Faina,

Ho, Ho, Ho...oh, I mean ha, ha ,ha...

-Bill

ROFL! I think it is mandatory that you have to be 95, have blue hair or a bad toupee to get in.

I lived in Hawaii for 10 yrs 85-95 and back then it was locally rumored he was was enjoying some illegal substances in his nose and would go out in the audiences and kiss people, including men on the mouth! LOL Maybe he checks for proper denture care. LOL I couldn't resist!

:)

Is he still alive? I just had a flashback of my childhood, sitting in grandma's living room with the T.V. trays and being forced to watch Don Ho....

nina, that's the saddest childhood story I've heard in years. :-O Was your grandma ever reported to the authorities for child abuse.?

;-)

I had a similar experience to Nina's, but it was Lawrence Welk. TV trays and all, LOL. ;-)

Don Ho -- Lawrence Welk, so much alike. Except Lawrence's bubbles were big and Don's were tiny!

Oh yeah, Lawrence Welk. I had abusive parents too, as they always watched Lawrence Welk. I would go into my bedroom and put on the record "Shake Rattle and Roll" and turn the volumne up full blast. And than I would get blasted by my parents, lol. And I am sure aging myself!

Others may (and do) disagree, but I thoroughly enjoyed Don Ho's show. Unlike most of you, I actually saw him recently- September of last year. Another poster is right- he hardly sings anymore, but has a wicked (I must say dirty) sense of humor, truly engages his audience, and his band/other featured singers do a lovely job with his and other Hawaiian standards.

The man is sharp as a tack. As others have said, he gives autographs to everyone who wants one and actually makes time to talk with you, both before and after the show. Where do find a performer like that anymore? He's rolling in royalties; he doesn't need the money. The man is a class act.

Halfway through his show, he asked my husband and I up on stage to sing with him, simply based on one comment I had made to him in the autograph line. I was stunned that he had remembered (and told the crowd) the year I had first heard him! (Yes I know he probably had handlers writing the info down.)

My husband had not been keen on seeing the old goat but laughed his butt off- it's mostly a comedy routine interspersed with lovely songs by other people.

We used 2-for-1 coupons in the Entertainment book and skipped the dinner.

Did I mention that my husband and I are both 29? I learned to surf that trip which was exhilarating, but Do Ho was a sweeter memory.

I went to Don Ho's shows in the '60s and I went to his show over 40 years later.

I remember in my student activist days, that a white jazz group sang one of his songs in an upbeat contemporary style. When he came on for his part of the show, he commented that he would be haunted by the "cover" of his song. Very perceptive.

His show is all about entertainment. You want pure music, sit on your hands at home and wait for the next Andrea Bocelli appearance in Kansas or Nebraska.

In the '60s, we would take the coeds coming to Hawaii for summer school to his show and it was all about having a good time. Don was a performer but more of a gamemaster, getting everybody into a group-sing, skits, and other hi-jinks.

Today, he makes no bones about his reputation. He will have a roomful of senior citizens and tell them "You probably heard about me from your mothers!"

It's no different from Branson, Missouri. Don is offering people (mostly seniors) a chance to glimpse the rollicking days of yesteryear in a senior friendly environment.

Yes, he does sign every autograph. Yes, his make-up is so heavy that I feared for its cracking.

But as an excursion into the past and a
view of how the senior generation amuses itself, this is it. Not too many other venues out there.

On the other hand, you can take MelissaHi's advice and go down to Don Ho's at the Aloha Tower Marketplace and
plug into the contemporary delivery of
his image.

To sum up, Don Ho is a legend, not because he was a Sinatra, but because so
many coeds from California, Washington, Colorado, and the like went to summer school at the University of Hawaii and
got to sing and dance at night after their surfing and ukulele lessons during the day. Those memories last forever.

Is Don Ho on your list of "to-do's in Hawaii?" If you do go to see him, at least you will be able to tell your grandchildren that you actually got to see the guy.
Lawrence Welk was never on my to-do list, but The Beatles were and they broke up, and now that half of the band is dead, a reunion isn't likely. Seeing Elvis in Vegas was on that same list. They say he's dead, but there's been those rumors so maybe there's still a chance for that.

Don Ho just underwent stem-cell treatment (somewhere in Asia) and probably won't be singing for awhile anyway.

If you tell your grandchildren you saw
Don Ho you are sure to be met with
puzzled stares. Seeing Elvis 6 months
prior to his death from a front row seat
ended it for me...he was fat and bloated and sweating like a pig.I've never been able to erase that memory.

My wife and son and I went to his show about a year ago. It was very good. I was expecting a plastic Elvis type show that I remembered him doing on tv when he was young.

We all enjoyed Don's show very much. He made us feel like we were sitting in his livingroom with him.

Why are people disgusted with him because he is aging? He is a true, fine entertainer.

I think Parade Magazine (in yesterday's newspaper) said that he's now performing again after the stem-cell treatment.

We went 3 years ago because my in laws wanted to go. My husband and I thought it was really cheesy but my in laws enjoyed it! He spent a good portion of the show hawking things, like his restaurant, Hoku's CD, and one of his other daughter's store.