Monday, June 17, 2019

Father's Day Concert at Ohana Hale Marketplace

WOW! The very first concert at the new Ohana Hale Marketplace  (located at the former Sports Authority store on Ward Avenue) turned out to be a blast...a blast with some oldies but goodies music. Almost like blasting into the past. Billed as Father's Day Concert with Champagne, it turned out that Champagne is the name of the band that played music down memory lane for the remaining two hours of the concert (12 noon to 2 PM). The band is comprised of lead singer Dezi, saxophone player Ricky, guitar player Denny, and electric keyboard player Eddie. Champagne is a very upbeat music band but has the makings of playing soft ballroom dancing music. More later on the band in this blog.




















It's Saturday, June 16, 2019 and it's Fathers Day. My main girl and I  got to the Ohana Hale Marketplace about 11 AM. Our son, Nick was already on stage  belting out those oldies but goodies tunes like  Frank Sinatra and other crooners of the past sang. The tables and chairs fronting the stage were reserved for paid ticket holders and starting to fill up. The way it worked...a ticket holder gets to sit at a table in front of the stage, gets a $10 discount on a purchase from any of the vendors in the building, and a chance to win door prizes, for $20. Good deal because we used our discount for the ono bento from the Local Cravings vendor and paid two bucks which normally cost 12 bucks for lau lau, kalua pork, rice chasu, and assorted veggies including hot kim chee. That sure is broke the mouth kine bento.

Anyway, the emcee for the whole program was Tiny Tadani from
EmCee Tiny showing bento for $2 after $10 discount
Tiny TV/Spectrum OC16 TV Show (he also has a refreshment concession near the stage). What an extraordinary emcee he was. He was funny and kept the audience excited and laughing whenever he got to the microphone during and between performances. He was busy as a bee setting up chairs and tables as  more people came in to watch the show, and passing out samples of refreshments from his concession. He also sang.

Nick sang from 11:00 to 11:30.  The crowd was mostly stretched from the 50's, 60's, and 70's era and I could see that they enjoyed the tunes Nick was singing. Then Disk Jockey Hapa Boy Taylor
took over from 11:30 to 12 noon. Lani and I haven't got one foot in the grave yet and we enjoy some of the heavy modern tunes . One tune caught our ear that sounded like a cha cha beat. So we got on the floor near the stage and danced. Then another couple got up to dance too. With all the loud cheers and whistles echoing, it felt like we were in a dance competition. That brought more people on the floor when the Electric Slide music was played. Those dancers who are seniors
Electric Slide Dancers
really rocked the joint. Hapa Boy Taylor did good, too.

Champagne came on at 12 noon with some swing music. I guess the momentum got to Lani and me once more. We hit the floor with dancing the Jitterbug. Another couple came to dance, too. The music the band played was too good to let wasted. The band played a Rumba tune and Nick and Lani got on the floor to dance. It was nice to see our son dancing with mom since he stopped teaching dance and concentrated on his music. Incidentally, he  sets up sound systems like he did at this concert, and also do gigs for weddings, parties, graduation. etc.

There were lots of giveaways for door prizes. The grand prize was a big screen TV. I thought Tiny Tadani handled the emcee job brilliantly. During the call for lucky prize winners, if the person whose name was called was not present, he would say, "dat's alright, we'll save it for him or her and contact them to pick it up."  As for the TV set, Tiny had his 3 week old daughter, Tory Bleu pick the winning name card by attaching a scotch tape to her tiny feet and stick her feet into the paper bag containing the name cards that Nick was holding up while  mother Chassy held her. That brought laughter and shouts with approval that almost brought the house down.
Guest Singer Andy Sexton
Ricky the saxophone player, and Denny the guitar  player then came into the audience and did a solo exhibition with their musical instruments while Dezi and Eddie provided the background music.   The show was still going on strong when the band brought professional singer Andy Sexton from the group Simplicity to sing a solo and then a duet with Dezi. That was a big treat to hear their blend of voice. Beautifully done.


OOPS! Almost forgot the hula dancer. Didn't get her name but she did the hula with a lot of expression. I think she was telling a story with all the hula movements. Nice performance.








As like all concerts, there's  gotta be an end. Tiny was entertaining throughout the whole concert. This time to close the program, he sang, "Isn't She Lovely" to his daughter Tory Bleu and to his beautiful wife Chassy. That made it a beautiful ending to a well organized and entertaining Father's Day Concert.

To view video of the Father's Day Concert, please go to Facebook  Tiny TV Hawaii  or  Music Therapy 808.

Aloha for now and Happy Fathers Day!