11/18/07 San Pedro, CA Warner Grand Theatre

All about Steve Jay, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Rubén Valtierra, and Jim West.

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Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

Bill was in fine form for a guy who's 99 and 11/12ths years old. . I'd say the show was actually about 60% jazz standards and 40% Hawaiian. I'd thought it was going to be kind of a tribute show, with a short set from the "birthday boy," but Bill and the band that accompanied him (guitar, drums and upright bass, played by a young woman who also sang and scatted) played almost the entire show, more than an hour and a half.

This was a return appearance at the Warner Grand for Mr. Tapia. He last played there in 1935. :oo

Jim's appearance was quite brief, two of his slack key songs right after intermission and then one number with Kapo and a very eyecatching hula troupe (what's the word for a hula school? I think I knew it once).

Bill closed the show with "Young At Heart." And I'd say he is.

Then everyone got invited up on stage to meet Bill and eat birthday cake. I accepted the cake, but Bill was ensconced in "autograph hell" so I decided that he probably wouldn't much miss not shaking the hand of yet another person he didn't know, so I meandered into the lobby with Diva and Greg and we chatted with Jim for a few minutes.

A good evening. And anybody who's a fan of really fantastic Art Deco theatres shouldn't miss this one.
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Post by Kristine »

I'm glad you had fun! Thanks for the review.

The word you're looking for is "hālau".
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Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

Thank you, although I don't know how to achieve the nifty bar atop the "a."

I went to a funeral today, and at the luncheon afterward, I decided to try changing the subject ("how my relative died" stories-- I wasn't sitting with the bereaved family, of course, I wouldn't try to steer them away from that subject, it's their right to talk about it) by saying, "But some people are much luckier. Last night I went to this concert by a 99-year-old ukulele player..." and the man next to me said, "You went to hear Bill Tapia?" :D
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Post by albinodwarf27 »

Thanks so much for the review, Helen. I hope we're all in such fine form at 99 and 11/12! Love the funeral story, too.
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Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

Here's a photo of Bill Tapia's REAL hundredth birthday party from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

And get this... Bill wasn't the oldest guy at the party!

And in further Bill Tapia news... I saw where he was advertising himself as available to play gigs on the Honolulu Craigslist. You gotta admire spirit like that. :Y
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Post by flusher5 »

I never heard of him, I know people 70-85 years old that look older then him, he looks like he is 70, or maybe even younger
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