When we were in Hawaii there was a song that came on the radio like all the time. I knew I would have to find out who sang it (they never said on the radio) when I got home and get the song as a reminder of the vacation. But when I got home all I knew is that they said “Beautiful Girl” a lot and if you Google “hawaii beautiful girl,” songs aren’t exactly what comes up. So, it took a while, but I finally figured out that the band is called Ophihi Pickers* and that the song’s official name is “Beautiful Ladies (Beautiful Girls)” (listen on MySpace). So, I headed over to iTunes, hoping that I could buy the song, but it wasn’t there. More research revealed that “Beautiful Ladies (Beautiful Girls)” is on the latest Opihi Pickers album, which isn’t on iTunes yet (only the older albums are).** So, I set out to find where I could purchase the CD (gasp!) because I had to have this song. My search lead me to mele.com, which operates out of the north shore of Kaua’i in Princeville. I placed my order but Auntie Maria*** emailled me to tell me that something was wrong with my credit card and it wouldn’t go through. Ugh! So close. So I re-placed my order and it went through and I got the CD this week. And now I can’t stop listening to it and to “Beautiful Ladies (Beautiful Girls),” in particular. Above is the video for the song, which is kind of cute.

*Opihi are a type of mollusk that attaches itself to rocks. They “are a prized delicacy in the islands, and collecting enough for a lu’au can be a dangerous task. Sure footing, a good grip, vigilance and a sharp knife are essential when picking ‘opihi. With a squat, dome-shaped shell, the ‘opihi can deflect pounding waves powerful enough to sweep an unwary picker out to sea.” Opihi pickers are the guys who have the dangerous task of collecting opihi.
**iTunes needs to categorize the Hawaiian music better. Right now it’s just messed into the very vague “World” genre, which makes it hard to search for if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.
*** Yes, it really is Auntie Maria.