|
To television viewers of a certain age, Don Ho was Hawaii.
Okay, maybe he places behind
McGarrett,
but he's right up there. In fact, any show that did a special
episode1 in Hawaii had a cameo by
Mr. Ho, playing himself as the lounge singer he was. So it should
come as no surprise that when I found myself in Hawaii on business, at
the same hotel where Mr. Ho had his show, I had to indulge in this
symbol of island kitsch. Which was everything I could have imagined,
and one thing more. This guy was bored. Sick of the whole thing.
Going through the motions doesn't even describe it. Plainly, he hated
doing the same tourist crap night after night, and he was making
little effort to hide that fact.
So is his performance here merely languid? Or is it supremely bored?
I'll leave it to you to judge. My only hope is that in the two
decades between my experience and Mr. Ho's death this past week, he
found a little bliss, or at least a little comfort in his place in
life. I mean, how awful can it have been to be successful, and
beloved, and in Hawaii for all those years?
- Not to be confused with very special
episodes, which generally involved teen pregancy or drug use and
hardly ever took place in Hawaii
|
