FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Craig Robinson dishes out a mix of music and comedy at UH

Actor and comedian Craig Robinson doesn’t do stand-up in the normal sense. He’s often sitting down at his keyboard when he’s telling his jokes and performing his provocative parodies.

Robinson is probably best known for his role as Darryl Philbin, the warehouse foreman in “The Office.” Although he was the straight man on that show, he did have his humorous moments, like when he fell through a table of food. Robinson also had key roles in par-tay films such as “Pineapple Express” and “Hot Tub Time Machine,” which put his musical talents on display when he did a rousing version of “Let’s Get It Started.” He can also be seen and heard in Walmart holiday commercials.

The child of a teacher and an attorney, Robinson, a native of Chicago, initially pursued a career in education. “I did OK as a teacher, but some of the kids had to tell me, you know, stop playing around,” he told the Chicago Tribune. While teaching in public schools in Indiana and his hometown and pursuing a master’s in education, he honed his skills in comedy with Chicago’s famed Second City improv troupe.

His first foray at stand-up was at an open mic where the audience members gave the hook to performers by throwing rubber chickens at them. After getting two chickens his first time onstage, he brought his keyboard the next time and incorporated his musical skills into his routine, and it’s been a staple of his act ever since. He’ll play anything from an adult version of children’s tunes — his “If You’re Happy” includes scat-singing and profanity — to a classic R&B tune about messing with another man’s girlfriend.

Where: Andrews Amphitheater, University of Hawaii at Manoa
When: 7:30 p.m. today Cost: $5-$30
Info: UH Campus Center Ticket, ID and Information Office or 956-7236

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Local jazz quartet to show off talents on Medici’s stage

A homegrown jazz quartet takes the stage at Medici’s at the Manoa Marketplace Friday.

Pianist Grant Carvalho is a graduate student in piano at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who moonlights at nightspots around town. He can play classical favorites — jazzed up or straight — as well as jazz standards and pop tunes. Aside from performing the classic riffs and motifs that many jazz pianists use, Carvalho has some unique improvisational skills: Give him any three notes and he’ll compose an entire song, on the spot.

Carvalho will perform with Emily Haswell, another UH music graduate originally from Hilo, who has an ethereal mezzo-soprano voice that works well with both sacred music or intimate indie-pop.

Current UH students Daniel Sananikone, a standout on trumpet since his days at Kalani High School, and bassist Antonio Burruso round out this talented young quartet.

Where: Medici’s, upstairs at the Manoa School of Music, Manoa Marketplace
Cost: $15
When: 7:30-10:30 p.m. Fri., Nov. 20 
Info: honolulumusicatmedicis.com or 351-0901

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21

‘Hawaiian Room’ takes nostalgic look at hula 

Saturday ‘Hawaiian Room’ takes nostalgic look at hula From 1937 until the early 1960s, the Hawaiian Room was a place New Yorkers dressed up to go to. Located in the swanky Hotel Lexington in the heart of Manhattan, the club was frequented by celebrities like Marlon Brando and Richard Burton who went there to relax.

Director/producer Ann Marie N. Kirk brings that golden era in Hawaiian entertainment back to life with her new documentary, “The Hawaiian Room,” which screens Saturday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

The film, a project of the Hula Preservation Society, emphasizes the dancers who performed there rather than the A-list Hawaiian musicians and vocalists, such as Ray Kinney, Andy Aiona and George Kainapau, who provided the music.

Even with that caveat, it is a welcome retrospective. In recent years it has become fashionable in some circles to define the life of island women dancing hula outside of Hawaii as a problematic experience in which the dancers were forced to “negotiate” their survival in a bleak environment of racism and exploitation Kirk’s film presents a much more nuanced and realistic view of the hula dancer experience. Some of the Hawaiian Room veterans mention the culture shock involved in going from Hawaii to New York, but they all make it clear they enjoyed being there and that they didn’t allow anyone to exploit them — celebrities included.

That doesn’t meant the celebrities didn’t have their fun. On one occasion, Burton rented the room for a private party and installed a swimming pool over the dance floor. The partying got so boisterous — we’re talking Richard Burton here — that Lexington Hotel managing director Charles Rochester got thrown in fully dressed.

When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday
Where: Hawai‘i Convention Center Cost: $10
Info: hulapreservation.org
Note: “The Hawaiian Room” DVD is available for $25 plus shipping at hulapreservation.org.

— John Berger

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22

Theory rocks variety of tunes at the Republik

Theory of a Deadman, a Canadian rock band that boldly crosses genre boundaries, from acoustic to alternative to country, hits the Republik this weekend.

The Vancouver, B.C., band formed in 2001 and received a Juno — Canada’s equivalent of a Grammy — for New Group of the Year in 2003. Its eponymous debut album contained the hit single “Make Up Your Mind.” That effort was followed by “Gasoline,” which received a Juno nomination for Rock Album of the Year.

Theory of a Deadman’s third album, “Scars and Souvenirs,” was released in 2008 and was certified gold in less than a year, with the single “Not Meant to Be” going platinum. The song, along with tunes like “Bad Girlfriend” and “All or Nothing,” takes a rather pessimistic view on relationships, but it might just reflect a darkly cynical view of life. After all, the group’s name comes from the single “The Last Song,” a song about a man preparing to commit suicide. It was originally called “Theory of a Deadman” until the group renamed it and took the name for itself.

On the other hand, the band also has a quirky side, as shown in its new single “Blow.” The video for the song has the band members dressed like a mariachi band, and singing around a campfire that they “want to blow my [expletive] head off” and complaining that “the world has gone officially insane.”

The group consists of founding members Tyler Connolly (guitars, lead vocals), Dave Brenner (guitar) and Dean Back (bass), with Joey Dandeneau joining the group in 2009 on drums.

Where: The Republik, 1349 Kapiolani Blvd.
When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $32
Info: flavorus.com or 855- 235-2867