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 ;)

Next

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 4 Seasons - The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette

Image
This might be my longest  album review ever. But i swear a couple times, so it's worth the read ;) How could i possibly mention Jefferson Airplane, The 4 Seasons, and Frank Zappa in the same context? Zappa said "this is rediculous" and a few years later The 4 Seasons said "you know what, Frank is right. This IS ridiculous." To which Jefferson Airplane said, "Oh. Ok. Got it." The real question is: which one is the most transgressive? Zappa said stop fighting, you look like idiots. Jefferson Airplane said i guess if love and community is a bad thing, then sure we're criminals and we'd be happy to move out into the fields and live peaceful lives without your garbage, let us go already. The 4 Seasons said hold my champagne for a moment. In 1969, The 4 Seasons released the single most ironic, acidic, extravagant, and downright befuddling album ever created, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette. Zappa was accused of writing "shitty doo-w...
Read more

Welcome to my blog, and my record collection.

This is a blog about my love of listening to albums. It started off as a nightly perusal of my dad's record collection (which sadly became mine) on my personal facebook page. Over the last two months it has become quite an enjoyable process of simply ranting about what i think is a real art form, the album. It needs a more permanent home. Some of my reviews are positive, some negative. They might not be what you expect from album reviews, but i hope you at least find them entertaining. For the most part i do very little research, and they tend to be train of thought reactions rather than calculated essays. If nothing else, know that i'm really listening to them and whether they are amazing or abysmal i want you to go listen to them too.  I'll start migrating the 60+ i've written so far over here in the next few days, and hopefully get to the point where i just start writing them here. I'd probably even take suggestions if you're just dying to know my tho...
Read more

J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

Image
Speaking of New Wave, I just listened to the penultimate J. Geils Band album, Feeze Frame, and it is awesome. You know the title track and Centerfold, but i highly doubt you know the album closer, Piss On The Wall.  It's not even really reviewable, to be honest, it's Freeze Frame, couple songs, Centerfold, couple more songs, and Piss On The Wall. I guess i could rehash what Post-Punk/New Wave New Wave was all about (actual dance club Rock & Roll with quirkily expensive synth leads), but you know The Cars and The Motels and Talking Heads. Believe it or not, the Ramones were considered New Wave rather than Punk in the beginning. Now we'd call them Pop Punk, but the point is that Rock in the late 70s existed on a spectrum from Corporate Cock to Nerdly Neurotic Pocket Protector, and in 1980/81 J. Geils Band said hold my beer, I gotta take a leak, how's this for "radio-friendly, twitchy nerd Rock with huge sing-along choruses?" Freakin' awesome, dude, freak...
Read more