Columnist to introduce fourth book at smokestack coffee shop

LAHAINA – Lahaina News columnist Norm Bezane will make the first of a series of appearances to introduce his fourth book, “Voices of Aloha Beyond the Beach,” with a book signing on Saturday, Feb. 27, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the MauiGrown Coffee Store on Lahainaluna Road.
Long under development, the new book features profiles of 50 of the most important and colorful people who have shaped Lahaina and Maui over the last 50 years.
Preview copies of the work have received rave reviews. John Tryggestad, new president of the Maui Friends of the Library, wrote that “this is a book I can’t put down.” Chicago Tribune cultural critic Rich Kogan has compared the author’s work to the late Mike Royko, a famous, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist.
“It is particularly appropriate that my first signing will be held on Lahainaluna Road near the iconic Pioneer Mill Smokestack, since so many of those featured have been closely associated with Lahaina Town. These include historic preservationists Jim Luckey, Theo Morrison and Keoki Freeland; Pioneer Inn birdman Brian Bodka; Kimo’s “hostess with the mostest,” former pro surfer Laura Blears; Lahaina Galleries owner Jim Killett; musicians such as slack key master George Kahumoku Jr., Willie K., Keili’i Reichel and Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom; restaurateur Peter Merriman; Trilogy’s Coon Family; hula legend Emma Farden Sharpe; and community treasures Roz Baker and Joan McKelvey.”
The book leads off with a tribute to the late Ed Lindsey, who once said it is a responsibility of everyone who lives here to learn more about this place and its people.
The book ends with brief profiles of King Kamehameha, Queen Liliuokalani, sugar kings, missionary Edward Bailey, renowned photographer Flip Nicklin and whale untangler Ed Lyman.
“This is my definitive book on the movers and shakers who have made Maui Maui over the last 50 years,” Bezane said. “It reprints the best of my 225 columns that have appeared in Lahaina News since 2006.”
The first copies are also available at the lobby shop at Kaanapali Beach Hotel.