Don Ho has passed on.

Don Ho passed away today. Light a torch for the man.
Aloha Don.

RIP Mr. Ho!
Say Hey to Elvis!

there aint no last call at the great tiki bar in the sky!!!

aloha ho!!!

sw

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Damn...sad note for a rainy day in Georgia.

[ Edited by: Swamp Tiki 2007-04-14 18:11 ]

My first dose of what was hip. Courtesy of may late gandma.

RIP Mr Ho. You were the coolest.

sux.

i hate myself for not seeing him when i was in honolulu. :(

Just today I was looking in a Hawaii travel book and making plans to see him in Honolulu. I have had the honor of him buying me a drink in a Waikiki bar. He had a super young wahine on his arm. Hele on, Don!

Gosh, I hadn't thought about Don Ho in a while and this just startled me.

One of the great entertainers.

RIP

ouch...
Aloha, my friend.

Truly sad news - so glad we got so see him live.
Hawaii will miss him

Truly sad news...I had the pleasure of seeing him several years ago. He will be missed.

Rest In Peace Don

Very sad news. I had the chance to see him several times and it was always a highlight on my trips to the islands.

I will suck one up for you! Aloha Don.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/arts/music/15ho.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The passing of a legend.

RIP and thanks for the great music.

Since I heard the news tonight I've been wondering if I should retire my TC username in tribute or keep it in tribute. Any thoughts?

Today I arrived in Waikiki, looking forward to seeing Don Ho on Sunday. What a shock I had when I turned on the TV in my room.

Very sad news. :(

Holly was very, very upset when she heard the news a short time ago. He had such a big heart. Always time and plenty of Aloha for everyone. Was always great to see him, but so glad now we made the 1 night trip from Maui to Waikiki just to see The Don this past August. Of course we were hoping Don would be around for many more years to come...but I would be lying if I didn't say we both sorta had that sinking feeling we might be seeing him for the last time.

But so, so glad we did make the trip, and had a wonderful time as always.

Aloha Nui, Don. We're gonna really miss 'ya.

I've never seen him in person, never met him.

If nobody minds, I'm going to pretend he's still alive and performing nightly.

Thank you Don Ho.

In a strange coincidence, I had an urge to take along "Don Ho 30 Hawaiian Favorites" CD to work with me today and was playing it in the shop at the time of his passing, unknown to me until this evening when I turned on the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo and they paid tribute to him.
He hadn't been well the past few years, but performed right up until Thursday night in Waikiki. An icon, for sure!

Sad loss indeed. :(

May I suggest the following......

This Tuesday, April 17, at 9 pm of your local time zone, pour yourself a cocktail and put your favorite Don Ho album on the hi-fi and drink a toast to the memory of one of the greatest entertainers of our time. Invite as many of the o'hana to join you as you can. If you are close enough and can get enough people, gather your local o'hana at one of the great Tiki temples (Tiki-Ti, Mai-Kai, your own lounge/home bar, etc..) and have everyone raise a glass.

TC spans most of the time zones of the world so this is an opportunity to have a moving, near 24 hour tribute to the man and his legacy.

I was lucky enough to see Don Ho in 1984 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Dome in Honolulu. He was still a young man, full of smiles, jokes and songs well sung. His audience was cattle, herded into a geodesic abattoir of hapa haole and champagne music five times a day. But he was fresh. And he loved what he was doing. And he mesmerized us with his star quality.

Raise your Mai Tai glass to yet another fallen Tiki God. Mahalo, Don and Aloha.

On 2007-04-15 07:25, Ukulare wrote:
I was lucky enough to see Don Ho in 1984 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Dome in Honolulu. He was still a young man, full of smiles, jokes and songs well sung. His audience was cattle, herded into a geodesic abattoir of hapa haole and champagne music five times a day. But he was fresh. And he loved what he was doing. And he mesmerized us with his star quality.

Same here! We saw him at the Hilton Dome (when we were kids it was called the "Kaiser Dome") many times in the 1980's. I think we even saw him there in 1978. It was pretty much the major touristy thing to do back then...and was heavily marketed. But as you said, he was always fresh and I don't think anyone ever left regretting their decision. :)

My wife and I are truly sad to hear about the passing of Don Ho. In 1979 my parents and I had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing him in concert along with The Society of Seven. It was my first trip to Hawaii and my first luau. The great thing about that trip is was the start of my love for all things Tiki. My family used to take me to Kono Hawaii Restaurant and to Disneyland and see their luau show. What great memories. I'm glad we took plenty of photos and purchased lots of souvenirs so we can still enjoy all the great times we had as a family.

Mahalo,

Tikitatt

strange day yesterday. i bought 21 mugs yesterday. wierd

I only saw him on T.V. as a Teenager but I remember how smooth and classy him and his sound were(and are)..when I learn how to post photos , there's a favorite of mine on page 94 of Gavan Daws "Hawaii 1959-1989".....anyone help here?

Don Ho.......I will be toasting your memory on the 17th with a smile and a tear

He lived so long becuase it took them this long to get his eternal lounge prepared.
It'll be a great duet with him and Martin Denny...

How ironic. I read the news in my Sunday paper this morning while sipping a bloody mary from my Tiki Farm Don Ho "Suck 'em Up" glass. Aloha Don. Fair winds and following tides brah.

Hey DH!

Give JB a hi- five!

RIP Brudda!!

We saw him 3 years ago and he was fantastic. I was saddened to hear the news yesterday. I had hoped I would get to see him in august when we were heading back to Hawaii.... We will toast him for sure, he is one of the reasons I love tiki and hawaiian music.....sad

Amy

The entertainment at the luau on the 'otherside' just got bumped up a few stars.

Rest in Peace,

Brad 'Beachcomber' Owens

P.S. Ben, that was awesome JB and Mr. Ho? Awesome.

BO

Don Ho's souvenir program says it all...Aloha-The Fabulous Don Ho!

Here's to you Don! Aloha!

PTD

[ Edited by: Psycho Tiki D 2007-04-15 12:51 ]

'The Big Luau in the Sky' has one more great performer. What a show it must be!!
R.I.P. Don Ho!

[ Edited by: Pepe le Tiki 2007-04-15 17:58 ]

Back in 2000, the Travel Channel's Samantha Brown ("Great Hotels" and some other travel series) had an episode of her island series "Girl Meets Hawaii" called "Hawaiiana" (about Hawaii collectibles and merchandise)...and near the end of the show she did a short bit on Don. I know some people don't like Samantha Brown and think she's too silly or something...but I uploaded the segment to YouTube, as I think what little there is of actual Don in it, is rather good at conveying his general great spirit. So especially for those that might never have seen footage of Don or footage of him in his later years...here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZIG9BnTJdM

:)

It's been forever since I commented here, but I saw the sad news and felt I had to come back at least once. We'll always have his music and example to follow, but that is scant comfort today.

Did

anyone

have

Mimosa's

today??

I, too, had just purchased some extra Suck 'em Up glasses at the Tiki Farm sale; very sad & surreal to come home and find the news. I had actually just sent someone an email saying I was able to get some more of the glasses, and saw the little headline immediately after hitting "send."

Very thankful that I was able to see him for a second time at the Beachcomber just two months ago. You could see that the health problems were taking a toll, but he was still Don. Mahalo, Mr. Ho. I'll remember you.

Hey Don,
You better not suck 'em all up, until we get up (or down) there!

Wow...man...that's too much. An American original.

I'm upset that I was never able to see him perform. The one time that I was in Waikiki with a reservation for his show, he flew out to Orange County for some reason.

A true legend and a hell of a singer. You'll be missed Don.

I didn't get to see him when I was in Oahu, as we were only there for a day and a half before going to Kauaii.
But I did get to see part of his show in Hollywood,about 5 years back, when the Dynotones were playing with him at the Key Club.

Adam Corolla( ex of the Man show/Love line,-now has a morning radio show)
He said that he talked to Don Ho one time, and he was funny.
He had heard that Don had a huge section of land on Hawaii. Then he asked him
if he grew any pot on the land, Don just laughed and smiled.

Surf's up Don, Mahallo
Jeff(bigtikidude)

Yeah, I heard that this morning too!

It is sad that Don Ho, Elvis of Honolulu has finally gone... hopefully he's having a few Mai Tais in the Big Hukilau in the sky

:(

So sad. Raising another toast to Don.

I was planning on visiting Mr. Ho this summer while on tour with my band. Rest in peace, my brotha from anotha.

Mahalo Nui Loa

[ Edited by: unklefun 2007-04-16 16:15 ]

My friends told me a great story about Don Ho a few years ago. My friends have two small children and were flying to Oahu to visit family who still live there. On the long flight, the kids started getting restless. Out of fear they would become "Those people with the crying kids" they decided to let their 4 year old daughter stroll up and down the aisles (accompanied by Mom of course). Their daughter, Cameron, became engrossed with another friendly passenger, who they later found out was Hoku Ho, daughter of Don, who had a show on the Disney Channel (Cameron was familiar with). She sat and played with Cameron, they sang and had a good ole time. At the end of the flight, Hoku asked if they'd like to see Don Ho the following night, she took their names and told them to go to the will call and their names would be on the list. The next night they went to the show with Cameron. Hoku joined in with Don on stage, she dedicated a song to Cameron. After the song, Don Ho asked Cameron to join them on stage where he sang, "Tiny Bubbles" to her while she sat next to him at the piano. After the show, Don invited them to his house, which was not far from where their family lived. I wish I had copies of the pictures. They were blown away how nice he was and that he would invite perfect strangers into to his home. He truly was a gentleman to them.

My Sincere Condolences to Don's Family & Close Friends. RIP Don, You Will Be Missed......