The Buzz

Music for all to hear

Music at Manoa, presented by the University of Hawai'i Music Department, is sure to have something to please any music lover. Here's the weeklong lineup:

• The UH Trumpet Ensemble and Manoa Trombones, directed by Mark Schubert and James T. Decker, will present both original compositions and classical works, 4 p.m. Sunday at Orvis Auditorium. Tickets: $10 general, $6 seniors and students.
• The concert program for the UH Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Henry Miyamura, will feature a mostly Spanish theme with works including the "Carmen" Suite by Bizet and Aaron Copland's "El Salon Mexico," 8 p.m. Monday at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets: $10 general, $6 seniors and students.
• Trio Manoa — violinist Ignace Jang, cellist I-Bei Lin and pianist Ronald Morgan — will perform selections by Beethoven and Brahms, as well as "Three Blues" by UH composer Donald Reid Womack, in its premiere concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Orvis Auditorium. Tickets: $12 general, $8 seniors and students.
• The UH Hawaiian Chorus and UH Hula & Chant Ensembles, under the direction of kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine and choral director Nola A. Nahulu, will celebrate Hawaiian culture through chant, hula and song, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Orvis Auditorium. Tickets: $10 general, $6 seniors and students.
• Hear performances and discussions of works in progress by UH composition students at the Young Composers' Symposium, under the direction of Donald Reid Womack, 7:30 p.m. Thursday (doors open 7 p.m.) at Orvis Auditorium. Admission is free.

For more information for all of these concerts, call 956-8742.

Hot stuff at 'Fire' concert

If you like it live, loud and local, don't miss "Fire" — a concert with Hellbound Hounds (which recently opened up for The Red Hot Chili Peppers), indie rock band Linus, and Transit Authority (above, which recently opened for Dashboard Confessional) — 9 p.m. Thursday at Wave Waikiki.

SwingKidd will also heat things up with a fire show. The event, presented by Wave Waikiki and Lockdown Productions Inc., is for those 18 and older. 941-0424, ext. 12.

Electric Piranha Room sizzles

Go-go dancers with piercing neon costumes and circus-type contortionists will blend with the usual mix of clubbers at Ocean Club's Electric Piranha Room Saturday.

The performers, including stilt walkers and fire artists, are from San Francisco's Earth Circus and will add to the extravagant vibe of the bash, which is held the last Saturday of each month.

Electric Piranha Room is hosted by photographer Russell Tanoue and is a benefit for Tanoue's charity, Project Shine, which provides makeovers and photo shoots to victims of cancer and other debilitating illnesses.

To avoid waiting hours in line at this always-packed party, come early. Doors open at 8 p.m. Cover is $5 before 10 p.m., $10 thereafter; for those 23 and older. 531-8444.

Mixing it up at the W

Progressive house DJ and producer Chris Fortier will promote his new mix CD, "Bedrock 3," at a show beginning at 9 p.m. today at the Wonderlounge at the W.

Fortier, an Orlando, Fla., native who now lives in New York, may be best known for his role in producing a remix of Delerium's "Silence" track, as well as Sarah McLachlan's "Plenty."

The event is the first collaboration between promotional groups Aya and Komo Low. Tickets are available only at the door for $20; for ages 21 and older. For more info on Fortier, visit www.djchrisfortier.com or for details on the event, call 922-3734.

The season is now

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially after the lighting of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center's Christmas Tree — a 35-footer that will glow with thousands of lights — 6 p.m. today at the center's Fountain Courtyard.

After the tree-lighting ceremony at 6:15 p.m., the Kamehameha Schools' Children's Chorus, made up of 110 elementary school students, will add to the merriment by performing traditional and Hawaiian Christmas songs. The festivities are free. 922-0588.

Bright lights for the holidays

The Bishop Museum's great lawn will be decked out for the holidays in a big way with the Grand Festival of Lights, a winter wonderland in paradise with 20 giant light sculptures including Christmas trees, a drumming soldier, a nine-foot waving snowman, palm trees and volcanoes.

And the festival isn't just about lights: visitors can take a train ride through the sculptures on Santa's Express, check out a holiday Planetarium show called "Under the Winter Sky," or build a real snowman in the Snow Zone. All this will take place 6-9 p.m. nightly Monday through Dec. 28.

If that isn't enough, holiday buffs can check out Luminarium, above, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. The outdoor exhibition, presented by Kraft, is a 12,000-square-foot and 30-foot-high sculpture that visitors can walk through, with gigantic columns, bright passageways and high domes, all bathed in multi-colored lights.

Admission is $5 for the Grand Festival of Lights and the Luminarium, free for children 3 and younger. 847-3511.