Re: What happened to local music?
It should be said that corporate ownership of radio and the strict playlists that stations must adhere to has led to the virtual extinction of regional pop hits throughout the nation. If you look at any surviving local top 30 or 40 leaflets that radio stations used to hand out in record stores during the 1960s and '70s, chances are you'll find the listing to be peppered here and there with homegrown acts who never achieved national stardom. Or there were the occasional flipside of a bigtime act that catches the fancy of a certain town, but never really caught on with the rest of the country. That is all a thing of the past, for the most part.
Very true what you say about Johnson. But not every performer from Hawaii wears their hometown on their sleeve. Let me explain.
I have a friend from childhood who had the opportunity of going to the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts. (This is the school that is portrayed on the movie/TV show Fame.) Very talented dancer and singer. But she admitted to me that she while she didn't hide it, she also didn't go out of her way to advertise the fact that she was from Hawaii. It wasn't because she was ashamed of where she came from. But as someone who aspired to go as far as she could in the entertainment world, she quickly learned that being known as someone from Hawaii pidgeon-holed her in other people's minds and she found it very limiting. "Oh, you're from Hawaii? Can you do a little Hula for us?"
It's a very sad situation when aspiring performers from Hawaii go through experiences where their place of origin can actually be a hindrance in their drive for success. Hopefully, attitudes on the mainland have changed and people there realize that, yeah, in Hawaii, there are folks whose performing talents are just as good (if not better) when it comes things like ballet, jazz dancing, etc. We don't just produce Polynesian entertainers.
Here's a "What If" for everyone here to think about. In the days when the Hawaii radio stations were free to give boosted airplay to a local band or singer trying to make it in the bigtime, how much of a difference could it have made to the recording careers of Hoku Ho, Tenderoni, or even Jasmine Trias?
Originally posted by mel
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Originally posted by mel
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I have a friend from childhood who had the opportunity of going to the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts. (This is the school that is portrayed on the movie/TV show Fame.) Very talented dancer and singer. But she admitted to me that she while she didn't hide it, she also didn't go out of her way to advertise the fact that she was from Hawaii. It wasn't because she was ashamed of where she came from. But as someone who aspired to go as far as she could in the entertainment world, she quickly learned that being known as someone from Hawaii pidgeon-holed her in other people's minds and she found it very limiting. "Oh, you're from Hawaii? Can you do a little Hula for us?"
It's a very sad situation when aspiring performers from Hawaii go through experiences where their place of origin can actually be a hindrance in their drive for success. Hopefully, attitudes on the mainland have changed and people there realize that, yeah, in Hawaii, there are folks whose performing talents are just as good (if not better) when it comes things like ballet, jazz dancing, etc. We don't just produce Polynesian entertainers.
Originally posted by mel
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