Have you been listening to Hawaii’s Christmas radio station, KSSK, to reminisce the yuletide via songs old and new?
I’ve been loving the walk down memory lane, to hear traditional carols alongside pop and rock Christmas fare.
More importantly, since I downsized a couple of years ago, I no longer have a stash of vinyl 33 1/3 discs that I’d haul out every December. I tried to update, without much success, rereleases of popular titles available on CD. I kept a few LPs but not 45s.
Andy Williams
So the outpouring of sentimental journeys, via KSSK, has made it a blissful holiday.
Yuletide melodies get you into the holiday spirit. Bing Crosby. Perry Como. Dean Martin. Andy Williams. Gene Autry. Karen Carpenter and The Carpenters, principally Karen Carpenter, Bobby Helms. All silenced by death, but back to the future via holiday classics.
Karen Carpenter
Oh holy nights and days.
Happily, the king of Christmas serenading – Johnny Mathis – provided many signature hits. He’s one of the greats still alive. Add Brenda Lee, Mariah Carey, Michael Buble and Pentatonix for today’s bank of Christmas crooners.In the mix: local tracks by Henry Kapono, Gail Mack, Willie K, The Brothers Cazimero.
So to these singers and the stations that share them, mahalo plenty. And Mele Kalikimaka!
Holiday fruitcake has a love/hate presence every year.
To those who must have a wedge of fruitcake: Why do you adore it? It’s a dense brick of a cake; often the butt of jokes…that it can be crack a window when hurled.
Dark and fruity…
To those who nix the fruitcake: What don’t you like about it? The preserved soaked-in-liquor fruit and nuts, with too little cake?
Me? Not a huge fan of traditional “dark” fruitcake loaded with preserved fruit with a high liquor presence, and less cake.
…or blond and pinappley?
Prefer the local “blond” cake, the Happy Cake concocted in 1967 by the late Dick Rodby of Kemoo Farm. This is the version chock full of pineapple and macadamia nuts – and more pound-cake than fruitcake..
And it’s still being produced by Hawaiian Happy Cakes. Visit hawaiianhappycakes@mail.com or call (808) 922-1957.
That’s the modes operandi at Chef Chai’s, when singer-pianist Robert Cazimero is in the limelight.
Cazimero opened a rare five-night run last night (Dec. 15) at the restaurant; normally, it’s a monthly one-night Full Moon Concert, but he’s chirping and tickling the ivories for multi-evenings because it’s the Christmas season.
His serenades are informal, impromptu and inviting. Folks go not just for the food by chef Chai Chaowasaree, but for Cazimero’s patter and chatter, with livingroom informaliy. Indeed, it’s like a yuletide family reunion – everyone’s at ease, chuckling, listening and whispering with goodwill and cheer.
It’s more piano bar than showroom stuff, and you never know who’ll show up or not.
On this eve, Cazimero’s lone hula dancer was Bully Keola Makaiau, because partner Sky Perkins Gora had family visiting and took the night off. She’s likely to be aboard tonight.
No matter. With family in the house, Cazimero sister Kanoe, aka Tootsie, was one of two from-the-audience hula stylists who obliged and danced.
Cazimero in action…
This kind of unplanned trysts provide spontaneity and surprise treats.
With the prevailing holiday mood, Cazimero shared a list of Christmas carols and seasonal tunes. One of his faves, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” had a wistful tone. There was quiet, attentive goodwill on “Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) and audience sing-along on the novelty flashback tune, “The Chipmunk Song” (“Christmas, Christmas time is near”). Then it was another moment of solitude with “Christmas Waltz.”
Yep, he did his “At Home in the Islands,” a signature for Cazimero as well as the tune’s composer, Henry Kapono, and the pendulum swayed to place-specific local tunes, from the comedic “Cock-eyed Mayor of Kaunakakai” to the romantic “Hanalei Moon,” prefaced with a mention that he returned home the day earlier from Kauai.
…sharing fellowship,
He shared one tune from his new “Mine” CD, “Hakipu‘u,”with anecdotal mention of Mary Kawena Puku‘i years ago had the lyrics but no melody, so Cazimero composed the song with her lyrics. Sitting an arm’s reach from Kuana Torres Kahele, himself a prolific singer-composer-musician, Cazimero got an assist when Kahele chimed in, without a mike but hearable, and even helped the guy on the piano with lyrics when there was a brief stumble. For the record, Kahele co-produced the “Mine” album, and possibly can sing the entire songlist of Cazimero compositions.
It’s that kind of fellowship that prevails at a Cazimero evening.
He’ll perform through Sunday (Dec. 19), but full houses are anticipated so make reservations at 585-0011. …
Robert Cazimero’s new CD, entitled “Mine,” clearly is a labor of love. It’s his first solo disc in years, the first in collaboration with the prolific singer-musician Kuana Torres Kahele and Marcus Turner (Kahele’s partner in life and in music).
The CD arrives in the midst of the holiday season, so looms as a perfect stocking stuffer gift that will keep on giving throughout the years to come.
Simply, “Mine” is alive with a trove of original tunes composed by Cazimero, rich in memories and reflection, about moods, places, and themes Hawaiian.
With Cazimero’s piano accompaniment augmented by Kahele’s upright bass and guitar presence of Imua Garza, the disc assembles a warm vision and tone suited to the singer’s identifying vocal dynamics in mostly cozy stance..
Cazimero’s “Mine” CD.
There’s a lot to embrace and the new compositions provide a cluster of potential hula melodies awaiting movements and interpretation by hula dancers.
A batch of “place” atmospheric songs is quickly contagious:
* “Nu‘uanu Poina ‘Ole” is an homage to the cool area of refreshing rain and fragrant scents of blossoms, amid astonishing cliffs and history of Kaniakapupu, a house of royalty.
* “’Anini Mine” reflects with poetic Hawaiian lyrics a memory of a dancer in gentle rain.
* “Manoaakalani” relates to a glorious and hospitable home where clouds and breezes are plentiful, rain falls freely, all protected by the arch of rainbow.
* “Ka Pali Hotel (Kama‘aina)” paints a picture of the waterfalls of Waikahalulu, the comforts of a Pali Hotel and its verdant gardens.
The reflections of bygone memories appear to flow gently and easily if you’ve lived a rich life influenced by the joys of nature fueled by your imagination and savvy to articulate these flashbacks in new mele.
Cazimero, of course, has been a prolific and productive trouper in the show biz scene here, headlining in Waikiki showrooms in his prime with his late brother, Roland, and in recent times, providing intimate songfests in smaller performance spaces.
He opens a five-night engagement tonight (Dec. 15) at Chef Chai’s on Kapiolani Boulevard and likely will perform a tune or two from “Mine,” mixed with repertoire faves and perhaps a sprinkle of holiday tunes. Christmas is a joyous time to reflect, and it’s his favorite season. …
Blue Christmas
Frank DeLima
With Christmas a-coming and some folks eager to party hearty (with facemasks and vaccination proof, of course), Blue Note Hawaii at the Outrigger Waikiki has a slate of local acts in the days ahead:
Frank DeLima, at 7 p.m. today (Dec. 15). This will be the only time and place to witness his inimitable Filipino Christmas parody clad in a Christmas tree costume that lights up.
Paula Fuga, at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (Dec. 17-18).
Jake Shimabukuro, at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday (Decl 19-21).
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” with Mike Lewis and Friends, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 22).
Are there specific songs that you associate with the appropriate holiday or season in Hawaii?
Radio would be the prime source of listening to thematic music, unless you have a phonograph or CD player.
For the yuletide, KSSK has the lion’s roar, for its day-and-night programming of Christmas tunes all month beginning in November and concluding during Christmas weekend.
Bing Crosby’s “Mele Kalikimaka” 78 rpm disc.
That’s sweet. And a lot of merry mele.
So I was wondering, what essential tune would you associate with Hawaii right now? I suppose “Mele Kalikimaka” is our logical anthem. Written by a local, Andy Anderson, but popularized initially by Bing Crosby (with assist from the Andrews Sisters) because it was the flipside of his megahit, “White Christmas.”
I yearn to hear Don Ho’s “Silent Night,” aka “Po La‘i E,” because he sang it in English and Hawaiian in his inimitable style; I no longer possess the LP on which he performed that tune.
What about other key holiday songs would you expect to hear throughout the year? My thoughts:
For New Year’s, “Auld Lang Syne.” Barbra Streisand and Mariah Carey have separate, powerful versions of this New Year’s Eve fave, its turn-the-clock and calendar implications.
For Valentine’s, “At Last” by Etta James or “Close to You” by the Carpenters.Either exudes a strong aura of romance.
For Easter, “Easter Parade,” with Bing Crosby delivering the classic, timeless version.
For Fourth of July, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” by Lee Greenwood or “God Bless America” by Kate Smith. Patriotic to the max.
For Halloween, “Monster Mash,” Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s silly but a seductive novelty.
For Thanksgiving, “Autumn Leaves,” with Nat “King” Cole delivering the original vocal, and Roger Williams doing the precise instrumental version. Even if our trees don’t change hues.
