Merchant and Richards. A music video by Yvonne.
Collaborative multimedia art piece by Yvonne and Keoki who plays three characters in the video and accompanying piece. First Place in the 2017 juried art show “Climate of Change” and first video purchased to be part of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum permanent collection.
Auē Noho‘i. A songwriters commentary on “nuff already—how did we get here?”
A videographers call for compassion because this can happen to most anyone.
Scenes at Merchant & Richards Streets in Honolulu sparked the writing of this song. “Merchant And Richards: You Can Park Here, Sheʻs Not A Meter Maid,” Is a multimedia collaborative work by Yvonne Yarber Carter and Keoki Apokolani Carter expressing feelings about changes in downtown Honolulu, a microcosm of change through the last two centuries in Hawaii. Richards Street runs mauka, near Iolani Palace to makai, near Aloha Tower. “Recent visits to O‘ahu, the island of our birth, stirred powerful emotions, images and concern—feelings of loss, incongruity, compassion, abiding love, rich memories and worry. Worry, that no amount of triage can repair the damage caused by decades of society valuing economic wealth above community and earthʻs wellbeing”. Using imagery, original sounds and music Keoki and Yvonne acknowledge a collective responsibility, and the hope that our hearts are not lost, or gone missing. The original draft video used audio from a live concert and became part of the Hawaii State Arts collection. This remake incorporates our new studio recording. Keoki Apokolani on guitar and vocals. Paul Lindbergh on saxophone. Jon Hawes on acoustic upright bass. Video camera, production and editing: Yvonne Yarber Carter. Keoki was patient enough to not only make the music but try out the video green screen ideas and to keep his scratchy ‘umi‘umi after a long creative boat trip with Ricardo off-grid in Alaska [another blog].