• Keola Beamer's website (www.kbeamer.com) has a complete discography and biography for arguably the premier contemporary performer and composer of Hawaiian slack key. Videos, sound clips, online lessons, and SPAM haiku.
• Hawaiian Music Island (www.mele.com) has search engines for songs and performers, Hoku award info, a terrific array of links, as well as all the CDs, books, and treaching materials you'll find described elsewhere. LOTS of audio clips.
• Aloha Plenty (www.alohaplentyhawaii.com) is a site created and maintained by Doug & Sandy MacMaster, and a much more comprehensive site for a lot of the same information as here. The MacMasters are based in Kauai, and perform there in Hanalei regularly.

• Aloha Plenty (www.alohaplentyhawaii.com/skhistory.htm)
• Dancing Cat Records (www.dancingcat.com/dancingcat/about-hawaiian.shtml)

There is a recent book out, written by Daniel Ho and Steve Sano, "Secrets of Contemporary Slack Key Guitar", which includes some technical, theoretical, and quite enlightening information about tunings and guitar and musical mechanics. If "I-IV-V" and the "overtone series" mean anything to you, this is the book that applies that level of theory to the folk-art of ki ho`alu. Also has tablature for some of the new-school pieces written and performed by these two very skilled, classical- and jazz-influenced, slack key players.

• Online:
  • Hawaiian Jamz used to stream several dozen different playlists. #62, for instance, includes a broad sampling of slack key. (Last I heard, off-line while copyrights were being negotiated.)
  • Aloha Joe hosts a once-a-week broadcast, and limited netcast programs of Hawaiian music.
  • Hawaiian Music Island lists links to a variety of island radio stations that netcast as well as broadcast.
    
• San Diego: a local presenter is Tula Productions. She doesn't do slack key exclusively, but brings some of the biggest acts to San Diego. (Used to be slack key Fridays at Island Boy Grill in the Gaslamp Quarter; no regular place right now, that I know of anyway. Buy a CD ;-)
• Concert information is also available at Aloha Plenty (heavy on the shows IN Hawaii), and additional listings linked from Hawaiian Music Island.

• Already listed Hawaiian Music Island, but there are others who specialize in Hawaiian music, including Maui Music and Paradise Music, as well as the big players who sometimes have a couple of selections: Borders, Amazon, CD Now, Tower, et al.
• Instruments? Here's another potentially huge topic. Of course you will try to PLAY any instrument you are thinking of buying, and hopefully some better and lesser instruments at the same time. That isn't always possible, particularly on the lower or the highest, custom-made categories. The only instrument that I perform on that I didn't play first is a Maui Music uke I ordered from Bounty Music in Maui. That's worked out well, but I did try a similar instrument at their shop. In southern California, Buffalo Brothers Guitars carries an impressive array of instruments that you can check out.

• This is the big question, isn't it? Ki Ho`alu is a broad enough style that it really depends on what you like. Slack key can be:

  Vintage (see Gabby Pahinui, Cord International anthologies, ...)
  Traditional (Ray Kane, Leonard Kwan, George Kuo, many of the Dancing Cat or Liko Records artists)
  Nahenahe (Keola Beamer, John Keawe, Steve Sano, ...)
  Modern (Keola Beamer again, Ozzie Kotani, Cindy Combs...)
  with Vocals (Dennis Kamakahi, many others; most slack key artists sing)
  Groups (Sons of Hawaii, Hui Aloha, ...)
  New Jazzy-Fusion (Daniel Ho, Kapono Beamer, ...)

Caveat: this is not intended as a comprehensive listing! These are some of the artists I have heard and enjoy, and can recommend for examples of different styles of slack key. Also note that many of these artists cross over into other categories as well.

• The Hawaiian Music Recording industry presents the "Hoku" (star) awards each year. Past winners (and current nominees) are listed at the Hawaiian Music Island site. This is a quick way to see what that industry considers their best work of the past 25 years.
• Dancing Cat introduced a lot of people to slack key with their two anthology CDs, featuring their extraordinary slack key artists. (Dancing Cat's "Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters Instrumental Collection", along with Keola Beamer's "Wooden Boat", are what got me hooked on this idiom.) Remember that Dancing Cat doesn't have ALL the great players, however, and there are other excellent anthologies around; one of my favorites was released by Liko Records (see Hawaiian Music Island).
• Increasingly popular are pop music anthologies, with titles such as "Island Roots". These may include current songs as well as more traditional tracks. The "Island Roots" anthologies in particular are a big hit in Hawaii, and tend toward Jawaiian rhythms.

• Keola Beamer's site provides lessons online (small, per-lesson fee, first one free).
• There's a local video producer that has a couple of new teaching DVDs available. His name is Bruce Lamb. I'll add a link as soon as I find it. These seem really good, basic, learning tools.
• Aloha Plenty includes brief summaries for about a dozen different teaching books and videos.
• Acoustic Guitar magazine has at least one regular contributor who is a big fan of slack key. They recently published tablature of Sonny Chillingworth's "Mo`e Uhane", and often include reviews of slack key recordings.

• Island Boy Grill is my favorite plate lunch in San Diego (Sorrento Mesa area), but not a lot of hours. Da Kines is also terrific (Pacific/Mission Beach, also in National City), and so is the newer Kealani's (in Encinitas 760-94-ALOHA, also in Oceanside now). Lots of San Diego options right now! Fortunately, April (see next link) keeps a comprehensive listing.
• Southern California Platelunch Connection is tended by April.
• Also consider controlling your appetite by sampling Keola Beamer's SPAM haiku collection.