SB2987; Award Winning Poet - Rajiv Mohabir; From the Farm with Neal Conan; Partners In Time
In this first conversation, how you feel about what visitors pay in transient accommodations tax may depend on what narrative you prefer. For years, Hawaii’s counties have said visitors rely on the infrastructure and services the counties provide and that they need more of the TAT shared with the state. A working group report released the end of last year seemed to agree, but financial chairs in the legislature remain unconvinced and have criticized the report. Today, a bill to make permanent the amount of money the counties share will get an airing in a joint hearing of the Senate tourism and public safety committees. Billy Kenoi is the Mayor of Hawaii County and he joined The Conversation to share his thoughts.
- Intro Music: My House by JB Flex
- Outro Music: Backyard Quiz Theme by Jon de Mello
Award Winning Poet: Rajiv Mohabir

Poetry can become a very intimate form of self-expression, if the poet has the courage to look inward and explore. Rajiv Mohabir’s debut book of poems, The Taxidermist’s Cut, is the work of a young man whose ancestry, and whose sexual identity, made him forever an outsider. Mohabir joined the show to talk about his poetry and read the poem “Canis Latrans.”
- Intro Music: More Mess on My Thing by The Poets of Rhythm
- Outro Music: Desert Rose by Daniel Lanois
Fighting escalates in Syria, an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court, and the campaigns for the Presidential nominations move into South Carolina and Nevada. News analyst Neal Conan joined the show from his Mac nut farm on the Big Island to tie all these stories together.
- Intro Music: Little Black Sandals by Sia
- Outro Music: Transits by Bonobo and Szjerdene

The music of the Balkans reflects both its geography and its history as a buffer zone of sorts between Europe and Asia. Minor-key scales, unusual rhythms… all of these inhabit the music of Partners in Time. The band is coming to our Atherton studio this Saturday, and its leader and guitarist, Kip McAtee, and its bassist, Ernie Provencher, joined us for a preview.
- Intro Music: Ocean Algae by Partners In Time
- Outro Music: Romaniada by Partners In Time