Some-awhere Over Da Rainbow

About 10 years ago, I was driving down a country road south of Laie on the west side of Oahu and I saw two sheets of plywood nailed up against a house on a sharp corner. On the plywood in white spray paint, there was a message which read:

Brudda Iz
in dis life
Hawaiin we where
blessed by You

I asked my hosts if they knew what it meant, and they said, "Oh, yeah, that's for Brudda Iz. He's a big singer who lived here. Really big. Everybody loved him. His cousins live in that house, they miss him cuz he die a couple years ago." His full name is Israel Kamakawiwo Ole. I never heard his music until years later, and yes, he was big. The song at the YouTube link above, a 1930s hit popularized by Louie Armstrong, is being used in commercials and movies now, but Iz did a lot of great original stuff. This video shows where he and his music came from, I often find some or other song of his running through my head when I'm feeling good.