What are you reading?

I'm really fascinated by the deep undercurrent of Hawai'i's past, and how some of these ancient ideas relate to contemporary living and contemporary science. I'm particularly interested in what we Hawaiians call mana, life force. ... I'm reading a really fascinating book called "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart. It's a readable scientific detective story that offers a picture of an interconnected universe and a new scientific theory that makes sense of this kind of phenomenon. ... I've also started "The Biology of Belief" by Bruce Lipton. This is kind of a summary of new biology and information concerned with this subtle force.

Do these interests reflect your longtime focus, through music, on continuity and innovation?

We have to honor our past and those that came before and remember the contributions of, in my case, so many wonderful musicians. At the same token, we are not museum pieces; we grow and breathe and change. There's an interesting dichotomy as Native Hawaiians. We have one foot in the past and one moving into the future. The art of living is somehow combining those two influences and somehow creating a human life with meaning.

Then these books help you along that path?

Yeah, I think so. They validate some of my own suspicions. And what I really like is they really help to open the imagination. I love that feeling of reading opening new worlds of thought and creative discussion.