Don Ho. If you’re in these islands but don’t know him, you must be from another planet.
A television special on his life just aired, because if he were still here, he would have turned 90 in August.
The Don was a major figure in getting Hawaii noticed, starting in the 1960s after statehood when the floodgates opened. During that time, this local boy ushered hordes of tourists to these islands with his Waikiki shows featuring Hawaiian music, banter and booze.
This led to mainland gigs, television shows and recordings. If you know the song “Tiny Bubbles,” that’s Don Ho.
One of my uncles, the family funny man, used to tease his sister, Ida. “If you married Don Ho,” he said, “you would be Ida Ho.”
Don himself joked that if he became president, he would move the White House to Hawaii and call it the Ho House.
Local humor. We love it!
While Don’s on-stage persona was that of kolohe party animal surrounded by beautiful women, the TV special showed someone sober and thoughtful. Like many of us, he hated “Tiny Bubbles” but sang the song at every show for his multitude of devoted fans.
He was also concerned about the islands getting overrun. When one of his friends questioned the role he might have played in this fiasco, he replied, “Whatchu gonna do?”
Hawaiian hospitality means that when you have a nice beach house, you invite your friends over. But then they invite their friends, who invite more friends, and pretty soon, he said, the plumbing backs up.
This television special was illuminating.
Many of us have our own stories about Don Ho. and here’s mine. When I lived in Seattle, in addition to teaching, I ran Northwest Hawaii Times, a free, community newspaper whose archives can still be accessed at northwesthawaiitimes.com.
We were a small, volunteer crew, assisted in all kine ways by the many transplant islanders in the Pacific Northwest. It was great fun and the best collaborative project I have ever worked on.
When Don Ho died in 2007, we ran a front-page story, but shortly after the issue was distributed, I got a call from someone who took me to task for printing incorrect information, insisting that Don Ho is neither Hawaiian nor from Hawaii because he’s from Las Vegas!
I was stupefied but alert enough to make the assessment that the whack job on the line was not from the islands. This cocky caller had a slow drawl that wasn’t even Northwest.
Once I regained my composure, I informed Mr. Seriously Misinformed that Don Ho was indeed Hawaiian, from Hawaii, born in Kaka‘ako, raised in Kane‘ohe and graduated from the Kamehameha Schools.
The brazen babooze went silent and then sputtered, “Well, I should know better than to believe anything my ex-wife says.”
So now I’m irritated on three fronts: First, if this is a crank call, he’s wasting my time. Second, if not, then Mr. Maha‘oi has the nerve to tell the editor and publisher of a Hawaii community newspaper that he knows more about an island icon that she does. And third, when confronted, he has the gall to blame his ex-wife!
Kudos to the Don Ho Trust for putting out “Remembrance of Don” because in doing so, they told the story his way. And that’s the lesson. We all need to tell our own stories — otherwise, somebody else will.
Like that stupid head roaming the Pacific Northwest spreading rumors that Don was neither Hawaiian nor from Hawaii.
Lolo.
Rochelle delaCruz was born in Hilo, graduated from Hilo High School, then left to go to college. After teaching for 30 years in Seattle, Wash., she retired and returned home to Hawaii. She welcomes your comments at rainysideview@gmail.com. Her column appears every other Monday.