The Don Ho TV Show

I don't have to defend liking Don Ho, i don't have to defend moving from Grimes to Don Ho, the complete opposite ends of any musical spectrum you care to develop, but i do have to defend him from being seen as a "commercial sellout," from the perspective of his fellow Hawaiians.

He was an aviator for the joint Navy-Air Force transport command from until he left the Air Force to help his ailing mother run her bar back home in 1959, coincidentally the same year Hawaii became a state. He'd always enjoyed playing and singing, and he started doing shows for tourists. He naturally got more and more popular as tourism became a major industry in the state, and made recognizing WWII Veterans an integral part of the show. It's easy to see why commercial pop was his focus, he wasn't trying to be a musical artist, he was just catering to drunk people who wanted to be entertained. A little Vegas on a tropical island. Does he go a little too far and step across the line into embarrasing cultural exploitation? Probably. Did it hurt his career? No. Did he care much that his fellow Hawaiians were less than enthused? Well i'm currently hearing his version of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In, and no he clearly didn't give a fat flying fig newton. I don't take him as a cultural representation of his Hawaiian heritage, i see him as Hawaii's Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra, and a boon to the state's economy. If i were 30 years older i would have paid to see his show too, 'cause i not so secretly like crooner schlock quite a bit.

If you haven't figured out by now, i do everything my way ;)

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