Midlife Crisis Hawaii

Since we listed Dance Moves on Monday’s blog entry, and with the 70′s Nightclub Reunion VIII coming up this Saturday, I thought we’d list some dance music.  Provide a link if you want to or just the title.  (remember, only 1 link per post or it’ll go into moderation).

Could be songs from dances – Nuuanu Y, Manoa Gym, Kaimuki Gym or nightclubs – Hula Hut, Magic Mushroom, The Point After, Tiki’s, Duke’s, Latin Villa, whatevers.

Here’s one that I remember from Nuuanu Y days:

Them Changes – Buddy Miles

Do you remember this one?

One Fine Morning – Lighthouse

My first ever slow dance at Nuuanu Y.  Sounds of Innocence played it (I believe):

If I Could Reach You – Fifth Dimension

Summer Sun – Jamestown Massacre

Colour My World – Chicago

And from Hula Hut days with Natural High:

Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Extended Version) – Tavares

Another Natural High classic:

Dreaming A Dream – Crown Heights Affair

You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine – Lou Rawls

On The Radio – Donna Summer

Funky Town – Lipps Inc.

Take Your Time – SOS Band

Okay, that takes you from the early 70′s to the early 80′s.  That’s about a decade of songs to come up with.  Now put on your memory caps and go list them.  Repeats are okay.  Put the link if you want.

Just getting in the mood for Saturday Night!

A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night at Hawaiian Brian’s, sally and friends were recalling old dance moves from the 60′s and the 70′s.  Sally was stuck on “the popcorn” (in fact she was still popcorning this past Saturday night).  Then she suggested maybe a MLC blog topic on old dance moves.  Hmm….

I know that back in the 60′s, there were a ton of those dance moves.  Which ones do you remember?  Or how about the 70′s?  Okay, let’s start out with an old classic:

The Twist:

Yeah!  That’s what I’m talking about!

The Mashed Potato:

The Loco-Motion:

The Hustle:

Saturday Night Fever:

btw, this is NOT how I dance at HB’s.  Sally on the other hand…

What dance moves do you recall from the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s?  The Watusi, The Bop, The Bump…

I’ll leave you with one from the 80′s performed by Hawaii ’72 in Las Vegas:

***

Now if you’re in the mood to dance, THIS SATURDAY!

Never did this on MLC.  How about a Friday post of jokes.  Dirty, clean, corny, stale – no matter.

Back when we had our social club, (this is NOT a joke – just some dialog to get the blog started) after the games and food, the girls wanted to dance.  Fast dance.  But us guys was too self-conscious about our dancing skills – or lack thereof – so we liked to tell jokes.

The girls would turn off the lights as a hint.  We’d turn them back on – as a counter-hint.  Eventually, they gave in and we spent the night telling jokes.

So here we go:

These 3 boys helped the neighbor lady clean her yard one day so the lady gave each of them a nickel.  They were so happy!  So they headed down to the store to spend it.
On the way there, the first boy said “I’m going to buy ice cream because ice cream tastes so good.”
The second boy said “I’m going to buy me a toy because it’ll last longer than the ice cream.”
The third boy said “I’m going to buy Tampax.”
The other 2 boys look at him and say “What dat?”
The boy replies “I dunno.  But on TV, it says with Tampax I can go swimming, horseback riding, movies…”

***

Question #1: Why did the elephant paint his balls red?
Answer #1: So he could hide in cherry trees.

Question #2: Did you ever see an elephant hiding in a cherry tree?
Answer #2: No?  That’s how good they hide.

Question #3: What do elephants fear the most?
Answer #3: Cherry-pickers.

***

This one is done better visually, but I’ll try to explain it.

This little boy just started kindergarten and walked to school everyday.  And he’d have to pass this whore house on the way to school.  The first time he walks by, he looks up and there is this lady standing at a window on the second story.  She makes a “shaka” sign with her hand, puts the tip of her thumb on the side of her head by her temple, wags her little finger and says “Hi, little boy”.  He looks confused and just keeps on walking.
Next day, the lady is there again in the second story window with her hand next to her head, wagging her little finger, saying “Hi, little boy”.
This goes on all through kindergarten.  And first grade.  And second grade, etc.  Everyday she’s there wagging her little finger and saying “Hi, little boy”.
So one day when the boy was in the sixth grade, after the lady wags her finger at him and says “Hi, little boy”, he asked her “Lady, how come from my very first day of school you greet me every morning wagging your little finger and say ‘Hi, little boy’ to me?”.
She points to her little finger and says “Because that’s the size of your pecker”.
The boy says “Oh.”
The next day, the lady is there and wags her little finger and says “Hi, little boy”.
The boy stops, looks up to her, opens his mouth, puts each of his index fingers into the side of his mouth, stretches his mouth open and says “Hi lady!”.

***

Okay, let’s hear some of your favorite jokes!

***
Don’t forget – it’s just a week away:

Well, most schools started this week.  Can you imagine if we had to start this early in the summer?!  We would’ve felt so ripped-off!  But that’s for another blog entry.

In the last thread, AnkleBYTERS mentioned that he remembered his 5th grade teacher’s name – Mrs. Brown.  And his 7th grade homeroom teacher was Mrs. Inamine.

That got me thinking – and trying to remember my grade school teacher’s names.  Time to strain my brain.

Kindergarten – No clue.

1st Grade – Mrs. Saito.  I didn’t like her.  I used to run out of class after my mother.    That is until I changed classes to another teacher.  I remember my mom said that Mrs. Saito called me a communist because I ran out of class during the Pledge of Allegiance.  Remember, this was during the 60′s.  LOL   I don’t remember what my new teacher’s name was.

2nd Grade – Mrs. Roberts.  She had gone to Disneyland the summer before and brought back the “It’s A Small World After All” record.  And she used to play it over and over again and make us sing with it.  Until one day it slipped out of her hand and broke.  This one guy, D.S. clapped.  He was the only one clapping that it broke.  She was pissed.  So pissed that she told the whole class to point at D.S.  Not knowing any better, the whole class pointed at him.  I swear I could see him shrinking in his seat.

3rd Grade – No recollection.

4th Grade – Miss Au.  Only because I found this picture on one of those classmates pages.

5th Grade – I don’t remember.

6th Grade – Miss Roland.  A petite Southerner from Texas who wore short dresses and had a Gidget hairstyle.  And lots and lots of rouge on her cheeks.

Now on to Intermediate school – let’s see if I can remember the teachers AND the class schedule.

7th Grade:
1st period/homeroom – Mrs. Akita (English)
2nd period – Miss Ishida (Social Studies)
3rd period – Mrs. Yamamoto (Art)/Mrs. Shige… (Music)
4th period – Miss Finke (Spanish I)
5th period – Mr. Cashman (PE)
6th period – Mr. Giles (Math)

8th Grade:
1st period/homeroom – Mr. Kodama? (Math)
2nd period – Mr. Schultz (PE)
3rd period – Mrs. Takamori (Typing)/Miss Devenot (Home Ec)/??? (Metal shop)/ ??? (Woodshop)
4th period – Miss Finke (Spanish II)
5th period – Miss Duncan (English)
6th period – Mrs. Erhorn (Social Studies)

9th Grade:
1st period/homeroom – Mrs. Fujinaga (Math?)
2nd period – Miss Finke (Spanish III)
3rd period – Mrs. Kanda (English)
4th period – Mrs. ??? (Social Studies)
5th period – Mr. ??? (Science)
6th period – Mr. Head (PE)

I’m not 100% sure on my class schedules.  I kinda went though process of elimination of which classes I did remember and filled in the rest as best I could.

As for high school, Hah!  Let’s see if I can even remember my homeroom teachers.

10th Grade – Mrs. Miyamoto – Last year of modular scheduling at Kailua High School.

11th Grade – Mr. Ching (Graphic Arts)

12th Grade – Miss Leimomi Something.  I just remember it was in a “portable” located by the football field and she always arrived late.

My brain kinda hurts now…

Your turn.

Can you remember your teachers?  Or something special about that certain grade/class/teacher?  If you want to mention college professors, that’s cool too.  Or librarians, cafeteria workers, custodians, counselors, etc.  How far back can you remember?

Since there were quite a few comments from Friday’s Teenage Heartthrob blog entry about Japanese singers, I thought I’d rerun this post from a couple of years ago – about what we used to consider J-Pop in our days.

***

Back in the day when I was a teenybopper, I used to turn to channel 13 on Wednesday nights and watch a Japanese top 30 music show – Besuto Sanjyuu Kayokyoku or Best Top 30 as we used to call it.

Living in Kailua, and having only analog TV, the Koolaus did a pretty good job at blocking out our signal.  But through the snowy picture, I watched my favorite Japanese singers.  How could you not love those kawaii girls.  I was hooked.  I immediately went to Shirokiya and bought some of the albums.  Even went as far as subscribing to Myojo magazine.  Once a month I’d catch the bus to Hakubundo on Smith St. to pick up my copy.  Even though I couldn’t read Japanese, I just loved looking at the pictures.  I don’t have any Myojo magazines that I’ve kept, but I still have my albums – and a portrait.

One of my first Japanese singers that I liked wasn’t even Japanese.  In fact, although she sang Japanese songs, she didn’t even  speak the language.  This was a Chinese girl named Agnes Chan.  Not only Japanese songs, but she also sang English songs too.  Some of my friends couldn’t stand her high pitched, nasally voice, but I enjoyed it.  I even have some of her records to prove it.  She acted in a Chinese movie that we saw at Empress theater.  Or was it older than that and we saw it at Liberty theater?  Anyway, I have a couple of videos that I’ve included further down in the blog entry.

Another top Japanese singer that I followed was Asaoka Megumi.  If you recognize the name, then I’m sure you’ll remember her hit song that I’ve included a video of.  I don’t even know the proper title of the song.  I just call it “Hidarikiki”.  And not only did I go out and purchase a few of her albums, I even bought a black and white portrait of her.  You might say I was a Megumi fanboy.

And my most kawaii Japanese singer was Asada Miyoko.  I didn’t realize how tiny and petite she was until my friend and I went to the Nippon theater to see her at a live appearance.  I believe she was promoting a movie but we were there just to see her in person.  I was too shy to get the autograph.  One one of her albums is a medley of children songs that she sings.  Listening to it took me back to small, small kid time – when my aunties used to bribe us with candy if we’d sing one of the children songs for them.  I’ve included it in the end of this blog.  Take a listen to it and see if you can recognize or even remember the words to a few of the songs.

But let’s not forget the other popular singers of that era.  There was a mixed Filipino/Japanese singer that some of my friends fell in love with.  Her name was Saori Minami.

And I didn’t forget the male singers for you fangirls.  Do you remember Saijo Hideki?  How about the feminine Go Hiromi?  I’ve got their videos too.

And finally, during that time, the Jackson 5 and the Osmond Brothers were making it big in the U.S.  Well, Japan had their version of the Jackson 5 back then too.  I’m sure you recall the boy singer with the big round glasses leading the group: Finger Five!  Yes, I have a Finger Five video too!

So, let the show begin!

First off, my favorite Asaoka Megumi song:

Don’t you just love her haircut with the “chops”?

Next we have Asada Miyoko singing Akai Fuuse:

I believe this song has something to do with a Red Balloon
Isn’t she so cute?

Agnes Chan singing Hinagashi No Hana.

Did I mention Saori Minami?

No wonder my friends liked her.

Now, something for the girls.  Saijo Hideki:

Go ahead and scream, Girls.  You know you want to.

How about some Go Hiromi:

Bet you girls still want to scream.

And now (drum roll) – Finger Five!

Remember those glasses?

And as I promised, here’s the Children Medley by Asada Miyoko:

Can you recognize some of these songs from small kid time?

I love watching these old videos – admiring their pretty looks, the clothes, the hair styles, and the choreography.

Did you used to tune in to KIKU “terabi” on Wednesday evenings to watch Best Top 30?  Who were your favorites?  And did you go out and buy the records?  And did you recognize any of the Children songs in Miyoko’s Medley?

Last week on the news I saw all the people standing in line for tickets for some dude named Justin Bieber.  Who’s that I wondered.  So at our Friday Family dinner, I asked my 16 year old niece “You ever heard of Justin Bieber?”. She quickly replied “Oh Yes!  And I have tickets for his concert!”.

I thought that maybe at 16 years old, she’d be over the teenybopper stage, but it looks like she’s right at the pinnacle of it.

That got me thinking – Who was my teenage Heartthrob?

Wait.  Heartthrob isn’t the right word for us guys to use.
Fantasy?  No.
Hot Chick?  Uh-uh.
Babe?  Yeah, we’ll fly with Babe

So, who was my teenage Babe?

Well, when I was into J-Pop back in the day, I liked Asada Miyoko.  She was so “kawaii”.  And Megumi Asaoka.

Then there was Olivia Newton John.  I loved her sweet, country look and her wispy voice.  I tried to collect all her albums.

Remember Charlies Angels?  Everyone liked Farrah Fawcett, but me, I liked Kate Jackson.  Even from the days before Charlies Angels when she was the nurse in The Rookies.  She had a little Asian look to her.  Similar to I Dream of Jeannie.  But I wasn’t just hot for Asian looking Babes.  When Cheryl Ladd appeared on Charlies Angels, I thought she was hotter than Farrah Fawcett.

I could’ve sworn I had this poster up in my room.

Then there were the super-models: Cheryl Tiegs and Christie Brinkley.

Okay, that’s enough from me.  How about you guys?  Who were your Teenage Babes?

And you girls, who were your Teenage Heartthrobs? : Shaun or David Cassidy, Scott Baio, Donny Osmond, Peter Tork, Davy Jones?

***
Party Time: MLCer Ynaku will be coming to town for a short stint so we’re planning to pah-tay on Aug. 10th at the new Side Street Inn on da Strip.  We need 30 people to get the back room, so who’s in?  I say we get the 30 people easy.

***
And only 2 more weeks until the 70′s NCR VIII.  Check this out:

Yesterday, I took daughter #1 to get her driver’s permit.  While I was sitting and waiting for her to take her written test at the Kalihi/Palama station, I was observing all the people around – and there were a TON of them.

Most of the people waiting around were waiting to take their road test.  As the examiner would come out and call their name, they’d nicely – and I mean NICELY – greet their examiner.  Even open the door for them.  You could tell they were nervous.  Then when they returned, you could tell that they passed by the big smile on their faces.

Then I started thinking back to when I got my driver’s permit (remember, that’s when I found out the TRUE date of my birthday).  I had my driver’s permit for 3 months, then took my test at the Kaneohe police station.  But see, I knew the route and had practiced it a few times – and knew where the “gotchas” were.

For one, along the route there is a fork in the road and the examiner told me to take the left at the fork.  The double solid lines extended pretty far and people often failed when they turned off too early and crossed the double solid lines.  I knew not to turn until I passed the end of the solid double lines.

Then there was the hill that the examiner made me park on the side and since I was facing uphill, I made sure I turned my wheels to the left so if the car should roll back, the tires would bump the curb.  That was “gotcha” number 2.

Luckily, the examiner didn’t make me parallel park.  Whew!

When we returned to the station, I was told to park in front of the sign and go inside to get my picture taken for my license.  I could only imagine that I too had a big smile across my face as I walked into the station.

Actually, I was practicing my driving even before I had my permit.  We used to go to our church every Thursday afternoon at about 5 pm to clean it.  I’d get done early and while my dad was finishing up, I used to drive his car around the parking lot – back and forth, back and forth.  Sometimes, my friend JS used to ride his bike down to the church to meet me and ride with me, going back and forth, back and forth.  But he didn’t care because he was “cruising” with me.

This one time when I was going to stop after going back and forth, back and forth, I shifted the car into park before the car came to a complete stop.  It jerked the car – you guessed it: back and forth, back and forth.  And my dad saw that and gave me a good yelling.

And even after I got my driver’s license, my dad made me take Driver’s Education or Driver’s Ed as we used to call it.  It was so I could get a break on my insurance cost – but it didn’t really matter because with the installment of “No Fault” insurance, they did away with that discount.

Plus, my dad wouldn’t let me drive alone for almost a year after I had my license – until I bought my own car.  Actually, it was his old Dodge Swinger – the one I used to drive in the church parking lot – back and forth, back and forth.

And he said to me “If you get one speeding ticket, I’m taking away your license until you’re 18“.

That threat stuck with me.  When we used to drive to town to go movies or socials, when we’d hit the residential area in Nuuanu where the speed limit went from 45 to 35 (and was a known speed trap), I used to drive at 35 mph.  Cars used to pass me all the time, but my dad’s threat haunted me – even to this day.

So now daughter #1 asked me to take her driving.

Anyone know of any empty church parking lots where she can go back and forth, back and forth?

What are your driver’s permit/driver’s test memories?  Did you take Driver’s Ed?  Did you past your driver’s test the first time?  Where did you practice driving?  How did your kids learn to drive?

Check this out:

Photo courtesy of Rob@96744

I always wanted on of these – Schwinn Krate series – especially for the stick shift.  Ironically, these bikes were discontinued when they were deemed unsafe because of the stick shift.  But check out all the cool features!

The Schwinn Krate series bikes consisted of the:

• Orange Krate
• Apple Krate
• Pea Picker
• Cotton Picker
• Lemon Peeler
• Gray Ghost

That is some collection, Rob!  Awesome!  Thanks for letting me use your picture.

I remember my first bike was a hand-me-down junkalunka.  Frame, tires, seat, handlebar and that’s it.  No chain guard, no sissy bar, no fenders.  Just a plain old rusty bike.

Then I saw the Krate series.  Oooh, I want, I want!  But alas, cost too much so I had to settle for a brand new Sears stingray.  Not that I’m complaining because when you’re a kid, any NEW bike will do.  So on my birthday, my mom took me shopping and I ordered a stingray from Sears.  I don’t recall the name of it but I do remember that it was purple.  It had the curved up rear fender and fat “slicks” back tire like the Schwinn Krate bikes.  But the cross bar (where the Krate’s shifter is) wasn’t a single bar but instead, two skinnier bars running parallel to each other.  And it was elongated so the bike looked longer.  Single speed.

It came with a banana seat and a tall sissy bar that extended way above the seat – high enough that I could lean my head back and rest it against the sissy bar.  It looked something like this (but without the shifter and handbrakes):

First thing I did was take off the tassels from the hand grips.  Then eventually, the battery powered light mounted on the goose-neck handlebars was removed as well as the round reflector mounted on the sissy bar.

I would “wheelie” that bike all the way down Hooulu street – that’s a full block!

That bike had quite a workout from me.

Then when I got into my “tweens”, it was time for another new bike for my birthday.  This time I wanted an “English Racer”.  The 10-speed kine.  So we headed to Eki Cyclery in Ala Moana Center and I got myself a root-beer colored Schwinn Varsity.  Looked something like this:

I finally had a bike with gears!  I used to wake up in the morning and ride that bike a couple of miles to Aikahi, then back home – just to play with all 10 speeds.  Then my brother would take it for a spin.  When he returned, I was right back on it riding to Aikahi again.  I even used to ride it to work when I worked at Windward Volkswagen – mostly because I didn’t have a car then.

I remember soon after I got it, my friend (losthawaiian) also go one too.  Then he took on a newspaper route.

Ever tried to deliver newspapers from a 10-speed?  Remember how there used to be those canvas newspaper bags that hung neatly on goose-neck handle bars?  And you’d store all your papers in the bag.  Well, those bags didn’t work on English Racers.  I think he used to balance the stack of papers on the bike’s cross bar until he eventually bought one of those canvas bags that you put over across your shoulder to hold the newspapers.

Hey, losthawaiian!  Do you remember?

Do you remember what kind of bikes you had growing up?  Stingrays were the in thing back then.  How about an English Racer?  And what about you girls?  A pink stingray with the white vinyl woven basket with the pretty flowers on them?  Or did you get your bother’s hand-me-downs?

An MLC regular emailed me a birthday greeting and posed an interesting question to me and I thought it would make for a good blog entry, so with his blessing, I’m sharing it with you folks:
***
So let me ask you this.  Are you happier now at age 52 than you were at age 22?  Or is being younger better?  Most guys I’ve asked said being in their twenties is a whole lot better than being in their fifties.  How do you think Paula would answer?  I haven’t asked as many women but every single one has said they are happier now than when they were in their twenties.  Why the gender disparity?  I suspect it has something to do with people’s expectations of us, as well as expectations we impose on ourselves.
***
First of all, when someone asks me something about when I was a certain age, the first thing I do is convert it to which year it was.  Maybe because age is just a number to me and I recall events by the year.

So, when I was 22, that would’ve been 1980.  That was what I would label my “Rebound Year”.  Just the year before, I had been coming off a 2 year relationship.  My parents had just gotten divorced.  My friends had all moved away for school or military, and I had just started a part time job as an evening computer operator – a job that I worked all by myself.  I was lonely and very depressed.  Back then, we would say that I was “in the pits”.

Then in the spring semester of 1980, I met a guy at KCC and through him I met a lot of the Point After regulars.  Then one of my childhood friends moved back home from Maui and I had my surfing and nightclub buddy back.  I made a 180° turnaround and was now enjoying life.  I was comfortable with my job while wrapping up school, surfing on the weekends, nightclubbing on Saturday nights, sweating out the alcohol playing volleyball at the beach on Sundays.  And I had a ton of friends – both guys and girls.  Life was good.

But was being in my twenties better than being in my fifties?

Honestly, no.

Yeah, it was fun back then, but my life was “empty”.  I just lived for each day back then.  And somewhat recklessly.  “Life in the fast lane” is how I used to refer to it.  It had no meaning.  It was just play, play, play.

But what I have now in my fifties is stability.  And fulfillment.  I have a terrific wife, 2 beautiful daughters, a home, working on the job part , and a ton of friends. <— that’s all of you MLCers!  And I still go dancing on Saturday nights!

Would I want to give it all up if I could relive my twenties?  No way.  My values and priorities today are much different than they were back then.  And plus, my body wouldn’t be able to keep up.  “Life in the fast lane” is now “Life in the cruise-control lane”.

Maybe it’s a guy thing to say that life in the twenties was better than life in the fifties.  But when you really think about – deep down inside you – and look at where you are today, I think a majority of the people would be happy to remain right where they are today.

“Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.”

What’s your take on this?

***

And speaking of dancing – don’t forget that the 70′s Nightclub Reunion VIII is coming up in about 3 weeks!  Make your reservations soon!

Woo Hoo! – I’m Fifty Two!

Yep, today is my birthday.  But it wasn’t always on the 21st.  Huh?

Many of you probably heard this story before, but for the newer readers, I’ll share this story with you.

See, my birthday used to be on July 20th.  Or so I was told.  That is until I turned 15 and went to get my driver’s permit.  I submitted my form and the lady behind the counter said that I wrote down the wrong birth date.  I said “No, July 20th”.  And she said “Look at your birth certificate – it says July 21st”.  Mind you, this was the first time I ever saw my birth certificate.  I looked at my mom and she said “I dunno.  Hard to keep track of 4 boys you know”.

So, for 15 years I celebrated my birthday a day early.

But then again we weren’t big on birthday celebrations growing up.  About the only thing was that the birthday-boy got was to choose what he wanted for dinner.  My dinner of choice was pork chops.  The fried kine with only salt and pepper.  Mmm…  Little bit of ketchup and some Tabasco sauce and I was good to go.

And of course, the birthday-boy got to choose what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  I always picked the orange chiffon cake.  The kine with the butter frosting with little bits of orange zest in the frosting and the cake.  Come to think of it, I don’t see that kind of cake around nowadays.  If I remember correctly, I think Bakery Kapiolani used to sell it.  But sadly, Bakery Kapiolani is just an MLC memory.

Then when I got older (married), my choice of cake was the Rainbow cake from Dee Lite bakery.

It’s piled high with 3 kinds of chiffon cake: lime, guava, and passion fruit.  And whipped cream between each layer.  Then a guava sauce on top, more whipped cream, and sprinkles!  Yes, sprinkles.  It is the quintessential cake, IMHO.  But somewhere along the line, the price bumped up to around $20 for the cake.  A little bit out of our price range for cakes.  Maybe after I land a job, we’ll celebrate with a Rainbow cake. 

How did you celebrate your special day growing up?  Home cooked dinner of choice?  Or maybe a favorite restaurant?  And what was your choice of birthday cake?  It it still your favorite cake or have you moved on to something else like I have?