Jack Johnson's Kokua Concert on The Big Island

Photo via Waikiki  Visitor by Emmet Malloy

Last night we enjoyed a rare treat on the Big Island; an first class concert. Each year Jack Johnson puts on a concert & tour to raise money for his Kokua Hawaii foundation, which is dedicated to educating kids about environmental stewardship. 

It was a long three hour wait in a hot parking lot to get those tickets, a long drive, a cold wait to get in the doors and a late night getting home and to bed last night, but it was all worth it. My body was tired, but my spirit was bathed clean in the calm, quiet beauty of these simple, thoughtful songs. They have that casual, sung round the campfire feeling that I love. It made me realize how much I miss having live music in my life, and that like so many other things this island has forced me to learn, I need to start doing more of it myself. 

It was pretty special to see an intimate performance from a guy who can sell out stadiums, and support a great cause at the same time. He was very modest and obviously quite practiced at deflecting waves of sexual tension from a very enamored female audience. What I've loved most about his music through the years is the way he writes about being in love with his wife of more than 18 years, and how strong it still seems to be. 

This song was a new one to me, and before he played it, he described a trip he and his wife took in a V.W Bus through the South of France when they were first married. I couldn't help feeling that it told a little of my story with Eric as I listened. 

Buy it here: What You Thought You Need

I can't give you everything you want
But I could give you what you thought you need.
A map to keep beneath your seat, you've been to me in time I'll get you there.
I fold it up so we don't find our way back soon, nobody knows we're here.

We can park the van and walk to town
Find the cheapest bottle of wine that we could find
And talk about the road behind how getting lost is not a waste of time.

The water moor will take us home in the moment we will sing as the forest sleeps.

Well it's all for the sake of arriving with you
Well it's all .. for the sake of arriving with you

Well, I will make the table into a bed
The candle is burning down its time to rest.
I can't take back things already gone, but I could give you promises for keeps.

And I would only take them back if they become your own and you give them to me .

And it's all for the sake of arriving with you.
Well it's all for the sake of arriving with you.

We could make this into anything
We could make this into more than words we speak.
This could make us into anything
It could make us grow and become what we'll be.

Mmmmmm...
How and we really know
It's just like it feels.