When the most lovely and totally talented Mihana arrived yesterday, a kanikapila party broke out. If anyone can cause one, 'Hana can. It was all Oahu keiki o ka 'aina in da house. Michi Moore shot the photo above. Here is who is who and what dey wen' do:
Greg Martin (left) is the one of Mihana's new Lip Smack Boyz. He first came here with Ernie Cruz, Sr., as the designated ukulele picker. Greg dazzled me, and I've heard several thousand uke players in my time. When I invited him to come accompany Mihana, Greg said, "I've been in love with her since she played at my cousin's wedding when I was eight." When Greg's dream came true and he finally accompanied Mihana, famous for her upright bass virtuosity but who brought her guitar, it was MAGIC.
Beaming next to him is my faithful Filipino companion since 1976, Poppy Ed Kanoi, recently chosen by newspaper readers as Honolulu's Favorite Radio Personality. Yay! Ed handles engineering when it gets serious, which yesterday was, just as much as it was good fun.
In the middle of this merry mele is Mark Yasuda. He is Greg's rolling partner and was here once before to listen to the playback of the Cruz session. Mark jumped in, helped move vehicles around, manned the fridge, and brought out the "Jerry Santos Cough Syrup" aka Grand Marnier, when called for by me. That was when Mihana and Greg played their tribute to Jerry's upcoming birthday (June 23) by playing his immortal "Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u," which is about the place up the road where he spent his younger days. Mark also helped deal out the Safeway donuts and the goodies from Mihana's food basket: Zippy's fried chicken, corn bread, rice and plenty juicy lychee. Mr. Yasuda is now Official WhodaguyHawaii Concierge, welcome any time.
Then the lady herself. Mihana had done her Fashion Report on our Hoku Awards show. She was at the ceremonies to introduce her 90-year-old auntie, Edna Bekeart, one of five Lifetime Achievement Award Winners honored by HARAS, the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts. She, and Mihana, are members of perhaps our greatest songwriting family, the Farden-Aluli clan. Irmgard Aluli, Mihana's mom. was so honored in 1988. Auntie Irmgard is the composer of over 300 songs. Most famous is her "family song," which is "Puamana." It has also been done in English as "Seabreeze." Mihana's plan was to perform only her mother's tunes. But inspired by Greg's flying fingers and my big mouth, the two played such favorites as "Kaimana Hila," "Kaneohe" and some naughty-naughty nahe nahe songs from Irmgard's repertoire. 'Hana sang tunes from her CDs and a song for her husband, which is about, "Chuckie in the kitchen fryin' chicken." During the session we laughed, we cried, it was all from the heart.
Can you dig that this turned into a hell of a party, or what? All of this hits the Internet on June 26. Afterwards Mihana and I talked about making it into a CD, "Live From Whodaguy's." Why not? All it cost was some donuts and a basket of food. And--the love and aloha that went into it. Which as they say, is PRICELESS. Mahalo dear Mihana. You blessed our hale in many ways. You are My Special Angel. Which is a song we played on the earlier Hoku show. It all comes 'round in a circle. Whew, OK. I am now going to eat a piece of chicken, watch the DAILY SHOW on tape and go moe moe, dreaming about the most wonderful day since we began Streaming Paradise Around The Planet, 347 days ago. The happiest in my professional life.
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