One day my mom was driving in Nashville, and all the traffic lights went red. That was the way local police handle something happening down the street. It was about 1954, and suddenly someone in a pickup truck commented, "It must be great mame, to have those Hawaii License plates." She actually knew who he was, as a local singer, but not as the national sensation he later became. She replied, "yes it's wonderful to be from Hawaii." Both talked for about half an hour, until the traffic lights cleared. People in the military got to register cars in their home State. I sometimes wonder about later movies such as "Blue Hawaii," and what kindles these ideas.
On March 25, 1961 Elvis did a concert in Hawaii raising funds. His promoter for the Arizona Memorial Project was a family friend. I used to think Tucker Gratz looked a lot like Art Linkletter, remembering his visiting my Grandmother's mansion on Sierra Drive on Oahu. He was taking my aunt out to dinner. Elvis raised a good chunk of it that Arizona Memorial. Mom talked to Elvis somewhere along the way when he was here, and remembering that earlier chance meeting in traffic years before must have been interesting.
It is some kind of Ghost movie how I never met Elvis. He later stayed at another aunt's house at Kahala Beach in 1973 for an entire month. April 4, 1973 was when he had the worldwide TV show at the Honolulu International Center. But it wasn't just Elvis who appeared in our lives in that location; try backstage with the Beach Boys, the Doors, all these bands.
That leads to another scene, meeting the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, right in the same week as the Beatles "we are no longer with him," announcement. Imagine the approach avoidance conflict here, in with the Beatles, out with Beatles, loving both, then having some sense of a weight of the whole world on your shoulders. In any case other bands and celebrities continued with the Maharishi. It was about Transcendental Mediation, something my parents found in 1967. Many celebrities came into play, oh I remember going over to Donavan's Hawaii house one time, when my mom drove over there. She knew everyone from traveling to those courses TM used to give. "Mr. Leech let us in," I said to one of the handlers. Anyway "Wear Your Love Like Heaven." All I cared about in all this was the music, because I can rock. Fame and meeting famous people has doesn't really float my boat, I wanted to jam! None of these stars seemed to care about jamming, except maybe Hendrix here in Hawaii at the "Art Park," where he walked guitar in hand and plugged into a local band, making it a super band. I’ve played to thousands of people locally, but not for years. College focused everything, while people in the band went their separate ways. Here is our band playing at Sandy Beach Oahu.
One of our fellow bands who played at the Sandy Beach, called "Sweet Rush," was the fortunate recipient of the above mentioned visit from Jimi Hendrix in another location, at the "Art Park." It was just another block north from where Jimi finished his paid concert. I think there are many stories about how Hendrix would jam with almost anyone. I think he heard the band playing and just went in there. That is the kind of spontaneity the world needs today, when sweet dreams became real.
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