Weldon Kekauoha Page 4 Courtesy of Richard Drake | FEBRUARY 2018
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3 - CEO Message 6 - TV Listings 18 - Partner Profile 4 - Cover Story 10 - Evening Grid 17 - Daytime Grid PROGRAM GUIDE FEBRUARY 2018 VOL. 37 NO. 2 Weldon Kekauoha page 4 Courtesy of Richard Drake | FEBRUARY 2018 Access to PBS Hawai‘i Passport content only comes with your one- time gift of at least $60, which can be broken out as a monthly gift of $5/ month for 12 months, to PBS Hawai‘i. For more information, visit pbshawaii.org/passport or call 808.462.5000. Local, public-service content produced by PBS Hawai‘i, including HIKI NŌ, Insights on PBS Hawai‘i Get extended access to the dramas, documentaries and other programs and Long Story Short with Leslie you enjoy on PBS Hawai‘i. With PBS Hawai‘i Passport, you’ll unlock an Wilcox, will remain freely available extensive library of programs you can watch on your own time. Popular on pbshawaii.org, YouTube and the programs available for streaming through Passport include Nature, Downton PBS App, outside of the Passport Abbey on Masterpiece, The Great British Baking Show and Finding Your library. Roots, as pictured above. Passport content can be streamed using the free PBS App on most mobile and set-top devices, including iPhone, Android, Roku, AppleTV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire and more. BOARD OF DIRECTORS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM GUIDE Chair Vice Chair President and CEO Editor Jason Fujimoto Joanne Grimes Leslie Wilcox Liberty Peralta Secretary Treasurer Senior Vice President/CFO Graphic Artist Bettina Mehnert Kent Tsukamoto Karen Yamamoto Randall Choo Muriel Anderson Joy Miura Koerte VP Content Communications Susan Bendon Kamani Kuala‘au Linda Brock Assistant Jodi Endo Chai Mary Ann Manahan Emily Bodfish James E. Duffy Jr. Aaron Salā VP Integrated Media Matthew Emerson Julie Shimonishi Production Contributing Writer Jake Fergus Ka‘iulani Sodaro Jason Suapaia Emilie Howlett Jason Haruki Candy Suiso Noelani Kalipi Huy Vo VP Advancement Program Listings Ian Kitajima Bruce Voss Mariko Miho Emily Bodfish John Kovacich VP Communications Liberty Peralta Director, Learning Initiatives Robert Pennybacker Chief Engineer John Nakahira pbshawaii.org 2 CEO MESSAGE A Front Row Seat to Myth-Busting Leslie Wilcox PBS Hawai‘i President and CEO Courtesy of © Terra Mater/ Parthenon Entertainment Ornithologist Auguste von Bayern, with a jackdaw, from the NOVA episode Bird Brain “What a bird brain!” “You’re a Neanderthal!” Within the last decade, it’s been confirmed Not so long ago, these were taunts. But, that Neanderthals interbred with their close thanks to recent research by scientists and the cousins, homo sapiens. Many of us of European fine documentaries on PBS, we know better. or Asian ancestry carry snippets of Neanderthal And I’m just the person to be thrilled by these DNA. That’s just what my brother’s genetic test discoveries. When I was a kid, my no-nonsense showed. In fact, he has more than the average grandmother called me a bird brain every time amount. I forgot my rubber slippers on our neighbors’ A prevailing theory holds that our homo porch, which was often. And just last month, sapiens ancestors vanquished the Neanderthals. a 23andme.com ancestry test turned up With the recent genetic evidence, another theory Neanderthal DNA in my family. merits consideration: Through mating, the When you sit back and view Nature or NOVA Neanderthals – with their smaller populations on Wednesday nights on PBS Hawai‘i, you – were simply absorbed into homo sapiens life. sometimes have a front row seat to myth-busting. Look for a brand-new PBS program about In vibrant video, you see that some of the ideas Neanderthals this month, Neanderthals: Meet and conclusions printed in our old textbooks Your Ancestors on Wednesday, February 28 at have been blown away. 9:00 pm. I suspect there’ll be further re-branding As depicted in the recent NOVA episode Bird of my ancient forebears. Brain, birds are far from empty-headed. They We want to thank Dr. Belinda A. Aquino for make great use of their small neuron-packed generously sponsoring the broadcasts of both brains. They turn pebbles and sticks into tools; Nature and NOVA on PBS Hawai‘i. A retired they plan multiple steps to solve problems; and University of Hawai‘i political science professor, some even “read” human faces. Put birds to Dr. Aquino is an internationally recognized the test with puzzles – and they can figure out authority on contemporary Philippine affairs. when to defer a reward in order to snag a bigger She tells me that she savors these programs one later. about natural phenomena because they inspire In NOVA’s Decoding Neanderthals, we new ways to think about humanity and the world learned that these hominoids were not the around us. brutish, knuckle-dragging simpletons we’d And I’d like to thank you, too, for your support conjured. They were powerfully built, yes, but of PBS Hawai‘i’s role of adding new perspectives they also had large brains. They were adept at and context to our collective understanding of tool-making, and in fact, may have developed history and current affairs. Myth-busting is a the first synthetic product, a type of glue. It was byproduct! a very tough life in the Ice Age, and it’s unlikely Aloha nui, that most Neanderthals lived past age 30. 3 | FEBRUARY 2018 COVER STORY Weldon Kekauoha Monday, February 26, 7:30 pm By Emilie Howlett Photos courtesy of Richard Drake Hawaiian musician Weldon Kekauoha has been crafting Kekauoha vented about the incident on Facebook. beloved musical arrangements and sharing them with The post went viral, sparking widespread outrage. Hawai‘i, the continental U.S. and beyond for over 30 The hotel apologized, but for Kekauoha to be a target years. He’s enjoyed a successful solo career, amassing of discrimination in the same neighborhood where he multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards and, in 2014, a and many other Hawaiian musicians made a name for Grammy nomination. For the past 15 years, he has been themselves was a bitter irony for him. going to Japan to perform, finding an enthusiastic Today, Kekauoha says he doesn’t harbor any ill feelings audience there that has embraced the Hawaiian culture. toward the hotel. “Hopefully it brought a little bit more of Kekauoha gave a soulful performance in PBS Hawai‘i’s an awareness,” he says. “Racism can rear its head often, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Multimedia Studio, for the and we’ve got to always be vigilant to try and keep it in its taping of our newest Nā Mele. In this episode of our place.” Thankfully, as Kekauoha knows intimately from traditional Hawaiian music series, guitarist Jack Ofoia, his world travels, nothing breaks down barriers of bassist Alika Boy Kalauli IV and hula dancer Yuko difference better than the art of sharing music. Hashimoto accompany Kekauoha with a performance set In these excerpts from an interview with Kekauoha and against dramatic photo backdrops of Hawai‘i landscapes. Jason Suapaia, PBS Hawai‘i’s Vice President of Integrated Identifying himself as a contemporary artist with a Media Production, Kekauoha highlights the many ways traditional foundation, Kekauoha goes in-depth about the music has touched his life. meaning behind his songs, his experience as a longtime performer and the importance of music in his life. PBS Hawai‘i: How important is music in perpetuating He also addresses an incident at the Halekulani Hotel the Hawaiian culture? in 2013. While enjoying the pool during a weekend Weldon Kekauoha: Very, very important. People say getaway at the Waikīkī hotel, Kekauoha and his family hula has been able to sustain that part of the culture, and were asked by security guards to verify that they were from there, so much of the [Hawaiian] Renaissance has guests. The guards were acting on another hotel guest’s been able to flourish. More interest has grown because of suspicion that the Kekauohas did not belong at the pool hula, and music has always been there in the background. because they were locals. pbshawaii.org 4 Kekauoha, left, performs on Nā Mele with bassist Alika Boy Kalauli IV and hula dancer Yuko Hashimoto. I think music is a little bit of a different animal, only In this case, it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed because it’s so open for creativity and influence. If you since I was a young boy. To be able to carry it over into look at so much of the history of Hawaiian music – in sustaining me, my family and my life all this time, I’ve Hawai‘i, on the U.S. mainland, even abroad – it’s been lucky. And it’s still a work in progress. It’s like any incredible to see how much the music has changed from other business; you gotta kind of take care of it, and try being super traditional, and then going way out from it, to to make sure you have something good to sell, something being commercialized. And I mean that in a good way. good to give people. And you just continue with good There’s of course some negative aspects to it, and then relationships and good performances, and all that that “Hollywood-ized,” if you will. Then it took a long while to entails. Having a good business is pretty much what you bring it back [to the traditional], because it just got so should shoot for. way out from the original intent of our culture. But it’s neat to see the revival of all that is Hawaiian, and the new When people listen to your music, what do you hope pride that has been fostered from it.