Do It! Pro Bowl, Kumu Kahua, U.S.S. Missouri
—Courtesy photo
FRI. & SAT., JAN. 27-28
Celebrate the NFL’s all-star matchup with a host of events
NFL fever comes to Hawaii once again with this year’s Pro Bowl all-star game Sunday at Aloha Stadium. The night before, a humongous block party in Waikiki celebrates the game and the fans who flock to Hawaii to see it.
Several events, all free to the public, lead up to the game.
—Courtesy photo
Starting off is Sunset on the Beach, which begins at 4 p.m. today at Queen’s Surf Beach. Rolando Sanchez and his Latin band provide music, NFL cheerleaders and team mascots will appear, and the football drama “Remember the Titans” shows on an outdoor screen around sunset.
Pro Bowl Ohana Day is held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Both AFC and NFC teams will hold light practices, fans can meet their favorite players for autographs, and Pro Bowl entertainment will be previewed.
Entertainment at the Pro Bowl All-Star Block Party starts around 6:30 p.m. Saturday along Kalakaua Avenue, with food, drink and six stages of attractions. The avenue will be closed to traffic beginning at 5 p.m.
DJs will spin hip-hop at either end of the street party. Also on stage: a sports memorabilia auction benefiting the Special Olympics, and a sports show by local ESPN station KKEA 1420 featuring all-star players both past and present, including John Randle, Antonio Brown, Eric Dickerson, Calvin Johnson, Wayne Hunter and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Davone Bess, a former University of Hawaii Warrior.
— Gary Chun
PRO BOWL BLOCK PARTY ENTERTAINMENT
The breakdown for the Pro Bowl Block Party’s four entertainment stages:
» Mele ‘Ailana — Music of the Islands, fronting the Royal Hawaiian Center
6:40-6:55 p.m.: Halau o ke ‘A’ali’i Ku Makani
7:10-8 p.m.: Teresa Bright, pictured, and friends
8-8:10 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
8:10-9 p.m.: Sean Na’auao
9-9:10 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
9:10-10 p.m.: Kapala
» Island Party, in front of the Moana Hotel
6:50-7:50 p.m.: Micah G
8:05-9 p.m.: Mana’o Company
9-9:10 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
9:10-10 p.m.: Nesian N.I.N.E.
» Dancin’ in the Streets, in front of Hyatt Regency Waikiki
6:50-7:45 p.m.: Air Force Band of the Pacific
7:50-8 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
8-8:45 p.m.: Gyn & Melodie Soul with The Blue Light Funk Band
9-9:10 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
9:10-10:10 p.m.: Valez Sez
» Rockin’ Waikiki, between Uluniu and Liliuokalani streets
6:45-7:40 p.m.: Jay Keys Project
7:40-7:50 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
7:50-8:20 p.m.: Chase Dean
8:20-8:50 p.m.: special guests TBA
8:50-9:05 p.m.: Pro Bowl NFL cheerleaders
9:05-10 p.m.: Yoza, Jenn Wright and friends
—Courtesy photo
FRIDAY, JAN. 27-SATURDAY, FEB. 26
Raw coming-of-age tales brought to life on stage
The candid drama of writer Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s work has translated well to the stage for Kumu Kahua Theatre. Her novels “Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers” and “Heads by Harry” have been adapted, but not her groundbreaking debut collection of poems, “Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre” — that is, until now.
This production “is, in truth, is more of a kind of group effort,” said Kumu Kahua artistic director Harry Wong III. Wong, John Wat (who adapted the previous Yamanaka books with Keith Kashiwada) and members of the cast all collaborated in shaping the adaptation.
Described as a series of verse novellas, “Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre” tells the dramatic, sometimes brutal coming-of-age story of several girls, with all the candidness of the pidgin of “I tell you something. No tell nobody, OK?”
The play explores the girls’ experiences, and identity issues, family abuse, peer pressure and sexual awakening are considered from a local, feminine point of view.
“Somebody was asking me who is the audience for this play,” said Wong, “and even though the situations and pidgin language can get so raw and sharp, I believe it’s for girls of that age and their parents. I admit it takes an open-minded parent to bring their kid to watch this show, but I hope it will open up discussions. The play has all the strong scenes and adult language of the poems.”
The play re-creates the book’s episodic structure, along with mostly verbatim dialogue from Yamanaka’s poems, Wong notes. “Elexis Driane’s character serves as the narrator, and the other six girls in the cast (Lauren Ballesteros, Stephanie Keiko Kong, Moanililia Miller, Kelli Pagan, Maila P. Rondero and Danielle Zalopany) play out the other tita roles.” Alvin Chan and Shawn Anthony Thomsen round out the cast.
Where: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant St.
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 26 (no show Sunday, Feb. 5, due to Super Bowl)
Cost: $20 general and $16 seniors ($16 general, $14 seniors, $5 students and unemployed on Thursdays; students $5 on Fridays, and $10 Saturdays and Sundays)
Info: 536-4441 or kumukahua.org
—Courtesy photo
SATURDAY, JAN. 28
USS Missouri hosts bash for double anniversary
The USS Missouri has a double celebration this weekend, as it acknowledges the 68th anniversary of its launching and the 13th anniversary of its conversion into the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor, right next to the USS Arizona Memorial.
Saturday will be filled with band performances, educational activities, battleship game stations, a free battleship birthday party giveaway and a volunteer recognition ceremony that begins at 9 a.m.
“It’s a day to honor both our donors and volunteers,” said Michael A. Carr, the Missouri’s president and chief operating officer.
And with free admission for kamaaina that day, “we hope to encourage them to visit the ship because, frankly, we don’t get many” kamaaina visitors, Carr said. “We hope this makes it easy for them to come and visit the Missouri and other nearby historic sites.”
Recognizing the USS Missouri’s volunteer team is a key part of the celebration, Carr said. “We probably have a couple hundred volunteers on a regular basis. Some come as often as three times a week, especially those who help with renovation. And there’s help from some of the Navy command, who adopt certain spaces on the ship to clean and restore. It’s an ongoing and constant process under the supervision of trained staff to help with the preservation and restoration.”
At the celebration, a toast will be given at 1:04 p.m. — the time the USS Missouri was christened by Margaret Truman at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1944. The ship was also the site of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the allied nations on Sept. 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, officially bringing World War II to a close.
Where: Battleship Missouri Memorial, Pearl Harbor
When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
Cost: Free to kamaaina and military personnel, with standard admission of $22 general and $11 children 4-12
Info: 973-2494 or www.ussmissouri.org
TICKER: Tim Sweeney: DJ/host of the New York dance/electronic radio show “Beats in Space,” headlines at thirtyninehotel, 39 N. Hotel St., Saturday night. Details here.
