Stories keep isle musician dedicated to his cause

A sense of nostalgia, a soft heart for a good story, a winsome voice and the determination to stick to a goal. All the elements came together in Beau Cody, who set out to make the world better one dedication at a time.

“Do you remember the good old days in middle school or high school when you would tell a girl to listen to a certain radio station at a particular time? They were like, ‘Why?’ and you were like, ‘Don’t worry, just listen. ’ Then the radio deejay in his deep voice says, ‘This next song is for a very special lady. The caller wants to tell you that he likes you and thinks you’re fly. This one is from Baby Bash called “Suga Suga.”’” Those were the days!

Beau Cody Albrechtson, who doesn’t use his last name when he performs because “nobody knows how to spell it or pronounce it,” grew up in Kaimuki and just turned 27 — a bit young to be nostalgic, but he longs for a simpler time when people connected in ways more poetic and artful than texts and emojis.

“I wanted people to take a moment, sit down, think of a person to dedicate a song to and send that dedication. That little time means the world to people when they get surprised with a video dedication from this musician all the way in Hawaii.”

So last year he launched 365 Dedications and set out to sing one song a day on YouTube, taking requests from anybody who sent him an email and a little story. He sets up his camera at home or at the beach, does a little introduction and then sings their song, accompanying himself on guitar or ukulele.

“The second dedication I ever did was a song from Ed Sheeran called ‘The A Team’. This song was requested by a girl who had a rough past. She developed a drug habit, and this song reminds her that we are better than our past and there is hope. After doing that dedication, I got an email from someone who stumbled upon my video on YouTube and thanked me because she was currently in that same rough patch. Hearing the story and watching the video inspired her to take the first steps to getting clean. It was then that I saw the potential this project had to affect people positively.”

So he kept going. Not every day, because he’s busy and videos take time — but pretty often. Twenty videos. Fifty videos. He records them in batches of about five songs at a time. Some have hundreds of hits; others, only a few. It doesn’t matter. It’s highly personal. Through the Periscope app, he gets requests from all over the world, so he has to learn songs he’s never heard before.

Cody started playing the ukulele as a kid. “I used one of those ‘Home Alone’ Talkboy recorders to record the radio, and then I would teach myself the songs,” he said. At Kaimuki High School he performed with the school’s Ohana o Mele group, and after graduation he formed the reggae band Local Uprising with some of his friends. He gigs all over Hawaii and the mainland and plays at the Cheesecake Factory every Tuesday night.

Then last year he got the idea of taking dedications via social media and posting them on his YouTube channel.

“I didn’t know a lot about producing videos, getting the best sound and video design, but I just went for it knowing that I would learn along the way. I’ve had a few setbacks, having one of my cameras shatter when a gust of wind took the camera and tripod rolling down the street in Wilhelmina Rise.”

Everyone knows what it’s like to have a cool idea but not the discipline to keep at it. Cody has now recorded and posted 136 dedications and is still going. He recently fulfilled a request from a girl halfway around the world who asked him to sing for her father, who was recovering from major illness.

“My favorite types of songs are ones with stories. Weight in the words. Songs that paint pictures and you latch your own meanings to them,” he said.

Cody is happy to take your request and dedicate it to your special someone. Really. No charge. Just reach out and tell him a story. Email him at 365dedications@gmail.com. For video, visit 808ne.ws/ 2f5JqdP.