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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 18, 2002

MUSIC SCENE
Concert to honor legendary Genoa Keawe

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Island musical legend Genoa Keawe recalls the good old days, when downtown's music clubs were a nightlife haven. A concert Saturday at the Hawai'i Theatre will be pay tribute to Keawe, while saluting a time gone by and welcoming the future of island music.

Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Genoa Keawe

Featured in "Embraceable You: A Tribute to Genoa Keawe"

7 p.m. Saturday

Hawai'i Theatre

$30-$75

528-0506

Also featuring: Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Zanuck Kapala Lindsey, Gabe Baltazar, Na Palapalai, Anelaikalani, Frank Hewett, O'Brian Eselu and the hula halau of Ed Collier and Leimomi Ho

Also: Keawe performs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Ocean Terrace Bar of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort

Genoa Keawe was hobnobbing with Myrtle K. Hilo in downtown Honolulu the other day, reminiscing about the good ol' days when music clubs were as plentiful as 7-Elevens in the vicinity of the Hawai'i Theatre.

"Those days were so much fun — I used to work seven nights a week, and sang with two bands, doing pop music," said Keawe, 84. "I had my own group, however, at Club Polynesia, where Myrtle K. Hilo also worked. Those times are gone."

But not forgotten. To capitalize on those memories of yesteryear, producer Randie Fong, the Kamehameha Schools performing arts director whose family once operated Club Polynesia, is mounting a glorious tribute to Keawe titled "Embraceable You: Tribute to Genoa Keawe" Saturday at the Hawai'i Theatre.

"I always knew her, because she was close to my family," said Fong, who recalled that Keawe came to work for his parents in 1946 at the club, which was a nightlife haven from the '40s through the early '60s. The club was on Nu'uanu Avenue, across the street from the old Liberty Theatre and next door to the defunct Brown Derby.

The club is long gone, so only memories remain.

"I remember Randie was a little boy, running around the club," Keawe said. "So it's very nice that we're working together again."

Fong said during two decades, his family booked a number of acts at the downtown club, which occasionally featured radio broadcasts. "Genoa actually has a recording of one of her broadcasts in 1949," Fong said.

That historical aspect was one of the thrusts of the tribute, being presented by St. Francis Healthcare Foundation. St. Francis wanted to thank Keawe for bringing much joy and happiness to its patients and staff over the years, and concert proceeds will benefit the hospital's charities.

And a nostalgia segment, re-creating a radio broadcast, will kick off a two-hour program that pays homage to Keawe as well as reflect on a bygone era of island nightlife. Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom will enact a young Keawe, performing Johnny Almeida's "Maile Swing" and "My Tropical Baby," as well as an early Keawe favorite, "Embraceable You."

"Ooooh, that girl can sing, with so much feeling," Keawe said of Gilliom. "When I watch her, I see a little of myself ... when I was young. I helped her a little bit with the yodeling, but she is so good. Sounds like an auntie."

Keawe said she embraced "Embraceable You" years ago, when she was living in La'ie, separated from her husband, who worked in town. "It was not a divorce; but I was home with my children while he was away and we'd see each other only at the end of the week," she said. "I listened to the radio a lot in those days and that became my favorite song. But I never recorded it."

The roster of guests in the radio section will include Zanuck Kapala Lindsey of Hula Joe and the Hutjumpers, enacting the radio host; and saxophonist Gabe Baltazar, who used to work in Trummy Young's band performing at the Brown Derby.

"Trummy used to come over on his breaks and watch us, or drink beer," Keawe recalled. "We would go over to his shows and dance. Lots of fun."

Downtown was buzzing with island performers, Fong said. "Club Polynesia featured a lot of people, like Myrtle K. Hilo, Myra English; even Kealoha Kalama got her start there," he said. "All the aunties, too, like Linda Dela Cruz. When the Waikiki bars closed, they all came downtown. The club was kind of a who's who of Honolulu, with a clientele that was largely Hawaiian, since there was housing nearby and the Hawaiians were performing for Hawaiians."

Only oldtimers know that Keawe started out singing hit-parade pop songs, with big bands of the day, before heavily immersing her talent into Hawaiiana.

"The kanikapila (informal song-fests) often had people singing Hawaiian and hit songs — it was never a dichotomy of Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian songs — and the jukeboxes had Johnny Almeida alongside Cole Porter, alluding to the dual reality of the Hawaiian world and the Western world," Fong said.

Another segment of the evening assembles the youthful artistry of Keao Costa, Kehua Tamure and Hoku Zuttermeister, members of Na Palapalai, and soloist Anelaikalani. "The underlying message is that Hawaiian music is in good hands in the 21st century," Fong said.

The second half begins with Hawaiiana wizards Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett and O'Brian Eselu, then moves to a chalangalang sequence assembling a host of veterans that sets up Keawe's finale. Eselu will perform "You Are So Beautiful" as a duet with Keawe.

Meanwhile, Keawe continues her Thursday night gigs at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. "They asked me to do two nights, but one is plenty," she said.

Besides, she said, her wobbly knees make walking and standing difficult, so she sits down whenever she performs. "Maybe it's time I have surgery," said Keawe, who sometimes requires a wheelchair. But she still drives her car, so "I manage to get around."