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Don
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<EDITORS NOTE: With Don
Ho's passing, the face of island music will change forever. This
feature gives us a look into
After more than 40 years in show
business, Don Ho still has charisma and stage presence. His easy smile
is charming and his baritone voice, inviting and seductive in its
styling, is the voice of our memories. Don’s audiences in the Hoku
Hale Showroom of The Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel span generations,
from teens to mature fans. He’s a dedicated artist and a laid-back,
regular kind of guy. Don is graced not only with a smooth vocal presence, but with the comedian’s gift of well-timed humor, as well. He accents his comic material with a catalogue of characteristic Don Ho body language: the raised brow, smirky grin, shrugged shoulders and a self-effacing laugh. Always aware that his audiences have paid to see his show, he sets out to provide entertainment that memories are made of. "Every show is like a new
show," says Don. "The audience is a new audience so it’s
experimentation every night. You have to know how to reach them…. "When you’ve been around
long enough, you can handle any audience. Don has the confidence and assurance that comes
with age but none of the cockiness. He can’t tell you why he’s still a
ladies’ man, a man’s man and hip-enough to have been voted – in 2001
- one of the "coolest 50 guys of all-time" Seehusen has been coming back with her husband to Don’s show year after year. "He is the Hawaiian icon," says Dee. "Women our age all had a crush on him…. there’s nobody else who can sing old-time Hawaiian music so beautifully," she says. "‘Beautiful Kaua‘i’ – that’s my favorite song." "Crush? What a sweet word to use," With good looks and a vocal manner as
exotic as the islands he symbolizes, "I hate that song,"
Don tells his Waikiki audience, a mostly American crowd who came to the door
ready to love him. He says that to draw laughter… and it does. "I don’t know why everybody remembers my dumb songs but nobody remembers my beautiful ones." But, of course, the king of Waikiki sings "Tiny Bubbles" not once, but twice. And just as naturally, the audience sings along the second time. Like a good host, Don creates a
showroom atmosphere in which his guests feel welcome and comfortable. He
understands that his audiences appreciate the "spirit of it all",
the wish to have a good time and be happy at his shows. When he considers the
secret of his longevity – while other famous acts have come and gone – "Make yourself available to people who want to
come to see you perform, whether it be locals or tourists; have someplace fans
can find you, a home-away-from-home; and…..make sure the bad singers come
before you," "I feel lucky to have been able
to entertain for so long," says Don. "I’m a student of the ‘old’
school of entertainment. Variety is the key, I believe. Old-timers like Bob
Hope set my standard…. watching him entertain during his USO show. Don once told a reporter that he probably would have
spent his life in the Air Force if could have been stationed in Hawai`i
throughout his career. But his mother’s illness prompted a change in career
direction and, by 1960, Don had taken over management of his parents’ bar in
Kane`ohe. At his father’s urgings, Don organized a group of musicians to
perform there. As in his past, star talent surrounds Don onstage at Hoku
Hale. Top island musicians accompany him and he freely shares billing with
them. Haumea Hebenstreit is his graceful and
expressive hula dancer and executive producer. His audience rounds out the
ensemble cast. There are human elements playing into the show besides the audience. "Everyone onstage is part of the production," Don says. "You have to learn to survive your personal moods because the audience can feel it. Whatever is bothering you, you have to shake it off the moment you step onstage." There were several unexpected delights the evening I
visited Don’s show, consistent with island-style live entertainment –
acknowledgment of peers in the audience. Always one to lend a hand to other
artists, Don invited onstage two former members of his ensemble, brothers who
now have their own hula halau. With them was a self-confident Japanese
hula student who Don coaxed onstage to perform. Honolulu’s finest - fire and police – were
represented, too. The duo, a fire and rescue worker and a law enforcement
officer, moonlight as singers when their busy schedules permit and on this, a
free night, they hit Waikiki and the Don Ho show. As spontaneously as Don
invited them up, they spontaneously improvised with Don’s band. Don
applauded not just their performance, but their vocations, too. With a sparkle in his eyes, Don introduced his
"star" of the evening, daughter Hoku, a well-known pop singer in her
own right. On-island for the funeral of her grandmother, Don’s mother, Hoku
spent her last evening before returning to the Mainland singing with her
father. In her early twenties, Hoku has long caramel colored hair, a beautiful
fresh face and a MTV figure. Wearing jeans and a tropical floral blouse As Hoku hugged her father goodbye in privacy after
the show, she pointed out to him that it was her grandmother’s blouse that
she was wearing. It was a tender sentiment befitting such a close family as
Hoku and Don shared a sweet and nostalgic personal moment. Don is generous in praise of the women in his life
– his daughters, mother, sweethearts. He credits Patti Swallie for the
success of the hauntingly romantic Tiny bubbles and all, Don plans on being around for a
long time to come. His 4-year old restaurant, Don Ho’s
Island Grill, is as popular with the locals as it is with tourists. "People ask me when I’m going to retire,"
Don says. "I love this life. There’s nothing I’d
rather do than perform --- except fly, maybe. Or," Don pauses for effect,
"be a chef." Don narrows his eyes and says quite seriously, For now, though, Don settles for being And does Mr. Waikiki have any idea why Maxim
voted him "Beats the hell out of me," # # # # ** Hoku is the Hawaiian word for starDon Ho appears Sunday through Thursday, A big MAHALO to Donna's "home away from home" The Laie Inn on Oahu's North Shore ......you'll feel at home too! VISIT THEIR WEBSITE 
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