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Wood Craft Ben Wood |
Entertainers, many
friends help Melveen
mark birthdayMelveen "da Tita" Leed has loads of friends and about 150 of them showed up for her 61st birthday party at Honey's at Koolau Sunday. Kimo Kahoano, who co-emceed with Kanoe "Tootsie" Cazimero, wrote a song about Melveen and sang it as he introduced her. The cake had 16 candles on it instead of 61, which prompted a guy to yell, "Melveen, you got underwear older than that." Performers included Jimmy Borges, Eddie Kamae, Jay Larrin, Joe Recca, Ocean Kaowili, Imaikalani Young, Tito Berenobis and Glenn Pinho. The house band was Mike Kaawa and his group. Many will perform at a benefit Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Princess Kaiulani to raise funds for Melveen's medical bills. Mihana Souza arrived late and showered the birthday girl with rose petals, gave her a crown and magic wand and said, "The wand will grant your wishes." Melveen put the wand on her bosom and said, "Grow!" ...
Recording artist Mihana Souza has a full plate
Mihana and husband, Chucky Souza, are proud of their son, Napali, who graduated cum laude in Business Administration from Pepperdine University this summer. Mihana, Chuck and their other children -- Kalama, Mahina, Kamauli and Kapono -- are throwing a "Backyard Ohana Concert" in Napali's honor at their Kailua home July 30. Mihana, the Lady of Aloha, has a Thursday night gig at Duc's Bistro with guitarist Bob Young. Her guests last Thursday included Scrappy Olivieri Lipton, who gained fame years ago singing "Shells" with the Aliis on Don Ho's first album, "The Don Ho Show," in 1964. Scrappy sang "Shells" Thursday night, accompanied by her husband, Jenson Lipton, on the guitar. She danced "Waikiki" for him, too. Joy Abbott and Pili Lee Loy also danced hula ..."Hapa Haole Days -- Swingtime in Hawaii" will run tonight at 9:30 with Kirk Matthews as host. The show looks at the influence of big band music on Hawaiian swing and vice versa. Mihana, Borges, Gabe Baltazar, Genoa Keawe, Martin Denny, Noel Okimoto, Byron Yasui and Abe Weinstein will appear. The show will be repeated Sunday at 4:30 p.m. It's a warm-up for the Hawaii International Jazz Festival, founded by Weinstein, at the Hawaii Theatre July 30-31 ... Longhi's at Ala Moana marks its first year Saturday. Quadraphonix entertains, followed by DJs ...
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Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of people, places and things every Wednesday and Saturday. E-mail him at bwood@starbulletin.com