Movie, fatherhood, new album keeps Johnson busy

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Jack Johnson, right, will go back into the recording studio with Merlo Podlewski on bass, left, and Adam Topol on drums, middle, to complete his third, still-untitled release. But first, there are two hometown gigs, music work on a big-screen adaptation of "Curious George" and lots of playing time with his new son, who was born in February.

Donavon Frankenreiter, left, and Johnson will perform Tuesday on Maui, and Wednesday at the Hawai'i Theatre. Both shows, which include the partial screening of a surf movie, are sold out.

Longtime pals Frankenreiter, a California native, left, and Johnson have a lot in common. Both are surfers, and they helped each other learn to play the guitar. "It was just a way to pass time when we weren't surfing, between surfing or at night," Johnson said. "Whenever we'd see each other, we'd show each other the new chords we had. So we were definitely both influenced by each other a lot growing up." Frankenreiter's self-titled debut, recorded at Johnson's studio, was released earlier this year.

Jack Johnson with Donavon Frankenreiter 8 p.m. Wednesday Hawai'i Theatre Sold out 528-0506 Also: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Maui Arts & Cultural Center; sold out. (808) 242-7469

The baby is a son for first-time parents Jack and wife Kim, born in February and just figuring out that dad can sing silly songs pretty much on demand. The monkey is Curious George, whose musical "inner voice" Johnson has been tapped to craft for a big-screen adaptation of H.A. and Margret Rey's classic children's book series.

And in the middle of all that and prepping a month-long late-summer Mainland tour? Johnson plays a solo — and sold-out — hometown gig at Hawai'i Theatre Wednesday, after a Maui Arts & Cultural Center show Tuesday. Both shows are benefits for his environmental awareness nonprofit Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

The concerts will also feature a set by fellow singer/songwriter/surfer Donavon Frankenreiter, and an advance partial-screening of "A Brokedown Melody." The latter is Johnson's most recent surf film collaboration with his "Thicker Than Water" co-directors Chris and Emmett Malloy.

But back to baby and monkey. Simian, first.

'Curious' project

"I was real excited about it," Johnson said of the traditionally animated — read: hand drawn — "Curious George" film. "It was one of the first (projects) that came along that sounded perfect. Especially since I have a kid now and I spend a lot of time just sitting around playing goofy songs for him."

Produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures, "Curious George" is in its second year of production for a November 2005 theatrical release. Johnson has spent several weeks in Los Angeles this summer co-writing original music for the film with composer Klaus Badelt ("Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl").

"The whole trick with Curious George is he doesn't speak," said Johnson. "So a lot of his character has to be developed through the lyrics of the song.

"I kind of explain a lot of what's going on in his head."

Will Ferrell is providing the voice of the Man in the Yellow Hat. Johnson has so far written four songs for the film, mostly using roughly animated, yet-to-be-colored still frames for inspiration.

"('Curious George') has been a whole different thing for me because the songs aren't the kind I'd just sit around and write," Johnson said. "I have to watch the footage and write for it, which has been fun, actually, because I've never really done that before.

"I've always let songs just come along and develop naturally."

Family matters

Something Johnson has been allowed to "develop naturally" in the last few months, however, are his dad skills.

"Oh, it's the best!" said Johnson, laughing, about parenting. "I love it. It's so much fun."

The life changes have made Johnson a bit more of a homebody around the family's North Shore home.

"But the nice thing is they come on the road with me," Johnson said of his wife and son, who have accompanied him to L.A. for all of his work on "Curious George." "It's been a lot of fun, actually, for us to travel and see places as a family."

Kim and son will also be backstage at Johnson's September Mainland dates with Frankenreiter and G. Love and Special Sauce.

"I think the thing that would kill me is if I had to go out on the road without them," said Johnson. "I'd just make the choice to be here if they couldn't come with me."

As an unexpected bonus, being a dad has so far only slightly affected his beloved North Shore surfing schedule.

"Actually, my wife and I are both really good about trading off and giving each other time to still do our own stuff. ... There's no waves out here right now, but I'm paddling canoe every day. It's been great."

Intimate gig

For Johnson, the interest in a Hawai'i Theatre date was playing an intimate hometown gig before the recording of his third studio CD this fall, and the second edition of his multi-act Kokua Festival, scheduled for April 16 at the Waikiki Shell.

"We just thought, instead of doing something big and outside ... do a smaller show that could be kind of a different thing (with) more acoustic songs," said Johnson, who has never played the venue. "The stuff I've been writing that'll probably be on our next record ... a lot of it has just been with an acoustic guitar. Kind of real mellow stuff."

Johnson figured the Hawai'i Theatre show would attract an ideal audience for testing a couple of new songs that his larger-venue shows in September might not.

"There's a chance people will be listening (at Hawai'i Theatre)," said Johnson. "Whenever people can sit down, they're usually a lot quieter and more attentive, so I'll be able to try out a song or two that are more lyrically based. ... It should be fun."

The O'ahu and Maui shows will also be Johnson's first locally with longtime friend Frankenreiter.

"We've known each other since we were teenagers," said Johnson, 29, of Southern California native Frankenreiter, 31. "He used to come over here and surf in the contests. I met him when I was starting to play guitar. ... We learned to play around the same time ... teaching each other chords and stuff."

Johnson laughingly recalled the first two songs he and Frankenreiter learned to play together: the musically polar opposite Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" and Metallica's "One."

"It was just acoustic guitars ... jamming around," said Johnson. "It was just a way to pass time when we weren't surfing, between surfing or at night.

"Whenever we'd see each other, we'd show each other the new chords we had. So we were definitely both influenced by each other a lot growing up."

Recorded last fall at Johnson's North Shore Mango Tree Studio with Johnson and Mario Caldato Jr. ("On And On") co-producing, Frankenreiter's self-titled debut CD was released earlier this year to encouraging reviews and modest sales.

Johnson described "A Brokedown Melody" as a film project "I helped with a bit, but is really less my film than it is my friends' (The Malloys)."

The film documents recent surf sojourns to Jamaica, Indonesia, Tahiti, Hawai'i and Mexico made by a cadre of surfers including Kelly Slater, Tom Curren and Rob Machado. Johnson appears in front of the camera on a spring trip with the group to South America.

"It was cool because Gerry Lopez came on the trip," Johnson said.

"He was one of my biggest heroes growing up, which is probably true for a lot of surf kids, especially growing up in Hawai'i."

And bonus! Unlike his previous collaboration with The Malloys, 2000's "Thicker Than Water," which he co-directed, "I got to go and just be a lazy surf bum and do the fun stuff this time."

About 30 minutes of the still-being-edited film will be screened between Johnson's and Frankenreiter's live sets.

Back to the studio

"Right now, I've got about seven or eight songs that I like a lot that are pretty close to finished," Johnson said of work so-far on his still untitled third CD.

Work on "Curious George" — which might just end with enough original material for a CD soundtrack — has left Johnson precious little time to work on songs for himself. The completion of "Curious George" work and his September tour should change that.

"I'm going to get right back into the studio," promised Johnson, of his fall plans. "We're gonna start halfway through October and ... go right up until Thanksgiving."

On board again will be producer Caldato with "Brushfire Fairytales/On And On" sidemen Adam Topol on drums and Merlo Podlewski on bass. Johnson is hoping for a spring 2005 release.

"We've definitely locked into a pretty nice family vibe," said Johnson. "Mario's got kids. Our families hang out. He loves coming out here. We all feel real comfortable with each other."

Ah, to be a homebody again.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.