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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, February 20, 2009

Benefit salutes an Advertiser favorite

 •  Who'll get the golden statue Sunday?

By Kawehi Haug
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Longtime Advertiser reporter and Show Biz columnist Wayne Harada retired last year after 44 years of covering local entertainment.

Advertiser library photos

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A TRIBUTE TO WAYNE HARADA

A benefit for Helping Hands Hawai'i and the Advertiser Christmas Fund

1 to 4 p.m. Sunday

Waikiki nei Showroom, Royal Hawaiian Center

$30 general admission, $150 VIP

Tickets available by phone at 525-8081 and 735-0292, ext. 0

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Sunday's tribute won't be Harada's first; he was also roasted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career at The Advertiser in 1989.

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

The two Waynes — Newton, left, and Harada — in 1986.

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"Prolific" doesn't even begin to describe Wayne Harada's writing habits.

The longtime Advertiser reporter and Show Biz columnist who retired in December after 44 years of covering Hawai'i's entertainment scene was beyond prolific.

There were some weeks when the TGIF should have been renamed Section H, as in the Harada section.

The man was untouchable. Still is.

So, what does the busiest man in show business do when he retires?

He loves every minute of it.

"I tell you, it's wonderful. I'm on my own time. I do when I feel like doing," Harada said. "The stress level has virtually disappeared. It's wonderful.

"It's just a total freedom to do things casually and at your leisure. I get up and drink three cups of coffee and watch the morning news. I don't think I'll do that ritual forever, but it's a ritual I never had the luxury of doing before. And I think those are the kinds of freedoms that only come with age — you have to work till you drop."

And since he hasn't dropped — far from it — Harada, even in his retirement, continues to blog for The Advertiser as a freelance columnist, covering the beat that he's come to own over the years: local entertainment and show biz.

Harada's decades-long contribution to the newspaper, as well as to the community he wrote about, will be honored Sunday with a tribute concert.

The event will bring together many of the musicians, performers and singers that Harada has been writing about for as long as most of them can remember, including Frank DeLima, Amy Hanaiali'i, Rolando Sanchez, Afatia, Jimmy Borges and Robert Cazimero.

It's their chance to tell stories about him for a change, and there are plenty to go around.

If uncomfortable squirming were audible, it would be all over Harada's voice when he reluctantly talks about Sunday's event.

Though it won't be his first tribute event- he's been honored numerous times by various entities in the local entertainment community — it will be his last.

And still, he's not convinced it's necessary, and he only agreed to be a willing participant if the proceeds from the ticket sales would be donated to charity.

The contributions from this event will benefit Helping Hands Hawai'i and the Advertiser Christmas Fund.

It will be a gala, a who's who of Hawai'i's entertainment scene.

(Insert squirming Harada, here.)

"Normally I think you have to die to get something like this," he joked. "But I am flattered, and I feel honored to be in the limelight again, but I'd rather be on the other side covering it, not being it."

Reach Kawehi Haug at khaug@honoluluadvertiser.com.