The Aloha Festival Floral Parade is On!

While you won't see this early twentieth century float, according to the official Aloha Festivals web site.you're likely to experience,

"A colorful equestrian procession of female and male pā‘ū riders, extravagant floats with cascades of Hawaiian flowers, hula hālau and marching bands will brighten Kalākaua Avenue from Ala Moana Park to Kapi‘olani Park. This “must see” event will pay homage to the art of hula."

Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated few the cash-challenged parade will carry on for it's 62nd year this Saturday, as reported in the Honolulu Advertiser, in Waikiki.

The Floral Parade plays an important role in spreading the virtues of Hawaii tourism beyond Hawaii Nei. Supported in part by The Hawaii Tourism Authority it’s unfortunate that its Board of Directors couldn’t have redirected HTA President Rex Johnson’s recent $40,000 porn penalty into the event. That way the fine folks leading the “Save the Parade” charge would have only needed to raise $10,000 required to secure the $200,000 HTA grant rather than the mandated $50,000. Maybe next year.

Remember to wear your sunscreen and enjoy the parade and all of The 2008 Aloha Festival events!

Kapiolani Park Homeless Map

While visiting Waikiki you'll see that the main area of homeless residents in Kapiolani Park are next to The Waikiki Shell and adjacent to The Waikiki Aquarium. While City and County of Honolulu officials have passed a no-camping ordinance aimed at removing the homeless, as of September 10, 2008 they have opted not to enforce the law.


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The Hindu Monkey King Mayor of Honolulu - An Update

A follow-up to The Waikiki Observer's The Hindu Monkey King Mayor of Honolulu ...

While Mufi capitalizes on his recent face time with Barrack Obama, the Honolulu Advertiser reports today that according to local Obama officials,

"A campaign advertisement featuring Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was not sanctioned by the Obama campaign and does not amount to an official endorsement."

I would've done it, too. It's easy to be swept up in Obamamania but I'm not the mayor of the forty seventh largest city in the US. That's some old-school style politicking Mufi's doing. He should heed Obama's call for change.

Best French Fries in Hawaii Nei

Town Restaurant in Kaimuki without a doubt. Not curled, not garlic-ed, not cut into the size of a baseball bat. As perfect as can be; straight, crispy brown
Think June Cleaver

Town

3435 Waialae Ave # 104
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 735-5900

Triumph The Weather Dog

Years ago many of the local TV newscasts here didn't include weather reports. With mild conditions that don't vary much perhaps they spent greater time on reporting news; but, that was then.

This clip starts with Triumph The Insult Dog at an American Idol tryout at Aloha Stadium--home to "Hawaii's biggest outdoor swap meet with unbelievable bargains from hundreds of vendors selling an enormous range of items"-- before he fills in as The Weather Dog at KHNL.

A New Kodak Hula Show!

In and around Kapiolani Park for sixty-five years members of The Kodak Hula Show spread the Hawaiian message of aloha worldwide through their shows of music and dance of Hawaii. That show ended in 2002 and now another message of aloha is being spread by new residents of Kapiolani Park as the Honolulu Homeless take up residence. Eschewing available homeless shelters while enjoying the balmy tradewinds all tourists and locals enjoy, their colorful tents are popping up all-around the park and lean-to shacks are being constructed along the fence of the old Kodak Hula Show stadium. Open Daily, Rain or Shine!

On Labor Day 2008, the stands from the old Kodak Hula Show are visible in the background

The mayor's office may be reached at mayor@honolulu.gov for comment.

The Hindu Monkey King Mayor of Honolulu

The single best reason to pay for our local paper, The Honolulu Advertiser, is to follow columnist Lee Cataluna's take on our small, often parochial, hometown activities. She is insightful, compassionate and funny. On 28 August 2008, of our running-for-reelection, Obama-bandwagon-hitching Mayor she writes,

"Adding to the cheekiness of the whole thing [recent campaign ads] is that the quote from Obama was just the obligatory mahalo that a speaker gives to the person who just introduced him. He wasn't praising Hannemann out of the blue, he was thanking him for calling him up to the stage, like you'd say, "Mahalo to Uncle Chippy, the hardest working emcee in Kaka'ako."

Hannemann had just introduced Obama to the waiting crowd. Gave him a big buildup. Obama took the stage to cheers and, before thanking Hannemann, first introduced his wife. Then, he said, "I want to thank one of the best mayors in the country who has just made Honolulu even better than it was before: Mufi Hannemann." That's the quote in the ads.

The best part, though, is Obama doesn't quite say the mayor's last name the way everybody else says the mayor's last name. Obama doesn't mispronounce Hannemann, not really. But he makes it sound more like "Hanuman," the Hindu monkey king in the Ramayana epic."

That cracks me up. Thanks, Lee.

see also The Hindu Monkey King Mayor of Honolulu - An Update

What’s new with the Brothers Cazimero!

Nothing.

Same jokes, “we’re raised in Kalihi …,” they still don’t perform on cue but at least now they tell you “we don’t hana hou” and same sublime soaring notes that they, and we, are so taken with. They are as smart as ever as we watch them fish in the best stocked loko i'a in all of Hawaii: Waikiki.

Sunday on the “Grand Lanai” of the Embassy Suites Waikiki Beachwalk as part of the Na Mele No Na Pua Kama`aina concert series, Robert and Roland sang and talked and Robert talked some more—perhaps his way of his reeling in his certain-to-be-new catch—for about 90 minutes. For free. The crowd is an overflow event on “The Grand Lanai” above Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, next to the pool in the shadow of the growing Trump Tower. Confronted with an overflow crowd, I sit behind a column. No matter, after twenty years I know what they look like; some years a few more pounds, some years less.

So, I sit behind this big fat column and attached to its right, propped open, is the slender fancy hotel folding glass door leading into the pavilion from which they sing. As Robert speaks of deep meaning and affection for the land, the rocks, all of Hawaii inanimate, here are Robert and Roland manifested in the very physical building structure of Waikiki. Robert, The Fancy Folding Glass Door opens and closes, is shiny and kinda skinny—compared to the column—and the more transparent of the two. When Robert, the Brother, said of the cute stage hand after he delivered some much needed items, “I love that boy,” like Robert, The Fancy Glass Door, we see right through him. He, like the door, can open up and lets us in when he wants. Roland, the Column, never appears to waver and holds steadfast, anchors the structure to the ground and provides firm support for the Fancy Folding Glass Door mounted on its right; as Roland, The Brother, does so well.

From the back, amid lots of tourists and many of locals, a haku crowned Auntie sits, smiles and listens intently as the best of Aunties do and then still seated dances hula to Hawaiian Lullaby (“where I live there are rainbows”, that one) while what surely must be The Hairiest Tourist in Waikiki walks past in his bathing suit from the pool to the room elevator beyond, somehow oblivious to The Brothers bait.

Sometimes nothing new, like the rocks and the 'aina or The Brothers Fancy Door and Column, is simply the best.

Trust me, I'll tell you what's best for you

On February 19, 2008, Democrat voters of Hawaii chose Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton as their preferred presidential candidate by a vote of 28,347 to 8,835. It is rare that we in Hawaii get to sing with the national political choir. And now, on Easter Sunday in The Honolulu Advertiser, we learn from our senior U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye that we sang the wrong hymn. Rather, it is up to him and his fellow Superdelegates to decide what is in our best interest.

How appropriate it is that in a place where its people have been historically told what is best for them, from missionaries to plantation owners, that now a present day representative tells the Democrats among us, what is “best” for us is not what we selected by a seventy-six percent majority.

Many suggest our senior Senator and his fellow Superdelegates are expected to both break voting deadlocks and exhibit superior judgment and insight into political machinations and discourse not readily apparent to the average citizen. However, winning every district, in every precinct, in every county throughout the state of Hawaii isn’t enough for them. There even remain undecided Superdelegates and at least one, according to the Advertiser article, “waiting to hear from their constituents.”

With our representative form of government a majority of the popular vote is not necessarily a measure of victory as espoused by Senator Inouye’s position or experienced by Al Gore. If it were, President Gore might be retiring from his second term and likely, once again Hawaii’s voice wouldn’t be invited to join the national song. But things are different this year. As winds across the political landscape shift with frequency of changing YouTube clips and pundit rants, in Hawaii the Trades blow steadily from one direction and on February 19th, it carried an especially simple, clear hymn across Hawaii Nei for all to hear. For Hawaii Superdelegates to stand with Senator Inouye on this matter is to not hear that song but rather join a well-tuned old-school Washington choir that will once again decide what is best for others.