Still kickin' it for a cause

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Jack Johnson's second Kokua Festival, a fund-raiser for his Kokua Hawai'i Foundation environmental-education organization, happens Saturday at the Waikiki Shell. Anthony Mandler Kokua Festival With Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne, John Cruz, Ozomatli, G. Love & Special Sauce, Kawika Kahiapo & Kaukahi 4:30 p.m. Saturday (gates open at 3 p.m.) Waikiki Shell Sold out (877) 750-4400 More information on Kokua Hawai'i Foundation and Kokua Festival at kokuafestival.com

Your voice sounds seriously deeper than it did last month, dude.

"It does?" asked Johnson, surprised. Pause. "That's my just-woke-up-and-I've-been-on-tour gravelly voice."

Johnson chuckled softly.

"It's not too bad, though. We got in at 2 in the morning last night so I got to sleep in a little bit."

Johnson was in Auckland, New Zealand, polishing off the remaining dates of a just-this-side-of-completely-sold-out Down Under jaunt supporting "In Between Dreams," his recently released third disc. We'd discussed the writing and recording of the disc and the stories behind each of its tracks on the eve (literally) of its March 1 release.

In the month since, "Dreams" had entered Billboard's Top 200 album chart at No. 3 with first-week sales of 228,000 copies. Five weeks after peaking at No. 2, it remains entrenched in the chart's top 10. Sales are expected to easily cruise past a million.

And a thousand-and-one "Dreams"-related interviews later, Johnson seemed eager to talk about this year's model of his eco-friendly Kokua Festival benefit concert.

The second annual Kokua features a new lineup of musicians, and two shows — Maui got its stop Wednesday; a sold-out Waikiki Shell fest happens Saturday. Performing gratis in support of Johnson's school-based, environmental-education-focused Kokua Hawai'i Foundation this time around are Jackson Browne, John Cruz, Ozomatli, G. Love & Special Sauce and Kawika Kahiapo & Kaukahi.

"The way ... (the lineup) came together was a real natural thing," said Johnson (see below). "We try to give the festival a real family atmosphere. ... So I like to make sure that the ... (musicians) are people I know and their vibe is the right thing for the festival.

"They're all people that love playing music and love giving up their music for good causes."

Taking it to schools

We'd last talked about the Kokua Hawai'i Foundation just before the first Kokua Fest on Jan. 3, 2004. Johnson's opening plans for the then-new nonprofit included launching recycling and gardening programs at O'ahu schools and donating materials and teaching resources for instructors to introduce environmental studies.

Though slightly expanded, the foundation's plans remain realistically grassroots-based.

"Part of what we did with the money after the first festival was start recycling programs (in elementary schools) at Sunset Beach, Kahuku, La'ie, Hau'ula, Ka'a'awa, 'Aikahi and Waialua," Johnson said. "I would go to the schools and play music at assemblies. We'd sing my song about the three R's — 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' — and talk about what it means."

While there, Johnson would also help instructors get each school's recycling program started. He enjoyed both tasks. But each quickly became time-consuming in a year that opened with first-time fatherhood, ended with studio work for "Dreams," and held a creamy center of touring and writing and recording songs for a big-screen animated version of "Curious George."

These days, Johnson asks friends within the Kokua organization to help launch the school programs, while saving his participation for longer "mini-concerts" students receive as reward for their environmental work.

"What's really fun for me to do is talk about music with the kids and open it up for them to ask questions about anything — not just recycling," Johnson said. "That way I can play other songs for them ... and make the whole thing about music and environmental issues.

"The kids have so much fun singing and stuff that it doesn't even seem like they're learning about some bigger issue. ... It's so fun for the kids that it ends up being a really positive experience for me."

Johnson is also looking forward to Kokua Hawai'i's initial forays into offering financial assistance and resources to other persons or organizations interested in launching environmental-awareness projects.

"We want the foundation to move towards having resources in place for others who want to write grants and want to take something on themselves," he said. "We could fund their projects.

"There's so many people doing good things already. And a lot of times, people just don't have the funds to do everything they dream of. So what I think our strong point can be is putting together and raising money for good causes."

Johnson also plans to expand Kokua's existing school-based recycling and gardening programs to include funding educational field trips for students.

"I'd like to try and visit schools on the other islands as well," he said. "It doesn't have to be tomorrow or anything. I'm going to be living in Hawai'i for a long time. But I'd like to start trying to visit more and more schools."

Green touring

Johnson has long kept day-to-day life at his North Shore home earth-friendly via recycling and composting. His two-month "In Between Dreams" tour across the Mainland later this summer, however, will be his first designed from top to bottom to be environmentally conscious.

All buses and trucks on the tour will run on bio-diesel, a low-emission fuel made from recycled vegetable oil. Catering crews will recycle all food and beverage containers and donate leftovers to local food shelters. Merchandise booths will offer T-shirts made from organic cotton. Tour posters and CD packaging will use 100 percent recycled paper. Venues will be encouraged to use on-site recycling and low-energy lighting.

"Dreams" was the first music CD project joining with 1% For The Planet, an alliance of businesses (including Johnson's Brushfire Records label) supporting international environmental work. That means 1 percent of the CD's net revenue will be donated to environmental organizations — an amount that, based on the disc's sales so far, could eventually result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of eco-funding.

"I realize that there are younger people that are in the spotlight now ... people watching what we do," Johnson said. "And there are enough examples out there that show that if you have a little success, you should buy a gigantic house and a bunch of fancy cars. You can watch that on 'MTV Cribs' if you want."

Of his eco-friendly endeavors, Johnson said, "These are things that I'm interested in and have fun doing. It's fun for me and my friends who organize the tours to try to come up with ways to make them have less of a footprint on the environment.

"And it's just a good example for the kids, too."

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

Ozomatli, a politically-charged Latin/hip-hop band from Los Angeles, will perform at Saturday's concert. The band also will perform tonight on the Big Island.

• "Jackson Browne came out to the North Shore one time when I was still in high school. He was a really good friend of a family friend — Mark Cunningham, who's a lifeguard and a really amazing bodysurfer. Mark used to live next door to us. And Jackson Browne came out and was bodysurfing with him for the day. ... We ended up having a barbecue and that's when we met. ... When my first record came out, he contacted me and was just really supportive, gave me a lot of nice words and some advice about touring and stuff. We've kept in touch ever since. We did a few benefits last year together that he had called and invited me to. So it was nice when I called him and invited him to this. He didn't think twice. He just said he'd be there."

• "John Cruz sat in with us for two songs at the end of the night at last year's festival. After the show, I just asked him that if he was interested, I'd love to have him do a whole set of his own music (this) year. ... He's got so many great singalongs and songs that people in Hawai'i know, like 'Shine On' and 'Island Style.' He's really great ... just a great guy."

• "Ozomatli came to Hawai'i to do a show last year. That was the first time I'd heard about them. They came out to the North Shore and hung out with us for the day, went down to the beach and checked out the studio for a little bit. We started talking and I sort of popped out to them that we do this festival and if they'd be interested in coming."

"G. Love & Special Sauce is on tour with us in Australia right now. They're just good friends of mine. ... I've always wanted to try and get (G. Love) to Hawai'i. "

"Kawika Kahiapo sat in with us at the Hawai'i Theatre show (last August). ... I'd first met him when he played music at one of my friend's weddings. When I saw him again, he was going to marry another friend of mine. ... He (officiates) weddings, too. I was supposed to play as the (couple) came walking down the beach. I knew that he was an amazing slack-key player, so I suggested we play together as they were coming down the beach. Then he could stand up and marry them. He was really stoked on that. ... That was the first time we played together. ... He's been really supportive with the Kokua Foundation, too. He wants to start doing the assemblies with me."