Celebrations shine spotlight on 2 island show biz icons

By Ben Wood

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 08, 2013

~~The late, great Alfred Apaka's 94th-birthday celebration will be held March 17, 3 to 7 p.m., at Hilton Hawaiian Village. The singer's son Jeff has, as usual, lined up a long list of singers, musicians and hula dancers. The public is invited to the Apaka statue at the Hilton at 3 p.m. when the ceremony gets under way with music and hula by Kai Markell, Aaron Mahi, Mihana Souza, Leinaala Kalama Heine's halau Napualeiolikolehua, Pa‘ahana and Kanoe Miller. That will be followed by more performers steps away in the Tapa Bar doing songs made famous by Apaka. The cast includes Jeff, Manoa Madness, Kealoha Kalama, Celtic Bags & Drums of Hawaii, Jeff Au Hoy's trio, the Lexington Hotel Dancers with Mona Joy, Queenie Ventura, Kawena Mechler, Richard Natto, Dave Toma, Darren Benitez, John Cruz, Ken Makuakane, Lopaka Colon and more.Emcee is Harry B. Soria Jr. …
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The late, great Alfred Apaka's 94th-birthday celebration will be held March 17, 3 to 7 p.m., at Hilton Hawaiian Village. The singer's son Jeff has, as usual, lined up a long list of singers, musicians and hula dancers. The public is invited to the Apaka statue at the Hilton at 3 p.m. when the ceremony gets under way with music and hula by Kai Markell, Aaron Mahi, Mihana Souza, Leinaala Kalama Heine's halau Napualeiolikolehua, Pa‘ahana and Kanoe Miller. That will be followed by more performers steps away in the Tapa Bar doing songs made famous by Apaka. The cast includes Jeff, Manoa Madness, Kealoha Kalama, Celtic Bags & Drums of Hawaii, Jeff Au Hoy's trio, the Lexington Hotel Dancers with Mona Joy, Queenie Ventura, Kawena Mechler, Richard Natto, Dave Toma, Darren Benitez, John Cruz, Ken Makuakane, Lopaka Colon and more.Emcee is Harry B. Soria Jr. …