Aloha Florida Ohana

Aloha Florida Ohana
Vol. Four No. 5
From the Editor
Aloha no – can you believe it’s
November? Guess it is true that time
flies when you’re having fun!
The fall season started out great
with the 20th Annual Hui Luau in St.
Pete Beach – so many long-time
supporters of the Hui showed up,
including Lopaka and Amy Brown who
moved back to the ‘aina – passing
their aloha along to all of you!
Even with a move to North Carolina,
Hokupeh Ukulele Cooridnator Keoni
Lagunero found time to return for
more lessons at George’s Music Store
in Orlando – his ohana will be marking
a new milestone for their family with
an upcoming baby luau – congrats!
On the East coast side, several
ukulele and hula gatherings continue
to spread the aloha spirit! And in
Orlando, a new food spot has opened,
offering local kine grinds!
I had the privilege of meeting fellow
Mauian Jeff Peterson prior to his
concert in Gainesville – he had lots of
nice things to say about our adopted
home.
The fun hasn’t stopped – this
weekend, the Space Coast Florida
Ukulele Network takes to the road
for their Tampa Bay Get-Away Uke
Fest and the Hui will be on-hand for
the latest Elvis in the Park fest in
Seminole.
Finally, mark your calendars and
make plans to attend the Hoike Fall
Workshop and Maunalua concert in
early December – a fantastic way to
start off the holiday season!
[email protected]. Hugs and
aloha,
Lei
Ho’olio (Winter)
Hui Na Aikane O’Hawaii 20th Birthday Luau!
20 years ago, a small group of homesick locals formed a group which would
perpetuate, educate and share Hawaiian culture. Hui Na Aikane O’Hawai’i celebrated
their milestone with a fantastic weekend of food, fun and fellowship.
With sound provided by Keoni Lagunero, the highlight of the Saturday evening luau
was a wonderful show with many of the attendees sharing their love through hula and
song.
Lopaka Brown brought the house down with his rendition of “Hawaiian Cowboy,”
complete with references to Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson. The Hui dancers brought
tears and cheers to many with several performances - but it ws the keiki who stole the
show! Kumu Frank Keli’i Chang shared a traditional ‘oli to close the evening.
While not open to the public, a very special naming ceremony for the Hui halau
members took place early Sunday morning. The Hui also announced that Kumu Chang
along with Aunty Kai Brandon would be providing instructions to the dancers.
If you live in the Tampa area and would like to join the Hui, please contact Yvonne
McGreevy at: 727-327-4880 or email:[email protected]. (Editor Note: See inside for
pics!)
From: C. Kamaile Dias
Aloha HUI board, members and friends of the HUI:
Thanks to invitations from Yvonne McGreevy and J. Lei Inouye, I will be writing
articles for the HUI Newsletter and invite any input from the HUI members in
sharing what they would like to see in print for all to enjoy. You can email me:
[email protected]. You can also inform the HUI board as to the topics of
interest you may wish to see published.
I presently reside in Hilo, Hawaii along with my daughter, son-in-law and three
mo`opuna (grandchildren). I did live in Kauai for about 2 years prior to the move
to Big Island. I lived in the Tampa and Orlando areas of Florida from the in the mid1980`s until after the “Unholy Trinity” (Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne)
rained devastation on my home and, after much damage repair to my home in
Orlando, decided to return to Hawaii. As fate would have it, I had been praying
for guidance on whether or not I should return to Hawaii. (Caution: Don’t pray for
divine guidance, unless you really want an answer!)
After meeting Lei Gray (and her older sister), Auntie Vi Mahoney, Lopaka Brown,
Kimo Bright, Ginger Hayes, Yvonne McGreevy, and many more transplanted
Hawaiians, we decided that it was time to create an organization that reflected
the Spirit of Aloha in Florida. Thus, Hui Nā Aikāne O Hawaii, Inc was born whose
purpose is to spread the Spirit of Aloha. We later filed for, and received our 501 (c
)3 status to educate others on the richness of the Hawaiian culture in the State of
Florida. (continued on page 2)
ONE STORY OF AUNTY `IOLANI LUAHINE
The following excerpt is taken from the following puke:
`IOLANI LUAHINE – Photographs by Francis Haar, Narrative by Cobey Black, Honolulu: Topgallant Publishing Company, 1985.
PREFACE: `Iolani Luahine was a product of two worlds. She was a child of the 20th century with its frenetic cities and its machines.
She was also a child of the ancient Polynesian world of gods, goddesses and spirits. Her soul was created in this world and it
was nurtured by her tenacious belief in the reality of Pele and Hi`iaka, and their brother Kamohoalii, and in all the wondrous deeds
of Kamapua`a and Maui. `Iolani the wizard, the sprite, the enchantress, the priestess, embodied the magical and extraordinary
manifestations of the ancient Hawaiian world.
She would become Pele in rare instances and her prodigious eyes would seem to be inflamed; they would almost pop out of their
sockets so intense was the emotion felt in brining this spiritual emergence of the great goddess of volcanoes.
At other times, she became Lohi`au, or Hi`iaka or someone closer to our times. She would then take on an air of divine sweetness
in which her face assumed the look of a child. She would become the gentle and benign `Iolani radiating innocence.
She was an actress. A great performer. She could evoke moods in a single dance running from catatonic mimimalization of
movement to the violent gestures of a high manic state. She was a dancer of genius.
I saw `Iolani on a number of occasions throughout her lifetime. The first time we met she invited my sister Erminie and me to
her home in Kaka`ako to share a lunch of raw `alamihi crabs from Ala Moana, Hawaiian stew and lawalu fish. I was fifteen. It was
a memorable event. I went away with a feeling of awe and admiration. She had talked about dancing, about clouds at the top of
Ka`ala, about Pele and Kilauea and about Nāpō`opo`o where she was born. Her great intense dark eyes bore into me like laser
beams. I felt as though they had tunneled through my chest. For days afterwards I was haunted by the memory of those eyes.
On rare occasions we came together while drinking. I was a periodic drinker—given to wild sprees, and `Iolani was a quiet, steady
drinker who was not loathe to participate in a drinking spree if the spirit moved her.
We journeyed one evening to Chinatown. In one of the old-time chop suey restaurants, now gone, we ordered a feast; lup chong,
gau gee mein, harm-hah, kau yuk, cake noodles, rast duck and many other delicacies. I had been humming tunes and quoting
phrases from Pele and Hi`iaka and other chants. `Iolani always responded to these blandishments of mine.
“You are working me up,” she would say.
That night in the chop suey house there was no room to dance. Our large round table was covered with the food we had ordered,
the neighboring aisles were constricted.
“I want to dance,” she mumbled.
“Outside, “ I said before the impulse could leave her.
I asked the waiter to watch over our food and we went out to Maunakea Street. `Iolani began to dance on the sidewalk. I clapped
my hands to imitate the rhythmic slaps on an ipu.
A crowd gathered. She had been recognized. In a short time every Hawaiian who lived in that area of old Honolulu had come to
Maunakea Street and formed a circle around us.
The great Luahine was dancing.
In the Maunakea Street setting, the Hawaiians claimed her in that brief moment as their star, their heroine, their priestess.
I noticed that traffic had stopped and a group of Hawaiian men were preventing cars from turning into Hotel Street. For a few
minutes, `Iolani danced under the gaudy neon lights which grew like a lurid obscene flowers from the fronts of bars and night clubs.
Her face stern one minute and exotic the next, Ionani danced from one side of the street to the other. The wizardry of her
movements, the toss of her head, the incantation she sputtered to give herself the support of a chanter seemed for a moment to be
the ghostly emanation of an artist from another era.
Horns began to toot. Traffic began to thicken, and drivers grew impatient. With superb timing `Iolani instantly cut off her
performance, bounced onto the sidewalk and threw profuse kisses to the assembled crowd before unpleasant consequences could
take place.
“Some moah Auntie, Some moah!’
We raced back to the restaurant and the cold meal which had been sitting there for at least fifteen minutes.
“You were magnificent.”
“Oia nō ho`i, so be it,” she muttered. (continued on next page)
(Continued from previous page) At one time we spent the later hours of an evening wailing
at the Royal graves of Mauna `Ala Mausoleum. We wailed incantations until a well-known
Hawaiian dowager, on her way home, heard us from the street, stopped her car and came to
the massive locked iron gates and reprimanded us for wailing at such an ungodly hour. There
were other times besides that one in Kona—auwē, that was another occasion….
John Dominis Holt
Topgallant Publishing Co. – 1985
YOU LIKE TALK STORY? by C. Kamaile Dias
Now that I shared with you excerpts from a text that I found here at the Hilo State Public Library,
I would like to share two of my own stories of “Aunty I`o.”
The first one took place in late 1970. I was in the Navy at the time and home for the some
welcome leave time. I had a friend with me that I was stationed with at NAS Lemoore in
California. My brother was working at a large hotel in Kona and had invited us to come and
stay there while visiting with him for a couple days. The lanai of our room jutted over the break
wall next to the ocean as we watched a couple of Manta rays gliding on the surface of the
ocean water below.
As we were finishing our drinks, my brother called me on the room phone. He told me that I
had to come down to the bar right away. Aunty Iolani was downstairs in the bar and he wanted
to introduce me to her. As I came out of the elevator doors that emptied me directly in front of
the entrance to the bar and restaurant, I heard chanting. Aunty Io`s chanting was so amazing
as it permeated the stillness as no one was talking, though the bar was filled during its normal
happy hour or pau hana time. She was sitting at the bar. Everyone in the bar had stopped to
listen to her as her `oli called them to pay attention. Her `oli left me feeling as though I were
transported back in time when our kings and chiefs were revered and the people of old built
altars to our Hawaiian deities; in other words, it was “chicken skin.”
Approximately 20 years later, when I was living in Florida, Uncle George Naope had come to
Orlando to visit and I found him in the bar of a restaurant. After formally greeting him, of course,
we started to “talk story” and I had informed him of my Kona experience with Aunty `Iolani. He
then shared a few stories of his experiences and travels with her. I distinctly remember the
following story he shared with me that day.
“One day Aunty Io and I were sitting together in the back seat of one car with a driver escort and
I remember we were near the ocean. All of a sudden she shouted at the driver, “Stop dis car!
She was not asking him, she was telling him to stop da car! I nevah say nothing; especially,
when she tell you to do something. She got out of the car and went walk towards the water. I
thought I bettah go with her, so I followed and stayed behind her. When she was pretty close to
the water, she stopped and started to chant. After a little while, the nai`a (dophin) was jumping
out of the water! I couldn’t believe it! You never know what is going to happen when you are
with Aunty `Io.”
[To our readers: If you would like to share your stories of Hawaiiana, please send me your story
via email: [email protected]. Look forward to reading your stories.]
(from page one) Thanks to Aunty Vi Mahoney and her husband, we appeared in an annual Christmas parade in St.
Petersburg, Florida and decided to decorate a flat bed truck with a Hawaiian Royal Court. We were so surprised to see
our float pictured in the St. Petersburg Times later that weekend. We received much correspondence after that article was
published. The rest is history (and a very long story).
The advantage to living here in Hilo is that I am in close proximity to a lot of resources (past and present) of Hawaiiana and
intend to share the cultural gifts of Hawaii via the articles that I will be writing for the HUI Newsletter. I look forward to the
challenges before me and appreciate any input from the readers as to what they would like to see featured or topics which
they would like to know more about.
A hui hou a me malama pono,
C. Kamaile Dias
Hoike Hawai’i Hula Competition Update!
Aloha,
Please make note that next year’s Hoike Hawaii 15th Annual Hula
Competition and Makaha Sons Concert will be held on 7/20/12 and
7/21/12 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort. Originally, it was announced that it would take
place the last weekend in July. However, we have been notified by the hotel that it is not
available at that time and so we have taken the only weekend available in July. Please make
the appropriate changes on your calendars, websites and notifications. If any questions,
please let me know.
Mahalo!
Marina
(Ed. Note: Please visit the Hoike Hawai’i
website at: www.hoikehawaii.com
Photos from 20th Hui Na Aikane
Hawai’i Luau - Mahalo Everyone!
Updates from Hui Aikane O’Hawai’i
The Hui will be appearing on 11/12/2011 as
individuals and volunteer basis - be it hula or
some place to kick back for a beautiful in the park
featuring Elvis Tribute Arists Tom Burkhead. Can’t
make it on Saturday? Well, there is lots happening
with other events on Friday, 11/11 and Sunday,
11/13 so E Komo Mai & Enjoy the Fun!! www.ElvisInParadise.com
For more information,
call (813) 977-9779 or email us at
[email protected]
Friday, November 11th
Veterans Day Celebration
Car Show & Concert
Hosted by American Legion Seminole Post
#111
6918 North Florida Avenue Tampa, Florida
Car Show & Outdoor ETA Showcase 11:00am
– 4:00pm
Concert Begins at 4:30pm
www.seminolepost111.org
Saturday, November 12th
5th Annual Elvis in Paradise
Picnic in the Park
Lake Seminole Park – SHELTER #5
10015 Park Blvd. (74th Ave. N.)
Bring chairs, blankets and picnic baskets!
Musical Entertainment 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Need some help with creating a website or
designs for your business? Carlos Koakane
is very talented and akamai and can help
you out! Check out this link to his website
and view the beautiful video he created
from the Hui Luau - mahalo Carlos!
http://www.wix.com/koakane21/coconut
Sunday, November 13th
Sunday Morning Gospel Show
Hosted by CARIBBEAN ISLE - CLUBHOUSE
12100 Seminole Blvd
Largo, FL 33778
10:30am – 12:00pm
Featuring Tom Burkhead & Special Guests
Beef Tomato
1 c. thinly sliced carrot
1 c. sliced onion
1 c. sliced celery
1 T. canola or olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated (app. 2-3 T.)
¼ c. white wine or beer
1-3 T. oyster sauce (depending on saltiness)
1-2 T. soy sauce (depending on saltiness)
2 T. brown sugar or honey
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ c. broth
2 T. cornstarch
¾ - 1 lb. grilled steak or tenderloin,
1 large tomato, cut into bite-size wedges
toasted sesame seeds chopped Cilantro and green onion,
In a hot large frying pan or wok, add oil, and carrots, stir fry
for a minute or so, then add onions and celery, stir-fry until onions are
slightly translucent if veggies are sticking, add a little more oil. Add in
garlic and ginger, stir-fry for another minute, then de-glaze pan with
wine or beer. Add-in oyster and soy sauce, brown sugar and ½ c. of the
broth, bring to a simmer. Combine remaining broth with cornstarch to
create a slurry, add a little of the hot mixture to the slurry, stir then
add to the pan mixture. Stir around for a minute or so to thicken. Check
for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, combine
with steak and tomatoes, toss to combine. Garnish with cilantro, green
onion and sesame seed.
Maui No Ka Oi! Editor Lei Inouye had
a great time catching up with fellow
Mauian Jeff Peterson before his concert
in Gainesville - hana hou!
Did you Know?
There are more than 2,200 University of Hawai’i Alumni who now call
Florida home! Show your support
for the UH Warriors by joining the
University of Hawaii and East West
Center Alumni Associaton and
become a Florida Chapter member! For more information, visit
the UHAA website at: http://www.
alumniconnections.com/hawaii/
Aloha Florida Ohana
A quarterly newsletter published as
a community service by The Write
Angle, a full-service marketing and
commun ications company based
in Archer, Florida and headed by
Hawai’i native Jane Lei Inouye, APR.
For submissions or questions, contact
Lei at: [email protected] or via
cell.: 352-224-8152.