Billy V Blog Kapena and Darren Benitez at AFLS | Kapena and Darren Benitez at AFLS |
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| Written by Billy V. | |
| Friday, 07 March 2008 | |
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The Aloha Friday Luncheon Show took place at the Shorebird Restaurant at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel this past Friday (March 7, 2008). It featured the musical talents of Darren Benitez and Kapena. It was a wonderful luncheon show, but it would also be the first Aloha Friday Luncheon Show without Aunty Genoa Keawe. Some of our guests were a little flustered when they saw who was at the top of the guests list as they were entering... The staff at the Outrigger Hotel knew the drill. Every AFLS, Aunty Genoa would be there, and she would have Kealoha Kalama in tow, along with other family members. Aunty would sit and laugh, sing along with the artists, clap her hands, eat her hawaiian food...Aunty was always happy to be there. Kealoha Kalama would always pick up Aunty, Kealoha was always ready to dance as the artists would often ask her. But Aunty Genoa was like Hawaiian Royalty to our entertainers. They never asked her to come up and sing, knowing that she was there enjoying herself. The entertainers, especially the young ones would get kind of nervous, often asking "Where is Aunty sitting?" They would go up and say hello to her before the performances and some wanted to take pictures with her. She would always be happy to, talking story with the entertainers, encouraging them or complimenting them on their talents. Aunty was always supportive.We brought an ukulele and a picture Aunty had signed for our station staff. We also brought the picture that was taken of Aunty there at the Aloha Friday Luncheon Show Just a couple of months earlier. We put it up next to the stage. People came up and spent time with the pictures, brought lei. Some smiled and had stories to share. Others cried missing Aunty's aloha spirit and her voice, knowing that Aunty used to sit next to them every Luncheon Show.   When the guests were entering, they would look at the guest list, but were a little unnerved when they saw Aunty's name at the top with a party of 6. People looked and looked at each other...Outrigger admitted they had put her name on top out of habit, as they had copies of the past guest lists and Aunty's name was just put at the top, with the rest blank. It was the master that Aunty's name was written on. It was kind of fitting because to us musicians and entertainers, it was as if Aunty was with us. So she was our guest, and she was there. We smiled. Kapena entertained and Kelly Boy delighted with his vocals. He was backed by his daughters Lilo and Kalena. Kelly delighted the crowd with stories of his daughters, and they girls sang as well. They have a new CD called "Keys of Love" that is wonderful. Kapena got a standing ovation at their close.      Darren Benitez is a multi genre artist like Kapena. Darren can sing beautiful Hawaiian songs, go into falsetto, has country in him then goes into Katchi-katchi. The audience was delighted with all of his singing, but they were holding back. They were waiting for some borinki music that would get the blood going. They held on till almost the end of their set and then busted it out. Everyone enjoyed...we had some people dancing...they could have done another 15 minutes (Kapena too!) easily and the audience would have loved it. Next AFLS will be a Don Ho tribute show....stay tuned for more details coming on Hawaiian 105 KINE |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 10 March 2008 ) |
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