Throwback Thursday:Queen Elizabeth 2

April 19, 2018

Throwback Thursday:
Queen Elizabeth 2

A little more than ten years ago, the Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) made her final stop in Honolulu on March 25, 2008 on her last around the world voyage before being decommissioned later that year.

The arrival and docking of the QE2 at Honolulu Harbor was always a sight to behold. The ship attracted a good collection of fans and photographers who came out to snap pictures of her. Over the years I’ve shot several photos of QE2 at her familiar moorings at Piers 2 or 11.

In late 2008 she was sold and set sail for her new home in the far away Arab city of Dubai. There she sat for many years, her fate usually unknown until it was announced that she will opened as a floating hotel this year. In an email that I got from the QE2 Story website and message board:

QE2 Dubai Hotel Opens

Hello global QE2 fans! We don’t often send special emails during the month, but we felt this was too important to miss.

QE2 Dubai is now available to book to stay on, and the “soft opening” date is the 18th of April (the same day that Queen Mary 2 is in port), followed by the full “grand opening” in October, when all areas of the ship will be brought back into use.

The ship is now known as the QE2 Hotel Dubai. More information can be found on the hotel’s website. An updated story on QE2’s conversion to a hotel appears here: QE2 News / QE2 in Dubai / QE2 Today.

While I never stepped on board the famed ocean liner, she will forever be a treasured memory for all those who traveled on her as well as those who saw her in port and other places while in active service.

Previously on this blog: QE2 Stops in Hawaii for the Last Time

Hawaii Files Photos on Flickr: QE2

QE2 docked at Honolulu’s Pier 11, 1989.

QE2 at Honolulu Harbor, Pier 2, 1989.

QE2 departing Honolulu Harbor, 1989

This is my most popular photo of QE2 taken 1999.

Her last stop on March 25, 2008, Honolulu Harbor Pier 2.

All photos and content Copyright to Melvin Ah Ching Productions. 2018. #TBT

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March 29, 2018March 29, 2018

Throwback Thursday:
KKUA Radio’s Top 69 Hits of 1971

KKUA’s 1981 Logo

We resume our Throwback Thursday (#TBT) posts which will occasionally pull content from our Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Archive. First up, is the Top 69 Hits of 1971 from KKUA Radio.

KKUA was the dominant top 40 radio station in Hawaii in the mid 1970s. They had a strong AM signal at 690 on the dial and could be heard throughout most of the state. Their main rival was KPOI which broadcast at 1380 on the AM dial as well as 97.5 on FM. KPOI’s AM played top 40 and was the most popular pop music station in Hawaii through much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their FM played album rock tracks.

1971 Hit Records — Some of the hit records from 1971.

Every year, KKUA counted down the year’s Top 69 songs. The chart below is from the Top 69 of 1971 which listed Three Dog Night‘s “Joy to the World” as the #1 song of the year.

Rank and Title	Artist	Peak Pos. on Top 20
1. Joy To The World	Three Dog Night	1
2. I’ve Found Someone of My Own	Free Movement	1
3. Just My Imagination	Temptations	1
4. Smiling Faces (Sometimes)	Undisputed Truth	1
5. Timothy	The Buoys	1
6. Go Away Little Girl	Donny Osmond	1
7. Knock Three Times	Dawn	1
8. Indian Reservation	The Raiders	1
9. One Bad Apple	Osmonds	1
10. Chatto-Matte-Kudasai	Sam Kapu	1
11. My Sweet Lord	George Harrison	1
12. Precious & Few *	Climax featuring Sonny Geraci	1
13. I’m So Poud	Main Ingredient	1
14. Sweet City Woman	The Stampeders	1
15. Life Is That Way	Jose Feliciano	1
16. It’s Impossible	Perry Como	1
17. Domino	Van Morrison	1
18. Superstar	The Carpenters	1
19. Woodstock	Matthew’s Southern Comfort	2
20. Never Can Say Goodbye	Jackson Five	2
21. Gypsies, Tramps & Theives	Cher	2
22. Maggie May	Rod Stewart	2
23. Yo Yo	Osmonds	2
24. Sweet & Innocent	Donny Osmond	2
25. It’s Too Late	Carole King	2
26. Mr. Big Stuff	Jean Knight	1
27. Stay Awhile	The Bells	2
28. Don’t Pull Your Love	Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds	2
29. If	Bread	2
30. Black Magic Woman	Santana	2
31. For All We Know	The Carpenters	2
32. The Pushbike Song	Mixtures	2
33. Mandrill	Mandrill	2
34. I Can’t Stop	Osmonds	2
35. Tears of A Clown	Smokey Robinson & the Miracles	2
36. Stick-Up	Honeycone	2
37. Liar	Three Dog Night	2
38. Watcha See, is Watcha Get	The Dramatics	2
39. Your Song	Elton John	3
40. Draggin’ The Line	Tommy James	2
41. Morning Of Our Lives	The Arkade	3
42. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart	Bee Gees	3
43. I Hear Those Churchbells	Dusk	2
44. Proud Mary	Ike & Tina Turner	2
45. I Love You For All Seasons	Fuzz	3
46. We Can Make It Girl	Society of Seven	3
47. Ain’t No Sunshine	Bill Withers	3
48. Albert Flasher	Guess Who	3
49. Most of All	B.J. Thomas	3
50. Three Cheers For Love	Dick Jensen	3
51. Mama’s Pearl	Jackson Five	4
52. Rainy Days And Mondays	The Carpenters	4
53. No Matter What	Badfinger	4
54. I Do Take You	Three Degrees	4
55. Somebody’s Been Sleeping	100 Proof Aged in Soul	4
56. Just An Old Fashioned Love Song	Three Dog Night	4
57. I Just Want To Celebrate	Rare Earth	4
58. Put Your Hand In The Hand	Ocean	4
59. Oye Como Va	Santana	4
60. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You’re Sorry)	Sounds of Sunshine	4
61. Games	Redeye	5
62. Brown Sugar	Rolling Stones	5
63. Lola	The Kinks	5
64. I Dig Everything About You	The Mob	5
65. Love Song	The Vogues	5
66. What Are You Doing Sunday?	Dawn	5
67. Baby I’m A Want You	Bread	5
68. Frisco Bay	Society of Seven	5
69. Born To Wonder	Rare Earth	5

CHART NOTES:

The big hit of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night‘s “Joy To The World.” The song was at the number one spot for was seven weeks, making it the most popular song on KKUA.

That year a number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu‘s “Chatto Matte Kudasai” which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one in the summer summer. Records by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA) charted with the singles “We Can Make It Girl,” and “Frisco Bay”. Dick Jensen charted with his top 40 hit single, “Three Cheers For Love.” The local hits are indicated by blue type.

* Climax‘s “Precious And Few” was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with the hits “Life And Breath,” “Walking in the Georgia Rain” and “Caroline This Time”.

Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else. These included “Morning of Our Lives” by The Arkade, “Life is That Way” by José Feliciano, “I Dig Everything About You” by The Mob, “Love Song” by The Vogues, “Mandrill” by Mandrill, “I Can’t Stop” by The Osmonds, “I Hear Those Churchbells Ringing” by Dusk, and “The Pushbike Song” by The Mixtures.

Other songs that got a lot of airplay in 1971 that did not make this chart included “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, “Give Up Your Guns” by The Buoys and “Keep it in the Family” by The Road Home.

Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night‘s “Naturally” which contained the #1 hit “Joy To The World” as well as the very radio friendly ballad “Sunlight,” a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King‘s “Tapestry”, Santana‘s “Abraxus”, Sly & the Family Stone‘s “There’s a Riot Going On,” and several albums by the Jackson Five and Osmonds.

KKUA’s 1971 Personalities included the following:

Jim Peters 6:AM
Steven B. Williams 9:AM
Gene Davis 12 noon
Ron King 3:PM
Scott Edwards 6:PM
Dick Wainwright 9:PM
Rick Shannon Midnight

Three Dog Night’s album “Naturally” released on ABC Dunhill album was popular in 1971 and spawned the hits “One Man Band,” “Liar”, “Sunlight” and “Joy to the World”.

Many of the songs mentioned in this post can be found online at YouTube.com. Songs in bold print are directly linked to a YouTube audio file for online playback.

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February 25, 2018February 25, 2018

Physician Assisted Suicide Bill Should Be Deep Sixed

Once again the Hawaii State Legislature has decided to bring up the issue of Physician Assisted Suicide. This year the State House of Representatives has introduced HB 2739 which would allow your doctor, with your consent, to kill you with a lethal dose of medication within a six month period of your pending death.

This bill essentially legalizes murder and offers no respect for the sanctity of human life. The lives of our elderly and sick should not be subjected to such a law. The only thing that needs to be killed is this bill.

HB 2739 is getting a public hearing this coming Tuesday, February 27 at the State Capitol Auditorium starting at 10:30 A.M. Testimony is now being taken online or at the following online site: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/login/login.aspx

It seems the legislature is no longer taking email testimony. To submit testimony using the above link, one must be a registered user of the State Legislature’s website.

An alternate method is to send testimony in by fax: 808 586-6311 or 800-535-3899.

Committee members can also be reached by going through the respective links below to access their email and other contact information.

House Judiciary Committee

House Committee on Health and Human Services

Here is a link to the hearing notice: Source: Hearing HHS-JUD 02-27-18.

Additional Links:

Focus on the Family: Reasons to Oppose Physician-Assisted Suicide

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January 13, 2018

Phantom Missile Alert in Hawaii

So what’s up with the missile attack warning that was sounded early this morning at the 8 o clock hour? Many Hawaii residents statewide got cell phone text messages that read:

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT DRILL.”

Several of my friends got the message by cell phone text alert. I did not.

The first I heard about this was a text that I got from my friend Daniel which read: “Did you just get an emergency text????” I answered in the negative. No text message for me. He followed up, “I am not joking.” He attached the screen shot from his phone as shown below:

Emergency Text Message — The emergency text that came to many cell phone early this morning (Jan. 13).

A few moments later, my friend Lisa called. She was in a state of panic. It was aggravating to her since she is also down and out with a viral strain of influenza. She also got the emergency text message.

Talking to her on the phone, I told her that it was probably a false alarm, but also to listen to the radio. I began to think it was a false alarm even if I was worried for a few minutes after the initial call.

What prompted me to this was the fact that when I turned the radio to KSSK AM & FM (where they have in the past did outstanding broadcasts of local emergencies) there was nothing to be found except for a re-run of a previous Perry & Price radio program.

Nothing there. This is likely a false alarm.

While talking to Lisa on my landline phone, I called Daniel on the cell phone. He told me his wife Emma had called the 911 emergency number who told her that it was, indeed a false alarm.

Just to make doubly sure, I called 911 after I got off the phone with Daniel. By then everyone else was probably in a panic as the 911 number was busy. Pity the poor soul who had to call if it was an actual emergency. Goes to show that in a massive alert scenario, that calling 911 will likely yield a busy signal unless you get in early.

Soon I took to Facebook where my friends and others were commenting on the situation. In about a half hour it was agreed and known among many that the emergency texts were a false alarm.

Surely someone at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has to take responsibility for this major false alarm. A breaking news article published at the Honolulu Star Advertiser website stated that an “employee pushed the wrong button,” during a shift change.

An investigation is likely pending. Governor David Ige had a few words to say at this press conference today (KHON TV video):

Vern T. Miyagi, Administrator for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency says they are investigating the incident and procedures. He did not or was not able to answer questions as to who specifically pressed the button at the agency and why not all cell phone users got the emergency text message.

The Governor and agency have stated that they will not let this type of false alarm happen again.

There likely will be further news, discussion and legislative hearings on this in the coming days and weeks.

Hawaii can rest assured, that despite the dire warning and short term panic, that today’s “missile attack” was not the real thing. Perhaps it is a wake-up call to bring this issue to the forefront and help us be prepared for the next time.

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January 1, 2018

First Sunrise & Full Moon of 2018

2018 started off with a spectacular full moon (a rarity for the first day of the year) and sunrise as captured in these images taken from Diamond Head Lookout in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. Sunrise viewers had to get up early to catch the sunrise which occurred slightly after 7:08 a.m. in the morning.

The hour leading up to sunrise was filled with a starlit sky that gradually became the first morning on the new year, as the sun’s light slowly turned night into day.

It is hoped that with the dawn of a new day as well as a new year, that 2018 will be a year filled with peace, love and prosperity. Here’s wishing all of our readers the best in the new year.

The sun rises in the east between the island of Maui and Lanai (above and below). Photos taken by Mel on January 1, 2018.

Spectators take in the sight of the new day in the new year of 2018.

The full moon which made an appearance on this first day of the new year of 2018, slowly left Hawaii as it moved on to Eastern Asia. Early risers were treated to the rare sight of a new year’s full moon setting about a half hour before sunrise. These two photos show the moon setting behind the bulk of Diamond Head mountain on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

More photos can be found on the Hawaii Files Flickr page. Images and text by Melvin Ah Ching.

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