Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell dedicated with memorial plaque

In honor of the late Tom Moffatt, the visionary Honolulu rock ’n’ roll deejay and concert promoter who in the course of his 60-year career brought such top draws as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffet, Willie Nelson and Frank Sinatra to the Waikiki Shell, the historic outdoor venue was rechristened in 2018 to bear his name.

Three years later, on a blazing hot Wednesday afternoon at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell, as a small group gathered on the lawn to the left of the stage for a formal dedication ceremony, his widow Sweetie Moffatt, coolly elegant in a wide-brimmed, black-and-white straw hat, flowing white dress and snakeskin sandals, pointed to a couple of large palm trees.

“Tom and I used to hide behind these trees — there were more trees then — and we’d watch the faces of the audience,” Moffatt said in a soft voice. “Tom’s biggest thing was having the people enjoy themselves.”

“He never sat at a concert, he stood and walked,” said longtime Moffatt associate Alan Arato. “You could feel his energy, how he loved both the artists and the audience. He waited for this perfect moment when the crowd and the performer clicked, and ‘this is it,’ he’d say.”

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, arriving to give the dedication remarks, said “Tom loved the community and his work showed that,” adding he had felt privileged to be one of Moffatt’s many friends.

“On behalf of the thousands, the generations of people he brought joy, excitement and fun, we’re saying mahalo to Tom Moffatt today for his incredible body of work,” the mayor said before inviting others to speak.

After coming to Honolulu in 1950 to attend the University of Hawaii, the Detroit native joined the Army and was recruited as an announcer on Army radio thanks to his “golden voice,” said businessman and philanthropist John Henry Felix, who met Moffatt during their military training at Schofield Barracks.

Heard over the radio during the Korean War, “his voice had a healing effect on the wounded at Tripler Army Hospital,” Felix said.

Moffatt became a jazz deejay on local radio, but switched to rock ’n’ roll after hearing a then-unknown Elvis Presley, whom he first brought to Hawaii in 1957.

Over the ensuing decades, he produced hundreds of shows at the Shell, the old Honolulu Civic Auditorium, the Blaisdell Center, Aloha Stadium and Diamond Head Crater, bringing in Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, Carlos Santana, the Grateful Dead, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Eagles, Blind Faith (in their last live concert), John Sebastian, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson as well as showcasing islanders Cecilio &Kapono, Kalapana and Bruno Mars.

Moffatt also produced records by local talents, including the award-winning “Honolulu City Lights” by Keola and Kapono Beamer, as well as discs by Loyal Garner, Ledward Kaapana, and comedians Andy Bumatai and Rap Reiplinger.

Then there was “The Tom Moffatt Show” on television, a local version of Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” said the Rev. Joseph P. Recca, the kahu for the dedication.

“Kids representing local high schools would dance. I was one of his regulars in the 1960s, and I did a wicked bop,” said Recca, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools.

“If Tom had had the career he led here in New York, Philadelphia or Detroit, he would have been in the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame,” said Jeff Portnoy, Moffatt’s longtime lawyer.

As Recca gave the Hawaiian blessing, Felix and Sweetie Moffatt held a ti leaf lei above a large mound covered in red velvet.

Then the cloth was removed, revealing the commemorative plaque, affixed to a massive boulder.

Asked where the stone came from, Jerry Pupillo, director of the city’s Department of Enterprise Services, said it had always been there.

“This is where Tom used to stand,” Moffat said as she placed a Tahitian gardenia, “his favorite flower,” on the rock.

“Can you feel his presence?” Felix said. “He’s here.”

For a moment, one could almost hear Moffatt’s familiar, golden radio voice in the tradewinds and the gentle laughter of his friends.