Asian-American Special - Don Ho Tribute (58:59 or 59:59)

Summary:

Asian-American special features Don Ho in Hawaii in his last face-to-face Public Radio interview with singing, songs and music tunes from the beach in Hawaii before he died in April 2007. This program recorded live from Waikiki reflects the carefree, happy-go-lucky lifestyle of its guest and provides samplings of the Asian-Hawaiian musical contribution that Don Ho gave to America and its unique American music hip & hop styles. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This program promotes membership of a new audience of public radio listeners. This is a full, NO-Hole format. Audio content revised 30-April-2008. A News-Hole version is available at: http://www.prx.org/pieces/22401. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CD Available at http://www.PRWW.org/CDHO.html

Website:

http://www.PRWW.org

Additional Credits and Funding:

Interviewing assistance by Don Ho's wife, Haumea Hebenstreit Ho, and his publicist Donna Jung. Overall evaluations and mentoring by Tanya Ott, AIR Director and also News Director, WBHM, Birmingham, Alabama. Special assistance by Michael Krall, WBHM, Birmingham; and Michael Marcotte, President of PRNDI and also News Format Curator for PRX; and by Alan Doshna, Movie Industry Consultants; and by Consulting Engineers Erick Zakrisson and Alan Roselle; and by PR Attorney & Consultant Steven Sherman, Los Angeles, California.

Timely on:

May: Asian History Month

Tones:

Engaging, Light-hearted, Sentimental

Language:

English

Description:

In addition to revealing secrets about his life & music, Don Ho in this Asian-American tribute explains the in-depth meanings of the Asian-Hawaiian word ''Aloha.'' He reveals details about his background in Hawaii that led to his becoming the most famous Hawaiian entertainer worldwide.

Don gives the history of his mother, Honey,'s Bar (which is the earliest start of Don's singing career), some facts about his song-writer friend Kui Lee and Don talks briefly about his stem-cell operation in Hong Kong. During this program Don Ho sings his live-from-the-beach version of ''Tiny Bubbles.''

Don Ho responds honestly and humorously to the interviewer's question to describe himself in 25 words or less. This is the last face-to-face public radio interview that Don Ho granted (on 31-August-2006) before his death on the Saturday morning of 14-April-2007.

In a direct evaluation to the producer, PRX Music Curator David Srebnik made the following comments after listening to the program:

''I enjoyed it overall, and thought it had some nice musical and human moments.''

News Curator Michael Marcotte said the program kept him listening for the whole hour and called it a rich and wonderful listening experience, and added:

''The hosting was fine, quite likeable, professional and everything ? I generally liked the pacing and the pattern -- and how the interview was revealed to be a post-performance interview ... sort of, 'on the fly' [especially well fit for a guest who is self-described as a 'carefree, happy-go-lucky guy'].'' Michael commented that the host has a big deep voice which the producer feels speaks well for masculinity in that it recognizes and shows an appreciation for the God-designed distinctions between the two sexes -- both of which should be held in very high esteem when distinguishable in their appropriate roles.

Michael thanked the producer for teaching him about Don Ho -- Hawaii's Ambassador of Music -- who continued to do sold-out performances in Hawaii until his farewell Aloha! in April 2007 and now his family continues his show on special occasions before sold-out audiences in Hawaii.

And, Mr. Marcotte's private evaluation concluded with, ''Thanks for the rich and wonderful listening experience!''

In a public evaluation available here on PRX, Editorial Board member Sydney Lewis in her second paragraph provides what is sometimes called a left-handed compliment when she says, ''The program host has a slightly old school style, but it works well in this piece and feels refreshingly different from current NPR voicing.'' The producer believes the last seven words of this quote would offset a thousand left-handed swipes and he feels that it is a considerable compliment to the host for this.

Ms. Lewis went on in the second paragraph to say, ''The sound of waves in the background during the warm and relaxed interview is perfect; interview material nicely paced, interspersed with song.'' And those waves were recorded off two separate microphones in stereo on the beach where the interview took place at the time of the interview but on separate tracks so that the volume could be increased or reduced to best accommodate the voices.

In her paragraph four of her original evaluation, Sydney did constructively criticize something we did twelve minutes into the full version (seventeen minutes into the news-hole version) and we not only listened but we proactively responded. On 30-April-2008, the producer had us edit out the ''too-early'' local pubradio promos and references.

If you desire to have this program customized in any way, contact our producer -- especially for promos. Contact SLG (at) PRWW (dot) org.

Alternate licensing can be acquired from: http://www.prww.org/PR.html

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