The 70's Nightclub Reunion in retrospect..Part II

With the Ilikai Hotel in limbo due to the change in ownership, the Ala Moana Hotel recognizing Candy’s talents hired her as their new Director of Catering, and with that the event was given new life in a new home!  Reunion III in 2007 drew some 850 people and Reunion IV in May of 2008 set a new record with 950+ in attendance.
  
The basic theme and concept of this event is to feature bands from the 70's Nightclub era, with their actual members to reunite and perform on stage as one.  We remain true to this idea and formula today as we head into our fifth year.  No promoter was willing to take the time to do what it takes to do this the “right way.”  There were “half-hearted” attempts in the past to feature a local recording artist from the 70’s as the headliner, supported throughout the night by what was purported to be local 70’s bands from the era.  However, what actually transpired were one or two members of these 70’s bands performing with a house band, disguising themselves as the real thing.  We did not want to take this same illusionary approach.  Instead, we made sure that the leader of each participating band would be on stage performing, and that only after every effort was exhausted to bring together original members that substitute members could be used to complete their lineup.  Unfortunately, as even we found out, because of the passage of time there were instances where several members might have passed away, and/or some band members just “disappeared” and/or were just difficult to locate. 
 
Many members of bands from the 70's era did relocate out of the state of Hawaii, and to our best knowledge our event is the only one committed to financially assisting band members to return to the state so that they can rejoin their band-mates on stage once again.  Since our event has no "promoter pockets to fill", we are able to fit this into the budget and take responsibility of the cost of airfare for all band members flying in from the mainland U.S. and neighbor islands to participate in our event.  Our main purpose financially is to cover our expenses and not be in the “red” at the end of the night.  Some people may have the perception that someone is making a “killing” by the number of attendees at our event, but, this is far from the truth.  I for example in my role as the coordinator of entertainment and promotions am paid the same rate as the rest of my band members in Greenwood for a 45 minute set, not a cent more or less. The bottom line is we believe and choose to participate year after year to make this event successful. We do so not for money, but for the right reason, for the love of it. There are no hidden agendas, its just plain and simple, good fun!
 

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @