Letter From The Editor

In the past few years, Kakaako has been getting a lot of attention as an up-and-coming neighborhood — and deservedly so. The area constantly is evolving, adding more and more shops and restaurants and housing.

But apart from all of that, one of the things that really is special about Kakaako is the community that has sprouted up around it — and few things encapsulate that better than the annual POW! WOW! Hawaii, which gathers a collective of artists to create together for a couple weeks.

This year’s event starts this week, and staff writer Paige Takeya discusses its origins, mission and lineup in this week’s feature story on Page 10.

Our tech columnist Christa Wittmier also is one of the event’s founders. Luckily, she still was able to find time with all the POW! WOW! happenings to fill us in on an app called BreathalEyes, which aims to deter people from drunk driving (Page 7). As she points out, even with all of our technology these days, apps that accomplish something like this are rare.

In the spirit of collaboration that POW! WOW! fosters, Roger Bong writes about a site that’s designed to help music leaders throughout the world share their favorite songs (Page 17). So, we’re asking you, in our next social media poll question (see below), what is your current favorite song? Send us your reply via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and it could appear in our next issue (if we approve of your song choice).