 I hope everybody has started the new year off with my lessons that I asked you to practice, which is number one, don't make any resolutions. And number two, be kind to yourself, to your family, and to your friends. Last week, I was honored to be invited to be the guest speaker at the New Year's Festival. Last week, I was honored to be invited to be the guest speaker at the East-West Center during the Anne Frank exhibit. And I want to thank Hank Rogers and Maya Satoro-Ing who asked me to come and talk about the Holocaust and what happened to my parents during that time. So the lesson I learned was kindness really does reap an amazing amount of feelings that you will find will give you a great, great, great look at what common decency is all about. So I want to turn to today's show, and I wanted today's show to be a show about relaxation and forgetting about all the negativity that we have in the world today. So may I introduce Jeff and Jay Gunn from Make Our Make'em Smile program. You two guys came on to our program about a month ago and have been such an amazing a bit or gig for the kids that we play at the hospitals. So I thank you for joining me at Seymour's World and I thank you for joining the Make'em Smile program. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Jeff, we'll start with you. Well, first of all, it's great to be here at Seymour's World. You know, it's just an honor to be here. My name is Jeff James, short for Jeffrey James, and my father is also a musician here in the islands. He's a famous jazz drummer. And so we're not just into performing, we're also into teaching. And my father, he has a famous studio. It's called Chuck James Music Studio. We have over 500 students and we teach all the different types of instruments. Yeah. So as not just performing, we love to teach as well. I'm a teacher and Jay-Gun has his own teaching endeavors as well. And you have two little children. I've seen beautiful pictures. Oh, yes. And are they going to be in the music business one day as well? We'll see. Cool. And how about you, Jay-Gun? Explain your name, first of all. My name is from Senegal. My father is Senegalese. My mom is from Massachusetts. Met in the Peace Corps. Mom was in the Peace Corps, went to Senegal and met my father. And yeah. And so that's why the name is so unique. Now you are from Hawaii, am I correct? And you came to Hawaii. Yes. And what brought you here? Mom was stationed, if you can put it out that way. Paycom, if that rings a bell for anyone. I'm not even sure what it means either. If anyone doesn't know what it means. But I came out here for school and then stayed after... Fabulous. And you were in the Philippines for a while, Jeff. Yeah, I was there. And you speak Filipino. Oh, oh boy. And you were a star in the Philippines. Yes, he was. Maybe. Yes, you were. I know you were a star. Tell us a little bit about that experience. Yeah, being in the Philippines, it's a... It's actually a really great place. Some of the things they see on the news about the negativity. I mean, I'm sure it's there, but my experience was just great. A lot of people in need. So there's a lot of opportunity to give that helping hand. So it really broadened my horizons. And of course my kids were born in the Philippines. I love Filipino food and Filipino culture. And you speak Filipino. So if I want to go to a good Filipino restaurant, I know I can go with you, right? Yeah, I'll tell you which one is quality. Terrific, terrific. Well, the audience is asking me for some music. They see your instruments. You're both guitar players, right? Yeah. So why don't you go ahead and play a song for us? Sure. Yeah. Everybody is watching us from the outside. That is... Show it a great sound. No wonder the kids love you so much. Now, you've played at Shriners and at Kapilani or just at Shriners Hospital? I have played at the Kapilani at Shriners. We both did at Shriners. And they said you were terrific. Can you come back more often? Yeah, of course I'll be back. Really, really wonderful. And where do you play in town, right? Why don't you tell our audience? I play at Surfshack Hotel on Sundays. And Run Fire on Tuesdays. That's the Sheraton Waikiki Run Fire. And then Princess Kapilani on Fridays. Wow. Myself, I'm playing at... On Mondays I play at the Modern Hotel. Sure. And on Wednesdays I play at Amuse Wine Bar. And Thursdays at the Sheraton Waikiki at the Run Fire. And Saturdays at the Moana Surf Rider Hotel. Oh my gosh. Plus, you're both teaching and doing everything that you're doing. That is fabulous. Just fabulous. Well, we're going to need to take a short break. And then we're going to come back. And I'm hearing in my earpiece. They want to hear more music. They want to hear me talk less. And hear you play more. So we'll take a short break. And then we'll be back in a minute. I'm Seymour Kazimurski. We're at Seymour's World at Think Tech Hawaii. Be back in a minute. Aloha. I'm Keely Akina. And I'm here every other week on Mondays at 2 o'clock p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Together. In Hawaii Together we talk with some of the most fascinating people in the islands about working together. Working together for a better economy, government, and society. So I invite you into our conversation every other Monday at 2 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network. Join us for Hawaii Together. I'm Keely Akina. Aloha. Good afternoon. My name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think Tech Hawaii. We show at 3 o'clock in the afternoon every other Monday, my guests are specialists both from here and the mainland on energy efficiency, which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. Hi. Welcome back to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. Wasn't that amazing? Their music just makes you want to sway a little bit and beat to the music. These two guys are wonderful. Jeff, Jacob, that was just beautiful. I've heard you play before, but that was amazing. Did you practice? A little. Kind of, yeah. Kind of practice. Where it's more like kind of capilla style, you know, jam session. No kidding. We've worked with each other many times in the past, so we're kind of like, you know, I know him and he knows me well. Yeah, but I just, for you to jam like that together on the show. Yeah. It was beautiful because I know you play individually at different venues. Yeah. What's it like Jeff playing at Make Him Smile for the kids? That was your first time to write a couple of weeks ago. Well, actually, I had done it previously many years ago. Oh, before I was in the Philippines. But being at Make Him Smile is actually a really great thing. You think you're going there to bless them, right? That's what you're thinking. Oh, yeah, these kids, you know, they're having such a hard time. But when you go there, they're the ones who's blessing you. They're more happier than you. You know, they're just such a joy to be around. And so you end up leaving like, they've given you good energy rather than the opposite. That's fantastic. And I'd love to hear you think like that because we find that Make Him Smile does as much for us as it does for the kids. Right. Yeah. Check out, how about you? How do you feel? I really enjoyed the two times that I played with Jeff. The kids were just ecstatic. And some of them were kind of shy. But then like, Jeff is really good at getting them out of there. I guess once you have two kids of your own. I was going to say, that's the part of it. You had a speak child. You could do it very well. And so once the kids are broken out of the shell, like we played a game, like, you know, and everyone's not in the best condition to wherever in the hospital. But everyone in the room, the kids participated. We were playing like a volleyball thing. Yeah. And it's wonderful because you communicate with the kids on a totally different level than doctors, nurses, and parents. So when you're playing for the kids, you're doing something so special for them. You're taking their mind off their illness. You're taking their mind off their pain. I don't know if you had the occasion to look at the parents when they were there, but man, that is such a blessing for them to see what you're doing for the kids. So what you're getting back, you're giving back in spades, which is wonderful. Just wonderful. Can we get, can we do another song? Sure, sure. Because I'm hearing less pop and more music. That's not pretend? That's not pretend. Okay, sure. It's not pretend, girl You're my praying girl In the end You know something is there Take away, J-gon. It's from the way that you look at me It's from the way that you smiley I know that You know something that we talk at night From the sun down till morning light I know that You know something is there Oh girl, why can't you Forget how this other guy treated you I've been here from the start To end our pretend You're my praying You're my praying You know something is there It's not pretend You're my praying You're my praying You're my praying girl You know something is there Something is, something is there Closer Is where I wanna be I know you're still hurting Yeah, I wanna be your man But I know that we are friends You know something is there Emotions They run in so wild You feel that one fell for a long while Yeah, you got everything That I would ever need You know something is there Forget how this other guy treated you I've been here from the start My love will never part It's not pretend, girl You're my praying You're my praying girl You know something is there You're my praying girl You're my praying girl You know something is there Something is there Something is there At me From the way that you're smiling I know that You know something Just beautiful, you're nice Absolutely, I mean I'm almost teary-eyed at such a beautiful song Absolutely beautiful I can see why the kids just relate to it It's the beat that you have It's that music It just makes you feel wonderful when you hear it I congratulate you both for it Beautiful music, beautiful You know I have to ask you something You both obviously love music Do you believe that music is healing? Do you believe it's part of the process? You too, Jeff I found as we follow music and we follow the healing process We're getting physicians around the world asking about music programs for their patients Strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer's They're finding there's a direct connection to music in the brain They find people with Alzheimer's If they hear music they're able to connect to that music much better than they connect to words I know it sounds a little weird right now but you watch in the next two or three years which you guys are doing will be part of the healing process in many, many types of medicine So just keep going and do what you do Absolutely wonderful We're dealing with so many physicians around the world who have watched our program and they see what it does to their patients and they're starting to feel that they have to do some more in-depth study in the music and healing process Amazing isn't it? I believe it, 100% Unfortunately this show comes to an end so we only have time for one more song But before that, is there something you'd like to say to the audience? Is there something you'd like to talk to them about? Yeah sure It's just great to come here fellowship with Seymour, he's a really great guy So to be on Seymour's world that's not a small thing I'm really thankful that you've also given us the opportunity to be part of Make Him Smile If anybody else you don't have to be part of Make Him Smile to do something great for someone right? So we can just love your neighbor as they say This next song we're going to do it's called Hawaiian Girls and so the background behind this song is that I noticed that there wasn't as many Hawaiian Girls songs there's a lot of California girls right you were talking about the Florida girls and I said there's boys and all that kind of stuff Jamaican girls but not much about Hawaiian girls There's a few so I said okay I'm going to make this song about Hawaiian girls and it's not necessarily about the Hawaiian per se as in like the native Hawaiian but it's more like the culture of the girl from Hawaii I wrote this song Now you guys were introduced to me by Bobby Pelagi Robert Sterling he's our great publisher he's a really great guy as well and Bobby has been on the show before and I love the way he talks about you guys these are my rising stars just fabulous well go ahead now you're going to take us out with this song so before you sing I just want to say thank you so much and I'm the one who feels honored I'm the one who feels grateful for what you guys do for our Make Him Smile program for what you do for our community and everything that music does for the people around us so please go for it Thank you I maintain and stay jealous I hate it thinking about the Hawaii the girls are damn beautiful and exciting you know I'm a Hawaiian and I can be on it anywhere always first you know I'm a Hawaiian you know I kept an eye on you they're the most excited beautiful girls in this Hawaiian world Asian, Caucasian they're cute and they're wild Latina Island babies that I got to spice with the style I mix it up with black and I'm loving your style every island girl you're muck watering, I'm stuttering I like it, I love it won't tell the world about it I should never do the island queen make a bad deal like he's living a dream so without loving every island girl well what do I do to stay this way you know I'm a Hawaiian you know I'm a Hawaiian always first you know I'm a Hawaiian excited see I can be on it anywhere Hawaii is always first you know I'm a Hawaiian you're the most excited I'll let you guys that was just beautiful so if you want to see Jeff James and Jake Anfe you know where they're playing please go and visit them they are just beautiful music I'm ThinkDekkaWaii we'll see you next week Aloha