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by: Daniel Weiss
The Maui Weekly
Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood's newest masterpiece is a venture into the restaurateur world. Fleetwood's on Front Street and Fleetwood's Wine Cellar is set to open in Lahaina in early summer.
The restaurant will employ 100-plus people, and will embrace the Hawaiian culture and feature storytelling. Fleetwood himself will perform on a semi-regular basis along with surprise and esteemed musical guests performers.
Fleetwood's business partner, Jonathan Todd, said, "The restaurant space will look like a casbah meets Ralph Lauren meets colonial British Mick Fleetwood, and its changing and morphing as the process moves along."
Hawaiian Native Vene Chun presided over the traditional Hawaiian blessing last month, calling upon "na 'aumakua," ancestral guardians. Beginning with the blowing the conch and chanting, he used a tealeaf (a symbol of purification) to spread water (to give new life to the space) and sea salt (considered the amniotic fluid of Mother Earth), which reenergizes and revitalizes the spirits to rejuvenate everything in the building.
The blessing was followed by the initial demolition of the former restaurant's interior. An 1899 Langtry sign that adorned the back of one of the former restaurant's booths was salvaged and will be framed to hang on the walls of the new restaurant after renovations are complete. This was a particularly apropos, considering Langtry was one of the first locations of Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Wines.
Fleetwood paid tribute to his late father, whose watch he wore to the ceremony and affectionately spoke about his mother, Bridget, who was in attendance.
"It's been a long time in dreaming of doing this," he said. "Mum, Mummy she knows way too much about me, but she knew me back in the day I was aspiring to play drums back when I was at the ripe old age of 9 or 10 years old. And mum and dad gave me part of their house, which were the stables, which we called Club Keller. And to me and mum, this [Fleetwood's on Front Street] is Club Keller. This was where I played drums, where I aspired to dream of going to London and began believing in something that might not be believable."
Fleetwood's on Front Street on the net
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Fleetwood's on Front Street on the net
