The room holds about 50 people comfortably and every seat comes with an incredible view of the stage, which, in a space this small, is spitting distance from most points in the room.
Chuck Cotton, vice president and general manager of Clear Channel radio, said that they've been spending a few months adjusting the sound and light in the room and that last night's performance was the first on the newly perfected stage. And it went off beautifully.

Silversun Pickups is one of my new favorites (meaning I like them enough to let them take up space on my iPod) and they killed it last night. They sounded incredible and frontman Brian Aubert did a great job engaging the audience and making small talk with the crowd, which, at 50 people, was the biggest the room has ever hosted.

Turns Aubert has Hawai'i ties and the title of the band's latest album "Carnavas" is according to him (though he's wildly sarcastic, so it might not be true), the last name of his grandparents who live in Kailua. Whether or not the album title story is true was never determined, but when someone in the audience challenged Aubert by asking him where in Kailua his family resides, he first called the guy's mistrust and said, "I don't know. I lied," before telling him the name of the street in Enchanted Lake where his family lives and adding, for good measure, that he remembers when the Shack used to be a Dairy Queen. No one could argue with that.

SSPU played a 55-minute acoustic set of songs from the current album and its 2005 EP Pikul. The show started at 6 p.m. and I was driving out of the parking lot at 10 minutes after 7. That's my kind of concert.

Tickets to shows in the Roadrunner Music Hall aren't for sale, but 10 tickets per show are given to radio listeners via contests and promotions. The other seats are reserved for Clear Channel Radio and advertising insiders.

Here are few pictures of last night's show:

The tentative title of the film is "Barbarian Princess," which is a reference to the paparazzi of the time who dubbed Ka'iluani "the barbarian princess." The media portrayed her as such until she traveled to the mainland and conducted her business there with poise, strength, intelligence and honor.

There's been a bit of an outcry here about the film's working title, many Hawaiians finding it offensive and needlessly inflammatory.

What are your thoughts on the title? Should it be changed even though, as Ricardo Galindez of the Island Film Group said in a press release, the title is meant to be an"ironic juxtaposition" because Ka'iulani was anything but barbaric?

Q'Orianka Kilcher has been cast to play Princess Ka'iulani. Here she is as Pocahontas in 2005's The New World.

[Photo: Courtesy of movieweb.com]

Katie Whitman is the founder and editor of The 808 Scene Zine, the state's only A&E zine. She, along with a small team of others, writes, edits and publishes the monthly publication from her home.
This Saturday, the zine is hosting its March issue release party with two Maui bands, The Easy and The Unlikely and O'ahu band A Deafening Silence.

1. Where are you right now?
Sitting at my kitchen table where I do most of my work at home.

2. What is the last album you bought or downloaded?
Right about the same time, I bought Weezer's Make Believe and Paula Fuga's Lilikoi.

3. What song always makes you dance?
I actually find it really hard NOT to dance if there's music playing.
I'd say I truly can't help myself with swing music like "You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three," by the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies or dancehall music, like "Murder She Wrote," by Chaka Demus & Pliers.

4. What is the last book you read?
Started would be more accurate: The Ultimate Survival Guide to the New Music Industry

5. What are the most overrated bands of all time?
Oh, this is a dangerous question! Well, if I had to pick some groups, I'd have to say:
ABBA — They do what they do well, but I'm just not into it. I also I feel
like it's wrong for a rock band's songs to translate so easily into a theatrical musical score.

Kenny G — Soprano sax playing romantic songs, soprano sax with salsa
music, soprano sax and tango, plus destructions of amazing songs like
"Besame Mucho," "Auld Lang Syne," and "What a Wonderful World." If I
hear any more soprano sax, I'm gonna hurl.

DMX — How far should angry, loud, and a bunch of emphatic brass
instruments really get you? DMX, if you read this, I love you. Don't
pop a cap in my ass.

Creed — They have a couple of good songs. But are they really good
enough for ALL that?

6. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
It's usually all of these all at once:
Trekking the Alaskan Wilderness
At a Parisian cafe drinking real hot chocolate and eating a croissant
Living in an RV and driving across country touring the mainland with a band
Sipping red wine on the Mediterranean Coast
On a space shuttle orbiting the Earth
In reality, I'd really just want to be in front of my computer or out
at a show working my butt off for The 808 Scene Zine.

7. You’re running for president. Who’s your running mate?
Shawn Davenport, my husband, writer and quality control for the zine, marine, and sound engineer at 1507 Music Studios; or if he turns me down, John Stewart!

8. What’s in your refrigerator?
Unsweetened carob almonds, berries and fruits, almond milk, beef stew,
eggs, goat cheese, almond butter, sugar free York peppermint patties

9. What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
That horrible song "Hey Ma," by Cam'ron, Sci Fi B movies and frosting

10. Complete the sentence: I want ___.
...To own a successful business, create something innovative, and
make a difference in people's lives.

GO TO THE SHOW
The 808 Scene Zine's March issue release party with The Easy, The Unlikely and A Deafening Silence, Don Ho's Island Grill (Aloha Tower Marketplace), Saturday 3/22, 9:30 p.m., $8, 21+