Taimane Smashes Into Police Car: Friday Links

21 Comments

1. SamF July 1st, 2011 2:12 pm
   

   That mugshot is especially not funny. It’s sad. Unfortunate choice on her part. Thank goodness no one got physically hurt.

2. Hello Jodi July 1st, 2011 2:43 pm
   

   There is a weekly paper here that has choice mugshots from the previous week:
   http://www.slammernews.com/
   Especially good for those with a twisted sense of humor.

3. Dan July 1st, 2011 3:35 pm
   

   I think the mugshot is funny as well – in the you’ll either laugh or cry kind of way.

   She looks too hammered to sit in a chair and face the camera, much less to be driving.

   Here music is pretty good… her videos do seems a little eccentric. I wonder if she is sad.

4. Jim D'Ville July 1st, 2011 5:22 pm
   

   I’m getting 404 errors on all the links at pdf Minstrel. Any one else?

5. Gary Peare July 2nd, 2011 12:25 am
   

   I was going to blog the Taimane story, but then having met her and heard her play in person, it seemed a betrayal of sorts. She has such a bright future ahead of her, let’s hope this is a life-changing event and that she can avoid bad choices like this in the future.

6. Ron Hale July 2nd, 2011 7:17 am
   

   Those Waikiki streets can be tricky, Al.
   A few main ones and a lot of tiny one-ways.
   You really have to know what you’re doing to drive there.

   I don’t know what I’m talking about, of course, but still…Perhaps she needs a break from the ukulele, a break from being a no longer quite so young star. No longer a novelty.

   Just what do you do with the instrument when you can play like that? Play hotels and clubs forever? Play at beachside restaurants into your senior years. Yes, it’s a living, but perhaps it doesn’t excite her. Perhaps things are becoming a bit same old, same old for her. Could be depressing. Maybe she’s just burned out on the whole uke thing and needs to put the instrument aside for a bit. Come back refreshed. She plays guitar now, so working on that might be a good idea. Or put music aside altogether.

   I think about guitarists such as Roy Buchannon who never really found major success in music. Someone hard to classify by the industry, hard to market. Perhaps Taimane fits into that slot.
   Yes, she plays well, but still.

   What will Jake be doing twenty years from now that is so different from what he’s doing now?

   Plus, there are newer, younger, super-players coming along. How much room is there for these people? Will we start getting tired of all the flash, the fleet, flying fingers eventually?

   For example, for all the oohing and ahhing over James Hill’s virtuosity (Billie Jean, etc.), I’ve noticed, in videos anyway, he’s playing that side of things down these days. A lot of what he does now is “just” playing accompaniments to songs and singing. Very nice accompaniments, of course, but not all the flash.

   And I much prefer this to the mind-bending stuff. That sort of thing is freakish to me, and becomes tiresome. I no longer care about what awesomely awesome pyrotechnics can be pulled off on the ukulele. That’s been done to death. Give me songs, good songs, played well, and I don’t care who can play sixteen parts of Daydream Believer all at once.

   Along with Gary, I wish Taimane the best. People over there will buzz about this for a while, but will soon put it behind them.

7. Phredd July 2nd, 2011 11:50 am
   

   Could you ask your mum to tell Amazon to ship my Uke for Dummies book early? I’m still standing by my mailbox…

8. mind across July 3rd, 2011 8:02 am
   

   She special, she really is. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her performing in Gallery Mall. I never stopped loving her since then. She needs to be surrounded by good people, and people who are more interested in promoting her music and art. I hope she could make it big one day. If not, she is always special to me.

9. art Crocker July 4th, 2011 12:02 am
   

   Very Good to hear the Uke for Dummies book is going well, I trust it will be a smashing success when it hits the states and I will help, at least with a copy.

   The James Hill piece is good, trying to explain why he likes the ukulele.

   Now then, on Taimane Gardner, I think the mug-shot of her is a bit much, even though a popular thing to do here in the States, and no doubt UK. But those mug shots never catch you at flattering moment, And Girls Just Want to Have Fun,, you know,,,

10. Ron Hale July 4th, 2011 12:08 am
    

    For $1,000., Al, jaaaaaaa should be willing
    to cover the Ukulele Kid’s version.

11. Peter July 4th, 2011 6:46 am
    

    I don’t know how this thread has attracted both ukulele naysayers AND creepy people at once, but it has!

12. Peter July 4th, 2011 6:51 am
    

    Any musical culture has its flashy virtuosi. I see Jake sticking around, he has die-hard fans; Tommy Emmanuel (who Jake has played with) has analogously flashy guitar technique and he’s never going to lack for an audience.

13. Franco July 5th, 2011 5:10 am
    

    Sad but true. I think she is a superb musician. But I really have little respect for anyone who drinks and drives.

14. Woodshed July 6th, 2011 12:26 am
    

    SamF: I can see your perspective.

    Jodi: Thanks for the link. I think.

    Dan: Hopefully, she’s just young and she’ll grow out of it.

    Jim: I’m not getting that problem. Perhaps just a temporary glitch.

    Gary: I did consider if I should post it. But that seemed a bit like covering up this behaviour.

    Ron: I think there’s always going to be a market for really talented players.

    Phredd: I’ll pass that on to her!

    Art: Thanks very much!

    Peter: Ahahaha!

    Franco: I’m not sure it was drink she was under the influence of – I don’t remember seeing it in the reports. Whatever it was – not wise.

15. Bill Eddy August 11th, 2011 11:13 pm
    

    I live in Hawaii. Taimane is the nicest young musician I have ever met. I researched this accident thoroughly and it is so media typical to inaccurately dramatize everything when a “name” is involved.
    As it turns out THE POLICE CAR RAN A RED LIGHT!! Taimane was already in the intersection and the police car darted right in front of her. It is a very crowded area and Taimane’s car was exiting from a tiny alley street which may explain why the cop didn’t bother to be careful.

    Mug shots always look bad. The cops were protecting each other so they took her in and scared her to death and took the pic. I’m hoping the cop gets busted for reckless driving. If Taimane or someone were driving a moped the cop would have seriously hurt them.

16. Woodshed August 12th, 2011 7:27 am
    

    Bill: The issue isn’t whose fault it is. The issue is whether she was driving under the influence. If she was, she’s lucky no one got killed.

17. Bill Eddy August 21st, 2011 9:10 pm
    

    Woodshed.
    That’s my point. She wasn’t under any influence. The police officer caused the accident! I spoke to several people who were at her show and they all say the same thing, she was fine. She was friendly and conversing with people, the usual Taimane.

    The story here is that the cop recklessly ran a red light and caused the accident. The other cops then manipulated the results to save their fellow cop’s okole.

18. Woodshed August 22nd, 2011 12:53 am
    

    Bill: We’ll see what happens when it goes to court.

19. KLINT September 23rd, 2011 10:34 pm
    

    THE COP HIT HER AS SHE PULLED OUT ON A GREEN LIGHT THEY RACE UP AND DOWN WAIKIKI EVERYNIGHT BUT BLAMED HER CAUSE SHE DRANK ALCOHOL THEY TOWED THE POLICE CAR AWAY REALL QUICK WITHOUT INVESTIGATION I SAW HER CAR IT WAS SMASHED FROM THE SIDE PASSENGER HER FRONT WOULD BE SMASHED IF SHE BANGED THE COP

20. Woodshed September 23rd, 2011 11:18 pm
    

    KLINT: If she was drunk driving, that’s a crime. Doesn’t matter who ran into who.

21. Kupihea August 6th, 2012 6:42 am
    

    I always used to see her around Kahala mall when she was a little girl. I think her family owns something there. The traffic cops there are pretty annoying. This one dude was standing by an intersection checking for seat belts. At reds he would actually walk in the middle of traffic to give the citation. Once the light turned green it would cause all kinds of dangerous situations because he would still be there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just pinned this on Taimane. Yes I’m bitter because I got a bunch of citations.