ParkRat Goes to the 2014 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards! #nahoku #melemei #melemei2014

Mele Mei is a client of ours and the culminating event for the month long celebration of music is the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. When a certain person who shall not be named but could easily be Crystal Yamasaki (@crysmy) was attheverylastminute unable to help cover the event with my partner Melissa Chang (@meliss808) I was pressed into service.

My first response was “What am I going to wear?” Which however feminine of a response that may seem to be to those who keep track of that kind of stuff (not me of course since I’m always PC) if you follow me on any of the social media platforms you understand why I asked. I am “dress up averse” and am more than happy to pass that particular type of activity on to my business partner whether she likes it or not. That is what makes this partnership work because she knows that and puts up with it. Or maybe has grown to put up with it after all these years? That is my story and I’m sticking with it! 🙂

Besides it being a “dress up” event it also happened to fall on “date night”. For a number of years Melanie (@mel808) and I have been going out on the 24th of every month (at the very least) as date night. The 24th is the day of our wedding and thus why that particular day. But work is work and so what must be done must be done.

Luckily I was able to get a ticket for Mel and so she was able to attend the event and so we were able to keep our “date night”. Kinda. She spent the majority of the evening alone amongst strangers. Which I know some of you will say is probably the best kind of date night with me. Shaddap.

Muchos mahalos Mel! 143!

If you’re wondering where is the stuff ABOUT the Hokus? Well, I wrote this blog entry not to document the gala event because I know that has been done by enough credible organizations and bloggers (See Melissa Chang’s post on Frolic Hawaii) that it makes no sense for me to do so.

That being said please check out my photos from the event at the end of this post as I think some of them came out pretty well. Especially for this hack. Oh and if you know any of the people in the photos and think they might wanna check them out please share this with them too!

My evening started out with me checking in at the Media Table where Yumi Ozaki (@straymoon) immediately says “Wait! I need to get a photo of this!”

Apparently she was in shock that I actually wasn’t in shorts and slippahs and I do believe she thought I cleaned up pretty well. Again, shaddap!

I did get this photo of her at the same time she took mine. In case you were wondering why I was in such a weird pose or maybe you weren’t wondering in which case, see above for my response.

I then went upstairs to the ballroom area and Instagrammed this photo with the caption “Is anyone else here wearing slippahs? #nahoku #melemei2014 #melemei”

It immediately got a response (and to this date ONLY ONE response). It was from my mother! Everyone say “Awwww…how nice.” Now look closer and see what @annsum43 wrote. #disowned I can’t believe she actually thought that I was there in slippahs!

For the record I did have shoes on. Although they were Reeboks because Melissa had warned me that there would be a lot of moving around and crawling on floors.

Downstairs I came across @KathywithaK_ lei-ing @melissa808. She is such a giving person that she tried to lei me as well but I told her it probably wouldn’t be appropriate to do so….

Because I would be running around and would destroy it during the night! C’mon!

I knew that this event was a big one when Alan Okami (@koalohauke) and Paul Okami (@cutswood) showed up dressed to the nines!

To Herb Ohta Jr. (@herbohtajr) this was just another night of receiving more awards so apparently not as big a deal to him.

David Kamakahi (@ukulelecrow808) and a whole lot of his friends played a tribute to his father Dennis Kamakahi prior to the start of the live show.

I didn’t realize until I got home and was sorting through my photos that I had captured David with his father. I was so caught up in their performance that I hadn’t noticed the guitar and hat on stage that night. R.I.P. Dennis Kamakahi.

When I saw Paul earlier he said that he and Alan were there to present the award that their company sponsors because Mom and Pops Okami didn’t want to do it.

Mom and Pops Okami with Kamaka Fernandez (@kanilele) on stage ready to present! Buwahahaha! Stay seated boys, Mom and Dad got this covered. Hahahaha!

For the majority of the evening we found ourselves up front on the floor in front of various people. One table happened to have Guy Hagi (@guyhagi) seated at it. At one point he made the comment that he wanted to see what it was like to be down here with us and so he joined us on the floor.

That is when he found out what it REALLY is like to work with @melissa808! Such violence in the workplace! #saveme

On my way out I come across Amber Lynn Hyden (@amberlynnhyden) in her beautiful gown, all made up and looking immaculate as always. And what is she doing? Chasing and wrapping cables! So I tell them I gotta get a shot of that and here it is:

What is this world coming to? Such violence in the workplace! FYI, Will requested that I post this so that he has documentation for his worker’s comp claim that he plans to make.

The night was filled with awesome entertainment and it was definitely a fun experience. Congratulations to the winners and the nominees of these prestigious awards!

As mentioned previously I was there to cover the event and capture what I could for us to post to the Mele Mei social media channels. I wasn’t just messing around taking pictures of people other than the award winners and presenters! Shaddap Melissa.

Enjoy! I know I did!