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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Patriotic piece hits wrong note

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

It's always weird when a performer picks a song that doesn't fit, like a child singing "Memories" or a dude from Makiki singing "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" at karaoke. Sometimes it's the occasion that doesn't fit, like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" sung at a wedding.

Late Saturday afternoon in the middle of Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki, the Navy rock band Tsunami took to the stage in a free performance for the public.

Just before their set, the more formal Navy Pacific Fleet band played. Their program of jazz standards and a large helping of patriotic songs, some accompanied by singing, drew hearty applause from the crowd. Love that "God Bless America" when it's done right, all soaring tenor and swooping horns.

Then came Tsunami. The crowd was warned beforehand, "This band rocks!"

Their first song was a part-ska, part-rock wailing rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Dorothy at a rave. The Tin Man at da club. Toto on dognip.

But it was the second song that was the real eye-opener.

The lead singer, a young woman wearing a white Navy uniform complete with A-line skirt and comfortable pumps, transformed into G.I. Gwen Stefani and sang, also to a ska beat, "Sexual Healing."

Whoa. As Marvin Gaye asked in another (less salacious) song: "What's goin' on?"

She danced — not quite gyrating, but something between simple swaying and out-and-out undulating. Whatever it was, it sure wasn't marching.

Yes, appearances are just appearances and all that, but we're at war, right?

I mean, it's a little hard to tell. Prime-time television is uninterrupted, parking in Waikiki is still a pain, and right in the middle of Kalakaua on a sunny Saturday afternoon, there's a Navy band fronted by a young sailor singing "get up, get up, get up, get up, let's make love tonight."

OK, sure, it's an image thing. But aren't we concerned with image during war time? Protesters holding signs opposing the war are called un-American. Anything perceived as less than a "let's-kill-them-Iraqis" attitude is "siding with the enemy." We're all exhorted to "support the military." How do you support a performance like that? (Wait, don't answer.)

Not that the band wasn't good. Tsunami did, in fact, rock. And the lead singer could really sing. But there are measures of appropriateness, of time and place and performer, and this one was just too ... everything.

People are dying in Iraq. Their people, our people — people. Is it too much to ask for a bit of propriety, particularly at a family-friendly, free event and specifically from a group wearing formal uniforms of the U.S. military? What's goin' on?

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.