lurkah
April 21st, 2006, 10:55 AM
Construction mogul (Dwayne Steele) embraced Hawaiian culture (http://starbulletin.com/2006/04/21/news/story08.html)
Friends of Dwayne Steele loved to watch when the tall haole from Kansas would stand quietly among a group of Hawaiians speaking in their native language and, without warning, stun them by joining the conversation in fluent Hawaiian.
...when the late Iz Kamakawiwo'ole wanted to break out into a solo career, he (Steele) approached Jon de Mello of Mountain Apple Records and said he had two financial backers. Steele and (Oz) Stender put $25,000 into the project, which became Hawaii's only platinum album, "Facing Future."
De Mello said the two refused to take any profits from the recording, instead putting their share into a trust fund for Iz's daughter. The only mention of their contribution is in the liner notes with a "mahalo" to "The Wizard of Oz and the Man of Steele."
Friends of Dwayne Steele loved to watch when the tall haole from Kansas would stand quietly among a group of Hawaiians speaking in their native language and, without warning, stun them by joining the conversation in fluent Hawaiian.
...when the late Iz Kamakawiwo'ole wanted to break out into a solo career, he (Steele) approached Jon de Mello of Mountain Apple Records and said he had two financial backers. Steele and (Oz) Stender put $25,000 into the project, which became Hawaii's only platinum album, "Facing Future."
De Mello said the two refused to take any profits from the recording, instead putting their share into a trust fund for Iz's daughter. The only mention of their contribution is in the liner notes with a "mahalo" to "The Wizard of Oz and the Man of Steele."