Deaf jammin'
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Deaf musicians Ed Chevy, left, and Steve Longo accentuate their music through facial expressions and gestures.
Advertiser library photo 'Live It Up, Live' Performances by Beethoven's Nightmare, Matt Kaopio with Hot Rain, Chris Cerna Trio, Out of Sight, Dani Lynn and Jason Uesato, Kale Peters, Mark Romoser and others. Hard Rock Cafe; 5 to 10 p.m., Friday $25 (includes dinner and show) Information: 946-7300 |
On Friday, the less-cranky, more rockin' trio known as Beethoven's Nightmare — the first and possibly only all-deaf performance band — will headline a unique concert for musicians with disabilities, at Hard Rock Cafe.
The band's original compositions may not enjoy the same longevity as Beethoven's, but, band members point out, at least they're still playing. And that makes all the difference — even when their good vibrations fall on deaf ears.
"I'm not a great musician like Beethoven," bassist Ed Chevy wrote in an e-mailed interview with The Advertiser. "I only know that I do what I can. (I) express what I can in the presence of nature."
Beethoven's Nightmare joins a half-dozen local acts, all featuring performers with hearing impairments or other disabilities, in a benefit for VSA Arts Friday. Tonight, performers take part in a live CD recording at Hawai'i Public Radio's Atherton Studio.
Chevy, an 'Ewa Beach resident, and Californians Steve Longo and Bob Hiltermann make up the trio. They hooked up at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and have been performing together off and on for three decades. They prefer rock music because the strong beats and vibrations are easy for the musicians to sense and follow.
Chevy lost his hearing because of a high fever at age 3. The same thing had happened to each member of his immediate family. With a hearing aid, he is able to hear roughly 55 percent of audio tones.
For Chevy, music, no matter how it is experienced, is essential to life.
"My first experience in live music was at a Who concert when I was merely 14 years old," Chevy wrote. "I was not prepared to understand wild music because music is supposed to (have) a beautiful purpose. I came home somewhat in a state of 'rock shock' and decided to become a rock star the next day."
Over the years, Beethoven's Nightmare has increasingly incorporated lights and other visual cues into their performances to enhance the experience for their hearing-impaired audience members. At some shows, they pass out balloons to help people feel the vibration of their music. When performing, they keep time by tapping their feet and watching one another closely.
"Beethoven's Nightmare is about the way deaf music speaks its language," Chevy wrote. "For all the talent disabled who are struggling with liberty in arts, we will always be polarizing perception. Within time, I think we will be appreciated and everybody (will) accept disability arts."
Regulars at La Mariana Restaurant and Bar on Sand Island Access Road are ahead of the game on that one. Three nights a week, the restaurant features entertainment from keyboardist Lance Kamaka, who is blind and hearing-impaired.
Kamaka, who plays with Out of Sight partner Guywood Dela Cruz at Friday's concert, comes from a musical family and has been playing keyboard since age 11. He's also played piano, 'ukulele, guitar, drums and saxophone.
Like his two brothers, Clement and Hilarion, Kamaka, 45, was born blind. He started losing his hearing in 1983 and compensates with volume controls, hearing aids, assistive hearing devices, and ear monitors.
Still, neither condition has proved much of an obstacle for Kamaka. In addition to his regular gig at La Mariana, Kamaka also has a CD — "Soothe Me" — to his credit. He also works with two other bands, Versatility and Makalolos.
"It's nothing amazing," Kamaka said of his accomplishments. "It's just a lot of hard work. I love what I'm doing."
Also Joining Beethoven's Nightmare at the Aug. 15 performance will be guitarist Steve Laracuente of Mililani. (Laracuente and Chevy perform together locally as The What.)
Laracuente, 50, has been playing music for more than 35 years despite severe hearing loss.
A native New Yorker, he was born a "blue baby" and spend his first two months in an incubator. The device allowed Laracuente to breathe, but the high air pressure may have also destroyed his hearing.
Despite his impairment, Laracuente displayed innate musical sensibilities early on, babbling melodically in his crib and humming in tune to the family refrigerator.
Laracuente began playing bass shortly after his younger brother, Dave, took up the guitar. He switched to guitar when he hooked up with Chevy in The What.
The band plays mostly to deaf audiences, who appreciate more than anyone else the hard work that makes the music possible. In an e-mail to The Advertiser, Laracuente, a student services coordinator at the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, said he and Chevy were "literally mobbed" during a performance at an HCDB prom.
Laracuente shares Chevy's belief in music as an essential part of life.
"On Aug. 15, I want people to feel what we feel when we express it through music," he wrote. "What the general public fails to understand is that music is not what we hear, it's what we feel. Jimi Hendrix said that.
"When I play music for deaf keiki, I ask them what do they feel. Some feel like dancing, some feel like jumping, some feel like howling, etc. That's music."
For the past six months, the self-taught Laracuente has been receiving free music lessons through Introduction to the Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides music education to those with physical and mental disabilities, and those in economic need.
Laracuente says his work with Michael Kato, one of ITTA's founders, has broadened his appreciation for music.
"He challenges me every time I have a lesson," he wrote. "It frustrates me, inspires me and forces me to really think about musical theory and how music is formed. All these years I have been playing by feel. Mr. Kato realizes that I have the basic feel for music, but now he wants me to understand where that feeling comes from and how to express it better."
The teacher is equally appreciative of his student.
"He's such a hard worker that if I tell him to work on something, I know he'll step up," Kato said.
