Early in the millennium, Hawaii’s talk-story tradition blossomed anew with “Aloha Shorts,” a weekly program broadcast on Hawai‘i Public Radio from 2004 to 2013, with actors reading poetry and prose to audiences in HPR’s Atherton studio.
Radio listeners described “driveway moments — when you just have to stay in your car to hear the end of a story,” even with melting cartons of ice cream in the trunk, write editors Sammie Choy, Craig Howes and Phyllis S. K. Look in “The Best of Aloha Shorts,” a new anthology of works that were read on the show.
“THE BEST OF ALOHA SHORTS”
Edited by Sammie Choy, Craig Howes and Phyllis S. K. Look
Bamboo Ridge Press, $18
Published by Bamboo Ridge Press, the book also contains photographs and reminiscences from the performers who strove to deliver pitch-perfect local voices of all kinds.
Stephanie Keiko Kong recalls how, as she read Lisa Linn Kanae’s “Luciano and Da Break Room Divas,” the show’s producers played recordings of Pavarotti singing. Surprised and moved by the great tenor’s voice, she felt so close to the characters that she cried and “heard distinct sniffles from the dark back of the house.”
Many of the pieces in the 200-page book demonstrate the virtues of brevity. They include Gail N. Harada’s “Waiting for Henry,” about a woman whose boyfriend and cat share the same name; Denise Duhamel’s “Apocalyptic Barbie,” about a doll that survives a nuclear attack; and N. Keonaona (Aea) Rusell’s “Bearing the Light,” in which a young woman is taken night-fishing by her boyfriend while dressed for a disco date.
“Eh Honolulu, we still on da plantation. Still get people who telling us who we are,” writes Darrell H. Y. Lum in “Letter to Honolulu.” In contrast, Wing Tek Lum’s “An Image of the Good Times” depicts a child eating in the kitchen with his parents, safe “against the chaos of the world.”
In diverse ways, the writers in this entertaining collection explore who we are and what it means to call an island home.
The book will be launched with readings at 10 a.m. May 5 and 6 at the Honolulu Book & Music Festival. For more info, visit hawaiibookandmusicfestival.com; the original performances can be heard at bestofalohashorts.com.
