I was a lucky kid to spend three years living in Hawaii. There I learned to surf, play ukulele and acquire a taste for Li Hing Mui; dried, salt sugar-cured plums that looked like baby mummy scrotums.
I listened to the AM radio hits like most kids in the 60's, but living there I was gratefully introduced to Polynesian music.
Hawaiian guitars, ukes n' tiki beats drifted from backyard BBQ's, the locals' beach parties and of course the tourist spots, giving me a good spectrum of 'Island Music'.
Thirty-some years later (on the Mainland), I heard a song that I recognized from my island days.
I remember riding my bike past an open window when I first heard it and diggin' this sound that lit my ears.
"Bimbo!... Yea, that's his name", said Barry after I asked him the third time.
'Mahalo... Aloha!'
Bimbo & Les Royal Tahitians and Charlie Mauu & Les Royal Polynesians are featured on 'Polynesia!'
A 'Manuitti' CD release, Production 'Sunset France'
'Wearing Dad's Head', a book of short stories by Barry Yourgrau
