The Left Lane
Hula starring on PBS
Carl Hefner
"Holo Mai Pele," an epic hula drama in which Hilo's famed Halau o Kekuhi tells the story of the goddesses Pele and Hi'iaka, was screened in Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City and San Francisco last week and makes its nationwide TV premiere tonight.
Kekuhi Kanahele-Frias in "Holo Mai Pele"
"Great Performances," the PBS arts series, will air the program at 8 p.m. on KHET, the Hawai'i public television affiliate. And this week the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, the educational nonprofit group associated with the halau, posted a set of lesson plans aimed at bringing the video production into classroom instruction on the PBS Web site (www.pbs.org/holomaipele/class room2.html).
Members of the hula troupe, Halau o Kekuhi, returned this week from the Mainland screenings. Spectators not familiar with Hawai'i or its traditions exhibited signs of "culture shock," said the halau's Kekuhi Kanahele-Frias, who attended the San Francisco screening.
"That just encouraged us and made the (educational) movement for us a little more meaningful," she said. "The need for it unveiled itself for us."
— Vicki Viotti, Advertiser staff writer
'Today' honors hero
NBC News
A Wazanae native working as a federal police officer in Washington, D.C., met one of the people he was credited with rescuing Sept. 11 at the Pentagon on NBC's Today Show Monday. William Wayne Sinclair was one of eight people in a ground-floor office who heard Isaac Ho'opi'i's voice calling out, "head toward my voice, head toward my voice."
sWilliam Wayne Sinclair, left, and Wai'anae's Isaac Ho'opi'i appeared on Monday's NBC "Today" Show.
"I didn't know who was in there, but I heard people crying and calling for help," Ho'opi'i said in a telephone interview after appearing on Monday's Today Show with Sinclair. "I found out later eight of them were crawling together toward my voice. Seven of them made it out. One guy went on a different route."
Ho'opi'i, who performs with the Hawaiian music group "Aloha Boys" in D.C., was among the first on scene after the hijacked airliner crashed into the Pentagon.
— Rod Ohira, Advertiser staff writer
Prints of the past
Cane Haul Road, whose T-shirts and other products expressed a kama'aina longing for plantation-era days, is bringing back five beloved designs while the company is featured at Native Books and Beautiful Things at Ward Warehouse. The designs are part of a special promotion Sunday through Oct. 27.
Grant Kagimoto of Cane Haul Road said these T-shirts were designed from 1981 to 1997. They include "Jan Ken Po," illustrating a Maui version of the game; "Shaka Palaka," a visual/verbal pun; "Hilo Lullaby," referring to the sound of rain on tin roofs; "Plantation Days," the most complete listing of plantations the company could assemble with the help of the Hawai'i Sugar Planters Association; and "Haul Cane Road, Cane Haul Road," showing a cane truck and referring to Kaua'i's unique way of speaking of these roads.
In addition, one of their most popular designs, "Home Sweet Home," showing a typical plantation house, will be available hand-screened on acid-free paper, matted and ready to frame. A scale model of a plantation home, made by Howard Inouye, also will be on display.
— Wanda A. Adams, Advertiser staff writer
