Posted on: Friday, August 10, 2001

Mo'ili'ili's blind fish see it all

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

There are no blind fish in the Mo'ili'ili Blind Fish Tank, but it's not false advertising or anything. In fact, the folks in the two-story building on King Street across Star Market don't do much advertising. And if they did, they wouldn't know what to say.

"We've tried and tried to come up with a slogan, but what we do defies a catch-all phrase," says Arnold Hiura, one of the partners in the organization he calls "The Tank." For their business cards, they decided to go with "MBFT Media," but even that doesn't do it. It's an artists' co-op, but it has gone way past the beach-towels-for- curtains and cardboard-box-as-furniture stage.

The Tank is home base for a group of artists and innovators, including a graphic designer, an online crew, a writer, even a well known comedy team. Everyone has their own independent business, but together, they have a corporation that handles the overhead expenses.

Moreover, everyone has their own creative energy, but together, they have a synergy and flow that has produced many impressive projects, including books, museum exhibits and community events. Brother Noland's collection of interviews, "The Lessons of Aloha: Stories of the Human Spirit" came out of The Tank, with editing by Hiura and black and white photography by Shuzo Uemoto.

But there's more. The Tank has hosted poetry readings and intimate musical performances. And there's a retail store as cool as any museum gift shop in the front. Trouble is, The Tank is often too busy percolating on an idea to tend to the store.

"We open when we can, close when we cannot," says Hiura. "Our poor customers, they have to ring the bell and go, 'Can we please come in?' Sometimes it's 'Not now. We're busy with other stuff.' "

Right now they're busy with projects for cultural groups and the University of Hawai'i, from event coordination to press releases to designing and building walk-through exhibits. Booga-Boogers James Grant Benton and Ed Ka'ahea have launched a humor-based corporate training program through MBFT Media that has been picking up steam in recent months.

"The reason we all went independent, because all of us left steady paychecks and medical plans, was not to get rich, but to do what we want to do," Hiura says.

And about the name: Hiura's good friend Glen Grant chose the name based on a legend about the underground caverns and waterways of Mo'ili'ili. It is said there are schools of blind mullet who live in total darkness down there.

In The Tank, there are colorful paper fish pasted to the walls among the countless posters, art pieces and dried lei. There's also a fish tank bubbling away in the Mo'ili'ili Blind Fish Tank, but Hiura says the fish in there can see.

Deep, yeah?

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.