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“The HOLLYWOOD ROCK ACADEMY (HRA) was founded with the belief that when it comes to achieving greatness, kids are not only capable – but immensely superhuman in their fresh creative strengths, determination and imagination.

Here’s how it works: We have a fully equipped (amps, PA, drums, etc…) music studio in West Los Angeles that acts as home base as well as the rehearsal studio for our bands.

Each band has an HRA coach to see them through every facet of the creative process – including songwriting, stage presence, musicianship, recording and all of the political headaches that comes with being in a band. Bands that are already together can come in for coaching, or just one kid can sign up. Through our application, we find out what kind of music your into and what skill level you’re at. In other words, if you’re into Metallica we won’t put you in a Grateful Dead – influenced band. The entire creative process is up to the band from that point on.

What makes the HRA different from other “rock schools” is that HRA students participate in a “real band” environment, writing, recording, and performing their own music. Children in the HRA program are able to forge their own creative identity while learning to work as a team, cooperating and negotiating through the creative process as a working unit.

The Hollywood Rock Academy is more a “school of free thought” than a “School of Rock.” How students learn to express their own musical and artistic voice is more important than how well they play classic rock “covers.” HRA bands stay together for an entire school year, and, in a number of cases, over three years. HRA does not operate a camp or a school so much as an original thought factory in the discipline of musical expression. Bands in the

HRA after school program have two scheduled concerts: a February Mid Term Exam and a June Graduation Concert.

HRA has produced concerts at such venues as the Knitting Factory, Safari Sam’s, music festivals, school auditoriums, shopping centers, birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, retirement parties, and soon…children’s hospitals. Hollywood Rock Academy concerts are held on weekend afternoons.

HRA’s older, more established bands also play some stand-alone gigs, taking their independence and HRA’s musical integrity to a higher professional plateau. Proceeds from all HRA events, concerts, and CD sales go directly to the chosen community supported by the Hollywood Rock Academy Foundation.” by. Matt Wilczynski

Ethniqe, Inc. would like to thank HRA for allowing us to be a part of this event. Ethniqe, Inc. donated a portion of all sales proceeds to HRA.

Whenever we visit Oahu we always make sure we head out to the North Shore and stop at Giovannis Shirmp Truck.  So you stand in line at this truck that’s all tagged up with names, I was here notes, I love yous and wishing you had a marker so you can add your bit to the thousands of scribbles.

I got the #1, aptly numbered, yet subtly named: Shrimp Scampi. $13 for a loaded plate of ginormous shrimp and two scoops of freshly made white rice all of it absolutely covered in mountains–literally–of crispy sauteed garlic. Mmmm…. My mouth is actually watering just thinking about it!

One of my favorite things about coming back to Oahu! You can’t go wrong with this place. Yes it gets very crowded but there is a reason for that. Yes it’s kind of expensive but you’ll glady pay it. The shrimp scampi is freakin delicious and probably the most popular of the few items they have on the menu. I do enjoy the spicy shrimp. It is almost unbearably spicy however, hence the warning signs you will see on the menu. That’s right howlies, no refund!

If you’re in Oahu stop by for one of the most awesome shrimp experience in the North Shore.  Of course we couldn’t leave without adding our “Ethniqe was here” bit – LOL

“When President Harry Truman was headed home to Missouri after finishing his term in the White House, a reporter asked him what it was like to be leaving the highest office in the land. Without missing a beat, Truman replied: “I am not leaving the highest office. I am assuming the highest office, that of citizen.”

The vision for Be the Change, Inc. is an America in which every citizen aspires to that highest office, by working shoulder to shoulder with one another, by actively participating in the conversations, debates and elections which set public policy, by taking responsibility for the democracy we all share. If each of us can achieve this, if each of us can fully assume the highest office of citizen and devote ourselves to the idea of a common interest and a common destiny, then perhaps as a nation we can move past partisan gridlock and the sense that ordinary citizens have no real voice in our democracy. And if we can do that we can begin the important work of addressing together our greatest challenges as a nation.

We can’t wait for it. If we want change, “WE must be the change.”

Celebrity performances by Swizz Beats, 112, and Little Mama just to name a few.
Ethniqe would like to thank Be Tha Change for allowing us to be the exclusive apparel provider for the VIP celebrity gift bags.