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HAWAII Magazine reader Dorci Whittington writes:

In the early part of the ’90s, I went to see a dinner show at the Maui Tropical Plantation starring Buddy Fo. It was the most fun show I have ever been to. We went every time we were on Maui. When we came back and the show was no longer going, I only got blank stares when I asked about Buddy. I hope you can find some information. Is he still going strong and entertaining people?

At 75, Buddy Fo is still going strong.  We just talked to him on the phone.  He sounds great, and he and wife Sammi perform Monday nights at the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island.

Fo was tickled that you remember his Hawaiian cowboy show at the Maui Tropical Plantation, Dorci. It was just one step in a legendary career.

After World War II, Fo put together the Invitations, the first Hawaii vocal group to land a national recording contract. Their Liberty Records album, RSVP, was named by HONOLULU Magazine as one of the 50 Greatest Hawaii Music Albums.  Unfortunately, it’s no longer available. Here's what they looked like, in red shirts and white pants they bought from Liberty House.

After the Maui shows, Fo retired—only to be dragged out of retirement by his friend Don Ho. Fo’s memories of playing with Don are captured in the new biography, Don Ho: My Music, My Life.

Here’s a little bit of Fo’s sophisticated sound.

 

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We got a question from HAWAII reader Lisa Marie McCormick about road construction on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway on the Big Island.

My husband and I come back each year for a week or three. We stay at our time share in Waikoloa and travel into Kailua-Kona early to dive. On our January visit, the last eight miles between the airport and Kailua-Kona took over an hour. And that was at 6:30 a.m.!
 
I was told by some local friends that they already built a section wrong, and had to rip it up and start over. What is the timeline for completion, and how far will the construction reach?

First, the answer to the first half of your question, Lisa Marie: Unfortunately, not any time soon.

Widening the main highway into Kailua-Kona from Keahole Airport from two to four lanes was slated for two phases. Construction of the first phase—from Kailua-Kona to Kealakehe Parkway—began in July 2005. It was slated to end more than a year ago, in April 2007. After delays, state officials are saying it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas this year for completion.

The second phase of construction, from Kealakehe Parkway to Keahole Airport, could then begin as early as spring 2009, with completion—cross your fingers here—in spring 2011.

That's just under six years to build eight miles of road—two years more than it took to build San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

Your local friends were correct. According to a December 2007 West Hawaii Today story, a new section of the highway was torn up and laid again last year after the grade of a slope was built incorrectly.

After phase two of construction reaches the airport, then phase three begins—on the highway into Kailua-Kona from the south. 

But that’s a whole other traffic jam, Lisa Marie.

 

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HAWAII Magazine reader David Sand had a question about announcing a marriage in Hawaiian.

How do I write "I am pleased to announce the marriage of my daughter, (girl’s name), to (boy’s name)" in the Hawaiian language?

Of course, we queried one of the best authorities we know on the matter: Hawaiian language expert Puakea Nogelmeier. Frequent HawaiiMagazine.com visitors might be familiar with Nogelmeier’s voice. He’s the voice on our Web site’s “How Hawaiian Should Sound” page.

Nogelmeier’s answer on the wedding question?





To get it absolutely right, you would need a kahako—that short line above the “o” in no and the “a” in ia, otherwise known as a macron. The macron indicates a long or stressed "o" and "a" sound.

In any case, best wishes to the bride and groom (and parents) from all of us at HAWAII Magazine.
 
 

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Reader Joe McPherson is headed to Maui next week and had a question for us. What’s the best way to make arrangements in advance for golf tee times?

Simple. No matter which island is your destination, call the concierge of the hotel or resort you are staying at before you get there.

First, they’ll be happy to reserve tee times for you. More importantly, they’ll know the most convenient and best courses, costs and availability. They may even be able to find you special golf packages at the resort.

Also keep in mind that registered guests at nearby resorts almost always get the best rates. So if you're staying at, say, The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, your best bet is teeing off at Kapalua Resort.

Maui’s golf courses are among Hawaii’s best. Here are just a few recommendations:

Wailea Golf Club. Guests staying at resorts in south Maui's Wailea resort area get the best rates, but all three courses are open to the public. Book tee time here, or call (800) 888-6100, ext. 8. Click here for rates.

Kapalua Resort. Kapalua's two courses are world-renowned for hosting championship golf tournaments. The Plantation Course  hosts the PGA Tour season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in January; the Bay Course the Kapalua LPGA Classic in October. The resort won Golf Magazine's 2008 Gold Award for best value. Book tee time here, or call (877) 527-2582. Click here for rates.

Kaanapali Golf Resort. There are two courses here—The Royal Kaanapali and the Kaanapali Kai.  The Royal Kaanapali is one of only two courses in Hawaii designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. It's also the main location for the current season of the Golf Channel's reality series Big Break. Book tee time here, or call (866) 454-4653. Click here for rates.

Makena Golf Courses. Two courses—a North and South course—designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. 808-891-4000. Book tee time here, or call (808) 891-4000. Click here for rates.

 

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A couple of readers wrote, lamenting that they couldn’t attend Jack Johnson's Kokua Festival shows in Waikiki this weekend.

This is the fifth-annual go-round of Johnson’s music festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday at the Waikiki Shell. Johnson, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds  headline, with Mason Jennings and Hawaii acts Paula Fuga and Go Jimmy Go as support.

Tickets for the fest sold out mere hours after going on sale in February. We’re sad for our readers that, unlike previous years, this year’s concerts won’t be streamed live on the Web.

Ally Estrada of Wichita, Kansas, asked which music acts had played each Kokua Festival, and whether we thought attending next year was worth a trip to Hawaii.

Let's answer those two questions in reverse order, Ally.

We think exploring the scenic wonders, cultures, food, activities and everything else we have to offer in Hawaii is always worth a visit, period. However, as long-term residents, we may be biased.

You might also be swayed by the fact that all the cash (minus Ticketmaster fees) goes to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation—the nonprofit founded by Johnson and his wife Kim to support Hawaii-based environmental education programs.

Hope that helps, Ally.

The four words of advice you really need if you want to go to Kokua Festival 2009, tho?  BUY. TICKETS. RIGHT. AWAY. We're talking the-minute-they-go-on-sale.

We'll post the date as soon as we know.

And here’s the answer to your first question, Ally. Jack, no surprise, played every one of the fests.

Kokua Festival 2007
April 21 & 22 @ The Waikiki Shell
Eddie Vedder, Ernie Cruz Jr., Matt Costa, The Girlas

Kokua Festival 2006
April 19 @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center, April 22 @ The Waikiki Shell
Willie Nelson & The Planetary Bandits, Ben Harper, Henry Kapono, Paula Fuga & The One Love Ohana Band, Animal Liberation Orchestra

Kokua Festival 2005
April 13 @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center, April 16 @ The Waikiki Shell
Jackson Browne, John Cruz, Ozomatli, G. Love & The Special Sauce, Kawika Kahiapo & Kaukahi

Kokua Festival 2004
January 3 @ Blaisdell Arena (original location at Kualoa Ranch was rained out)
Amy Hanaialii Gilliom & Willie K, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Makana, DJ Logic

For more Kokua Festival information, click here.
 
 

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Reader Joy Jones asks about Jack Thompson, one of the last remaining residents in the Big Island’s lava-inundated Royal Gardens subdivision. Her main concern: Was Thompson OK, and was his home still standing?

She’d been watching Anthony Bourdain’s food travelogue No Reservations that aired Monday on Travel Network.  Bourdain visited Thompson at his B&B, “Lava House.” Over the last quarter century, lava flows have almost completely surrounded Lava House but have always spared it.

At the end of the segment, Bourdain mentioned, portentiously, that Thompson had been forced to evacuate Lava House when Kilauea flows entered Royal Gardens again in January.

Perhaps in search of a final line matching his usual flare for the dramatic, Bourdain concluded, “Pele finally settled the matter for good.”

Not so, said Jack Thompson himself, on a message left on my voice mail last night after I’d called to check on him and Lava House. He sounded as unfazed by the lava flow—a mile or so from his home, and currently not threatening it—as he did on Bourdain’s show.

“Everything’s fine up here in lava land,” said Thompson. “I consider this a very safe place. We don’t have a lot of the problems up here the rest of the world has. There’s never been a forest fire up here. There’s never been a mudslide or a flood.”

“With lava, you can just step out of the way,” he said, calmly.

Thompson then thanked us for our concern and hung up. Does this guy totally rock or what?
 
Check out news reports on Thompson's life near the lava flow from CNN here, and from Honolulu-based TV station KGMB here.

 

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Reader Joyce Beers wrote to us with a question about her beverage of choice when she’s in Hawaii: POG.

POG is a blend of passionfruit, orange and guava juices. Joyce read in HAWAII Magazine’s current issue that Guava Kai Plantation on Kauai had shut down, and wanted to know if POG  would be gone from Hawaii supermarket shelves the next time she visited.

Joyce, we’re happy to report that you’ll be able to drink all the ice-cold POG you want on your next Hawaii trip.

A spokesperson for Meadow Gold Dairies told us that the bottled-in-Honolulu beverage is the company’s top-selling nectar flavor. Hawaii residents snap up more than 1.3 million gallons of the stuff EACH MONTH.

On the Mainland, POG is limited to select stores in California, Oregon, Washington and, occasionally, Montana and Alaska. (Drop me an e-mail at derekp@pacificbasin.net if you want to know specific locations.)

Don’t live anywhere near those states? Send a request to Meadow Gold Dairies at info@lanimoo.com and they’ll be happy to give you the lowdown on shipping a non-refrigerated concentrate of POG to your door by mail. (Lani Moo, by the way, is Meadow Gold Dairies’ bovine mascot.)

Joyce’s query reminded us that although we live in Hawaii, we hadn’t consumed the bright orange beverage (originally bottled on Maui by now defunct Haleakala Dairy) in a long time. So we sampled a bottle.

Our reactions:

John Heckathorn: "This is exactly what the Islands taste like."

Derek Paiva: "I’m sad I don’t have an oceanside breakfast—Portuguese sausage, rice, eggs, fresh papaya—to go along with this."

Sherie Char was out of office and missed our POG tasting. She’ll be plunged in deepest gloom when she reads here that she missed it.

Anybody else out there love the POG?
  

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Reader Sharon Nehring-Willson from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, wrote with a question about traveling to the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island.

An avid hiker, she’s planning a trip to Hawaii with her family in March, and wanted to know if her 16-month-old daughter would be comfortable on the drive to the top of Mauna Kea.

No, says the staff of the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information Station on Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea’s summit is one of the few places in the world where folks can drive from sea level to 14,000 feet in two hours. Altitude sickness is common because air at the summit contains 40 percent less oxygen than air at sea level.

Staff at the visitor station—located at the 9,200 foot level—recommends that no one under the age of 16 travel past the center. The altitude change is too tough on developing bodies.

Other folks that should avoid the summit: pregnant women, anyone planning to scuba dive within 24 hours, and anyone in poor health or with a heart or respiratory problem.

One other note: The steep, graded gravel road beyond the visitor center is recommended for four-wheel-drive vehicles only. Most rental car agreements prohibit use of their vehicles on the road.

More information from the visitor information station is here. You'll find a great guide to the mountain, produced by the Onizuka Center, Mauna Kea: A Guide To Hawaii's Sacred Mountain, here.

For anyone who can manage a trip on a clear day or night, however, rest assured that the view from Mauna Kea's summit of the star-filled sky above and Earth below is worth it.

 

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HAWAII Magazine reader Lori Dziadon of Ohio, sent us an e-mail asking if we knew where to get some pineapple-frame glasses.

When it comes to pineapple, we couldn’t think of anyone else except for Tracy Johnson, Maui Pineapple Co.’s public relations manager.

She recommended a pair of cute pineapple-frame glasses, but says, “Personally, I like these!”

Yaemi Yogi (pictured above) sported a pair of pineapple-frame glasses at a breakfast on Maui honoring the last generation of pineapple cannery workers. Next to her is fellow retiree, Ann Igarashi, who worked for Maui Pineapple Co. for 43 years. This picture and story appeared in our Jan./Feb. 2008 issue.

Do you have an idea for the sequel to the pineapple-frame glasses?

  

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Reader Janice Taylor of Vernon Hills, Ill., wrote asking if Flumin’ Da Ditch was still doing tours on the Big Island.

The short answer: “At the moment, no.”

Flumin’ Da Ditch offered kayak tours down old Kohala Ditch water flumes, used originally by sugar plantations to transport freshly cut cane. The cane would be cut on higher elevation lands and tossed into the flumes, which would carry the cane downslope to sugar mills on the coast. The flumes fell out of use as large trucks became more prevalent to transport cane.

The kayak tours were a popular attraction, meandering through more than 16 miles of unsullied tropical rainforests and rivers. That is, until an October 2006 earthquake off the Big Island seriously damaged the flumes. Flumin’ Da Ditch shut down operations immediately.

The good news?

A trio of tour operators is currently at work repairing the Kohala Ditch flume, hoping to open it for tours again late this year.

“It’s gonna get going again,” said Diane Holcomb of Hummer Safari Tours, one of the three tour operators. “It’s just a matter of time.”

We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, Holcomb said she’d be happy to answer any inquiries. You can call her at (808) 889-6922.

Anybody out there ever flume da ditch with these folks?

UPDATE, 3/12/08: Work on restoration of the Kohala Ditch is also being completed by a number of Big Island individuals, businesses and organizations, many of them volunteering their services gratis. The Kohala Ditch Project Working Committee is projecting an October 2008 completion.