The Sale and Alston Paresa Both Return This Week
Long-time friends Alston Paresa (right) and Oliver Seguin DJ this Friday at Bevy ROGER BONG PHOTO
One of the first things I did when I moved back to Hawaii in 2011 after attending college in Oregon was check out a record sale hosted by Kavet The Catalyst at Fresh Café in Kakaako. It was only natural for me to go digging for records upon my return home, but I also wanted to meet Kavet and other vinyl-minded individuals in Hawaii.
Kavet introduced me to one person in particular, Oliver Seguin, prefacing our meeting with, “Oliver has all kinds of Hawaiian records” — the kinds of records I had been blogging about since 2010. Just the right guy to meet, I thought.
I left that day having made Oliver’s acquaintance, but we didn’t reconnect until 2012, at the biggest record sale in Hawaii: the annual Friends Of The Library of Hawaii Book and Music Sale.
The Sale — as FLH dubs it — takes place again this weekend, Jan. 17-19, at the McKinley High School cafeteria. And once again, it promises upwards of 20,000 used records for sale, along with thousands of books and CDs.
Even if The Sale only comes once a year, it remains one of the best places to buy music in Hawaii. I highly recommend all music fans, whether casual listeners or die-hard collectors, to support the Friends Of The Library of Hawaii at this annual sale.
To me, however, The Sale has become something more. It was here, in 2012, where my friendship with Oliver found footing as we talked about music, life and Hawaii. In the hours, days and weeks to follow, I found our friendship brought with it new opportunities, including the chance to meet Alston Paresa, a skilled DJ whose strengths in spinning soul 45s are matched by few.
A Kailua native, Alston grew up making music with Oliver and a close group of friends, together known as Le Feelings. Alston later moved to the Mainland, where he continued to build his collection of soul records and his prowess at the turn-tables.
In 2013, Alston returned home from Brooklyn for a short visit. While here, he wanted to play some records. So he asked Oliver to put together a gig, and Oliver did, inviting two friends: myself and another DJ known as sh!tzr. It was my first gig as a DJ outside of a radio show I had in college, but watching Alston that evening blew me away — his two-hour set boasted the hottest soul tunes anyone’s ever heard, flawlessly mixed without ever skipping a beat.
Alston returns home this week. He DJs this Friday, Jan. 16 at Bevy, bringing with him a solid stack of soul and funk records. It’ll be a reunion of sorts: joining him will be myself, sh!tzr and Oliver.
Whichever you make it out to — Bevy or The Sale (or both) — I hope you, too, make some new friends who will inspire you throughout 2015 and beyond.
