This is Talk Story so I wanted to throw this in as a memory of my Ku'u home o Honolulu.
In the late 70's lot of Hawaii boys were coming back from Vietnam and SE Asia. My good friend Snake used to live behind Queens Hospital. When he got home after being in the jungles of Nam he got off the bus and went to his house. All those shacks in a populated area was mowed over and a new high rise sat on the lot. I had great memories of those days. Snake's mom used to speak Hawaiian and had a job at the new Cultural Center. We used to sing songs in the back yard and played all kinds of music. If you knew Snake (Imaikalani Kalahele) you knew he was an artist and built his own intruments. He played a nose flute and built a dulcimer from pictures in a book. Yet when this returning vet came home he could not find his house. Al Chingy Tringali made up the trio of us 3 musketeers. We used to hang around downtown Honolulu and Aala Park. I was in the mainland so Snake called Chingy up and said-"Eh brah! Where my house??!!!".
Chingy didnt know and had to go to look for Mrs Kalahele through the books. They found her in some housing project. It was so strange. So if you ever pass down through Honolulu and see all those big new buildings you might think of all the local people that used to live down there in simple little houses where a lot of music and Aloha evolved.
Al Chingy Tringali made up the trio of us 3 musketeers. We used to hang around downtown Honolulu and Aala Park. I was in the mainland so Snake called Chingy up and said-"Eh brah! Where my house??!!!".
You know Braddah Al's here on TaroPatch, yeah? Noeau here.
E dis guy was Toad in the day. We all was like and still are bruddahs. May be keoneyo will tell us of some adventures in Hollywood. Keoneʻs dad owned a music store so he had some nice guitars back then. he and Imai would play da kine real folk music. I learned about Robert Zimmerman from dem and Travis picking. Imaiʻs mother however was not in a project but she had one place above Kinaʻu street near the original Lincoln school. Across the way was one nuddah place wea had one mango tree. Sunday jams and philipino food at Dalisai aftah. Man dat was da days. It is good to hear from bruddah John.
Yeah I shouldnt have said "housing project". For some reason I thought she got moved out by the government and they helped her get a place. Yeah Chingy and Snake was like my older brothers. When I first came to Los Angeles to strike out on my own I didnt know a thing. I was 17. I went to join my union and they told me "Hey we got 5 guys already with your name. You cant use it.". So I thought and I thought. True John was pretty common as well as my last name. I remember my uncle Akana used to call me Keone cause my dads name was also John. I wanted an identity to show my Hawaii roots. So I called myself Keone and have used it ever since. I had to laugh because in those days people didnt know how to pronounce my name. They called me everything under the sun. Now we got a President named Obama and people like Queen Latifah and Chow Yun Fat people dont have that much problems with Keone. Gee I sure miss those "hana buttah days".
Eh where my house?
Posted - 03/05/2012 : 3:58:51 PM
