| Author |
Topic: Puelevai |
Ron Simpson
From:
Illinois, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 7:16 am |
|
| This message is posted to direct your attention to the Bob Waters topic in the Extended Family section of the forum. |
|
|
 |
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 7:22 am
|
|
A news item about Bob Waters' passing has been posted on the HSGA website. Please take a few moments and honor this icon of Hawaiian music.
http://www.hsga.org/new_design/news.htm
Brad Bechtel - I know this item really should be in "Our Extended Family" but please leave this posting in the Non Peddlers area for a few days. Bob was a such an important figure in the Hawaiian Steel community.[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 07 January 2006 at 07:30 AM.] |
|
|
|
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 8:58 am
|
|
| Bob was a class act. In researching my book, I had a long, fascinating conversation with him about Dick McIntire. I remember seeing him at an HSGA convention in the late 80s. He had one of the most minimalist rhythm guitar strums I've ever seen. |
|
|
|
Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 9:27 am
|
|
 |
|
|
|
c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 10:33 am
|
|
| All my info on Bob shows the name as Pulevai. We called him Pule. CC |
|
|
|
George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 10:42 am
|
|
Oh this is very sad news indeed. Bob was such a fine guy and so knowledgeable about most everything "Hawaiian". He was always a great presence at conventions and enjoyed the friendship of everyone present. He will be sadly missed by all those who had the privilage to know him.
Yes CC, you are correct in regards to his Hawaiian name. |
|
|
|
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 10:48 am
|
|
| This forum does not allow one to edit the thread headings, only the text. |
|
|
|
Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 11:12 am
|
|
Bob was treasure of Hawaiian music knowledge and just a great guy. I always made a point of sitting down with him at the HSGA conventions and getting him to "talk story" about the old days, which I think he loved doing. Unfortunately, Bob was unable to attend the 2005 Joliet convention due to his health issues and I know that for many of us his presence was sorely missed.
This is a big loss for those of us that had the priveledge of sharing his company. |
|
|
|
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 12:04 pm
|
|
Please revisit the HSGA website.
http://www.hsga.org/new_design/news.htm
I scanned in two articles from the 2001 HSGA Quarterlies. These autobiographical articles written by Bob detail his early life in Hawaiian music. They are in .PDF format.
An amazing story!
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 08 January 2006 at 07:18 AM.] |
|
|
|
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 12:12 pm
|
|
Bob was a lifelong promoter of Hawaiian music. He loved it with his entire heart and soul.
Here is a photo of him at a late night jam session at HSGA Joliet 2004 (Bob is in the background wearing a red jacket and a smile, his wife Julie is to the left, standing)
After the jam he told me how he couldn't get over how well "Hoale youngsters" played the 'Twilight Blues' and how happy he was to see the music living on.
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 07 January 2006 at 03:23 PM.] |
|
|
|
Ron Simpson
From:
Illinois, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 12:16 pm
|
|
Doa! In the words of the great philosopher Homer, "it ain't easy being a Simpson". (I seem to be getting a lot of use from this phrase today) As Gerald mentioned, the title cannot be edited. It does serve to remind me of all the encouragement I and I'm sure many others have received over the years from Bob and Julie. Bob always sat through my learning process, clinkers and all. He always left me thinking that maybe I could return the following year without too much fear of embarassment. To my mind Bob is the very definition of the word gentleman.
Ron Simpson |
|
|
|
Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
|
Posted 7 Jan 2006 11:09 pm
|
|
Bob was just a great person as well as a great musician and entertainer Hawaiian style.
In earlier times he was the master of ceremonies at the Luau's of the steel guitar conventions and would make them come alive. He would communicate the true spirit of aloha.
There is a vacant feeling in my heart and I will miss him. |
|
|
|
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2006 8:33 am
|
|
Funeral arrangements:
-----------------------------------
WATERS . Robert L. Jr., loving husband of Julia K. Waters (nee Puou), dear uncle of Nicola Sexton, Cynthia Hopkins and Robert E. Waters IV. January 6, 2006, residence Independence, KY. Age 83 years. Member of Latonia Baptist Church and leader of Paradise Islanders Hawaiian Band. . Funeral Service Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at Latonia Baptist Church, 3800 Church St., Latonia, KY. 41015 at 1 P.M. with visitation there beginning at 11 A.M. Interment and honor guard service at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens, Taylor Mill, KY. Memorials Latonia Baptist Church and/or charity of the donor's choice. Connley Brothers Funeral Home, Latonia, KY. serving the family.
Funeral Home: Connley Brothers Funeral Home
Funeral Date: Jan. 10, 1 p.m.
|
|
|
|
Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
|
Posted 8 Jan 2006 12:19 pm
|
|
| I would echo all that has been said here about Bob Waters. A true gentleman and a great person to know. I know that those of us from HSGA and the Aloha Int'l Steel Guitar Club will certainly miss his presence at our gatherings. |
|
|
|
Ron Simpson
From:
Illinois, USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2006 12:26 pm
|
|
A Message from the President of the HSGA
Aloha, to All:
I share with you in great sadness of the news of the passing of longtime HSGA member and Joliet Convention how performer Bob "Pulewai: Waters of Kentucky, USA.
On behalf of the HSGA and it's Board of Directors, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends af Pulewai. Special condolences to his wife, Julie "Haunani " Waters, and Part of the enjoyment of attending our past few JolietConventions has been for me to sit down and talk story with Pulevai and Haunani, Duke & Laverne, Mike & Vera
Scott, and all the longtime members of the club. I'll always remember Pulevai's story of how he performed in all those clubs in his younger days, and that Hawaiian fashion designer Mamo Clark (Mamo Howell) was a hula dancer for his group while on tour. Bob always had great stories to tell, and I really enjoyed his way of sharing them as much as he enjoyed
reminiscing.
My Memories of Bob "Pulevai" Waters by Kamaka Tom
Bob "Pulevai" and Julie "Haunani" Waters were regular performers at HSGA's annual outdoor jam session in Kapi'olani Park, Waikiki at the old bandstand when
Lorene Ruymer organized the first jam sessions and later at the HSGA sessions at the City and County of Honolulu's Lei Day Celebrations, which is where I first met them in the mid-1980's. Bob embodied the
spirit of the true entertainer. With his crisp, booming voice, he would call across the field to me "Aloha! Pehea 'oe, Kamaka!" upon seeing me and offer up a warm handshake and Hawaiian-style embrace. You could always count on Bob and Julie to carry the show,
with Pulevai serving as emcee and backup rhythm guitarist while Haunani shared her beautiful vocal and 'ukulele stylings onstage. We would all just sit back and enjoy! What impressed me most was their
professionalism on and off the stage, and the warmth and humility they showed to all. Oftentimes, there would several hundred people in line for the Lei Contest exhibition while we performed. The first year, Parks & Recreation gave us a horn and a single mike for the show. That's when I started bringing my sound system on May Day. Great musicians like Walter Mo'okini, Duke "Kaleolani: Ching, Alan Akaka, George
"Keoki" Lake, Mike Scott, Sonny Kamahele, Buddy Hew Len, "Uncle" Jacob Kaleikini, Dennis "Kuki" Among, Ian Ufton, Art & Lorene Ruymer, April Chock, Ipo Kumukahi, Don Woods, and countless others graced the stage and shared the aloha for music and hula. I just couldn't see all these fine musicians be shortchanged by a lack of decent sound equipment! I would call up Uncle Randy Oness, ukulele viruoso and reknowned composer & member of the Harry Owens Orchestra, to come down and he would play backup on 'ukulele and clarinet while we jammed for the audience's immense enjoyment. Many of us who were at those jam sessions, or became acquainted with him during his lifetime, will remember Bob "Pulevai" Waters as a true gentleman, a "keiki o ka 'aina or "child of the land", and a friend who embodied the spirit of aloha to all who were fortunate enough to be a flower in the lei of his life.
He Po Kane, he po 'uli'uli, po'uli o uka
Kukulu a hulu i ka Waimaka
He 'ua loku o Hanalei
'Eha'eha a konikoni i ka pu'uwai
Lele ka manu 'ali'i
Ke 'Ua mai nei o Lilinoe e nihi i na pali
Na pali e lele koali
I mehana i ka hikina
Aia no i ka la'i a mau
Ua ho'i, ua ho'i no.
He Mele Kanikau no Pulewai.
Darkened is the night, cloudy are the uplands
By the Tears that Enshroud the eyes of all
Like the drenching rains of Hanalei
Throbbing with sorrow in our hearts
At the great one's departure.
While the gentle Lilinoe mist covers the cliffs
Ancient resting place of the esteemed
Comfort arrives from the Sacred East
Bringing Warmth to the soul
Eternal peace,
He has returned indeed.
A Dirge for Bob "Pulevai" Waters
Aloha Indeed,
Kamaka Tom
|
|
|
|
