said. “The guy who wrote it!”

Then Monahan asked Kahoano if they could do it together.

Kahoano thought for a moment that “I was the big joke” of the evening, but Monahan put him at ease. Monahan said he’d enjoyed Kahoano’s set and was serious about singing with him.

“I thought ‘I better play this good,’” Kahoano said. He confessed to making a couple of mistakes before they finished, but described the experience as “One of the biggest gifts I have ever received from a musician I respect.

“Performing with my father (Hawaiian entertainer Kimo Kahoano) has been a gift. This was almost like that. Of all the millions of people I could have met it was someone whose music I personally enjoy. If I ever have the opportunity to help (Monahan) in the future I would jump on it,” he said.

Monahan wasn’t the only famous entertainer to show up at Hula Grill lately. In recent weeks, frequent Hawaii visitor Jason Mraz, pictured at left with professional surfer Mimi Horiuchi, also stopped by for a visit.

Any lingering embarrassment Kahoano felt at being the last one in the place to know that Monahan had been there in the audience for two hours was assuaged when the Train vocalist, perhaps remembering his own days as a journeyman lounge musician, picked up the tip jar and encouraged the audience to contribute. Many of them did.

Kahoano said the experience has inspired him to move forward with his repertoire of original music.

“I’m ready to do something (new) with my music. I don’t know what it is but I know it’s there.”

Click here to watch a short video clip of Kahoano and Monahan on stage at Hula Grill.