Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 2013 — Elvis in Hawaiʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Elvis in Hawaiʻi

On Jan. 14, 1973, Aloha From Hawai'i was beamed live via satellite to 1.5 hillion people in 40 eountries worldwide. No other event, including the televised walk of the first man on the moon, was seen by so many. The round-the-world concert will be recreated 40 years later, to the day. Big screens will fill the NBC Arena. The

experience of the evening, created by Elvis Presley Enterprises, is all the footage of The King, edited and accompanied by Dolby 5 . 1 surround sound. The 20 1 3 concert will begin at 7:30 in the evening and the ticket price is $35 through Ticketmaster. That night, 40 years ago, brought out every Hawai'i Elvis fan. They carpooled from 'Ewa, they took the bus from Kailua and even walked all the way from Papakōlea, making their way to the HIC (Honolulu International Center) now called the NBC, the Neal Blaisdell Center. The fans were asked to pay "what

they could afford" for a ticket. Some tickets sold for $10, others for $200. The funds raised, over $75,000, would go to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund, to honor

the memory of Hawai'i's beloved singer-songwriter. To be live on the other side of the world, the show began well after midnight. Young children were rocked to sleep, napping until show time when the sound of Elvis singing "Blue Suede Shoes" rocked them awake. Hawai'i's deep love of Elvis began in the 1960s when he performed at Block Arena, raising over $60,000 for the buildin2 of the USS Arizona

Memorial. For the next six months at the WWII Valor in the Paeihe Nahonal Monument Visitor Center, Elvis fans will find a special display recounting the story. Leading up to the big show, Elvis fans ean make their way to the Legends in Concert Waikīkī showroom at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikīkī for a "Conversation with Elvis, Hawaiian Style," an evening of "Elvis Gospel Performance" and another show with tribute artists competing for a ehanee to try for the nahonal Elvis tribute title at Graceland. Click on elvis. eom/aloha for show and event details. — Lynn Cook ■

Elvis in Hawai'i, with Tom Moffatt. - Courtesy photo