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The title of the album is "When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear," and it describes the concept -- a collection of classic hits redone by artists of radically different genres, like The Fixx remaking Nancy Sinatra's No. 1 hit, "Theses Boots Were Made for Walking," or Devo deconstructing Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's classic "Ohio." Don Ho expands range
with rock song remakeBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comOr, Don Ho singing Peter Gabriel's early hit, "Shock the Monkey."
"Cevin Soling called and asked if I'd record a number. My son, K-Boy, said go ahead and do it," Ho said last week as word of the album was percolating through the national record industry.
"I take a lot (of advice) from my kids for some of these dumb things that don't fit me or that don't really make sense for me to do. The kids usually tell me, 'Go for it, Dad' and I did.
"It wasn't easy because I'm not used to singing that kind of song but we got it done and we've been getting calls from all over the country.
"I'm very surprised you guys are taking time to talk about it."
The arrangement rocks -- in a world music meets lounge rock sort of way -- and in style is unlike anything Ho has ever recorded. Ho's distinctive approach as a song stylist puts Gabriel's classic in a totally fresh perspective.
"There's only one way I can sing -- let it out and good luck," Ho said.
Ho's good-natured foray into rock isn't the first time he's stepped outside the hapa-haole/pop repertoire that first made him famous almost 40 years ago. He made his acting debut in 1996 when he played a New York City slumlord, Alberto Bianco, in "Joe's Apartment."
The director of the film had contacted him, asked if he'd like the role, and sent him a video clip of the animated cockroaches that would be an important part of the story. As with "Shock the Monkey," he asked his kids what they thought about it. They approved, and Ho spent two weeks playing a slumlord in New York.
And, although "Shock the Monkey" is another "first" for Ho in the rock genre, it isn't the first time he's stepped outside his standard repertoire. That may have been when he recorded "Who is the Lolo (Who Stole the Pakalolo)" -- or, possibly even when he was allegedly tricked into recording "Tiny Bubbles," a song that had nothing to do with Hawaii until he recorded it with additional Hawaiian lyrics.
Lest the idea of Don Ho singing "Shock the Monkey" seem a stretch, producer Soling initially pitched him The Prodigy's "Firestarter," as sung by John Lydon, formerly known as The Sex Pistols' lead singer Johnny Rotten. It's been called a scary track dealing with pyromania, with the chorus, "I'm a firestarter, t-wisted firestarter."
Ho said he liked the tune but passed after considering the lyrics.
WHATEVER THE reviews may be -- good, bad, or indifferent -- Ho is having a busy year for a guy who describes himself as "retired from work" since 1959 (the year he resigned his commission as an Air Force pilot and returned to Hawaii). He's looking forward to recording an album with daughter Hoku.
"I'm really, really into it right now, doing a lot of research, and I want to do it so we really show Hoku's sweet voice with Hawaiian music and all kinds of different stuff. She can do a variety of different types of singing ... and she does have a sweetness about her style.
"We'll make it simple and beautiful. I always believe that it's the song -- not the fancy stuff that you do with it, it's just the song."
Ho continues to headline the Waikiki Beachcomber. He says business has been steady and that the 8:15 show time has proven popular. He entertains Sunday through Thursday and maintains his long-standing policy of letting his musicians have weekends free.
Now he's ready for some other fun projects.
"I'm really a jazz singer but I don't even go there (at the Beachcomber), because people get disappointed if you don't do what they want.
"We gotta make the audience happy. But I like to sit down and do stuff just for fun. I don't care if anybody buys it or not, I think I should do some things I like before I kick the bucket. Do some jazz, some blues, some rock 'n' roll."
He'd also like to see Hoku have a club that would be her base here.
"My real fun thing to do in a few years if I could pull it off, maybe six or seven years, whatever, is to be able to have Hoku have her own place. Every time she has a break (on the mainland) she can come home -- like I did for years and years.
"If the hotels don't hire and don't pay you make your own joint. That's the secret, I think, and I try to tell all the other kids. You gotta find a place where people can find you.
"Maybe she'll have "The Hoku Ho Show featuring Dad."
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