"Babe" covered by PHASE VII at the 70s Nightclub Reunion IX FINAL show!

Final teaser from Supes. This one is sweet & cool. Teddy Compehos fronting Phase VII for the Styxx classic "Babe". Classic......Sweet........Cool!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

"Addicted to Love" covered by NUEVA VIDA at the 70s Nightclub Reunion IX...

Another Supes' teaser from the final 70's Nightclub Reunion!!!! Cool!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

"Get Down Tonight" covered by GREENWOOD at the 70s Nightclub Reunion IX ...

A little teaser courtesy of Supes of the number our band has opened the 70's Nightclub Reunion series for 8 out of the 9 events!!! Cool Supes!!! Thank you!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

"I Wish" covered by POWERPOINT at the 70s Nightclub Reunion IX FINAL show!

A little tidbit from the final 70's Nightclub Reunion courtesy of the event's official doorman Supes!!!! Cool!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

"The Bird" covered by AURA at the 70s Nightclub Reunion IX FINAL show!

A rough cut of a segment of the 70's Nightclub Reunion IX DVD that Irwin is working on. A cut of Aura doing "The Bird" as only they can do it. Cool!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

70's NCR IX Revisited by John Berger

On the Scene
For Sunday, June 19, 2011

By John Berger

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 19, 2011


JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
Robin Kimura, left, founder and producer of the ’70s Nightclub Reunion dance concerts, talked with guest of honor Aiko Mendoza; her daughters, Aura vocalists Beverley Mendoza Orbello and Christine Mendoza Olanda; and Aura singer/musician Adney Atabay at ’70s Nightclub Reunion IX June 11 at the Ala Moana Hotel. A sold-out SRO crowd enjoyed more than five hours of music by five reunited local nightclub bands of the era. Aura capped a long-anticipated reunion performance with an emotional rendition of “If I Could” dedicated to their mother.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
Clark Silva, left, a founding member of Phase VII, caught up with Frank Mendiola of the Kasuals. It was the first NCR appearance for Phase VII and the first time in more than 25 years that a majority of the founding members had played together. They closed the evening in impressive style. If the six original members of the Kasuals are ever able to synchronize their individual work commitments here, on the mainland and Guam, there’ll almost certainly be an NCR X.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
Roy Yonashiro, left, recalled old times with Ann Gima and her husband, retro fashion fan Harry Gima. Yonashiro’s band, Natural High, reunited for NCR VI in 2009. Harry enjoyed the challenge of searching used local clothing stores for authentic ’70s fashions to wear at each show.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
Ala Moana Hotel director of catering Candi Au, left, checked in with assistant general manager Ron Takayama and his wife, Ellen, while they were helping hotel staffers check tickets and issue ID bands.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
Dennis Mendoza (Aura), left, Sandy Pascual (Phase VII), Hemmingway Jasmin (Phase VII), “Little Albert” Maligmat and Michael Mendoza (Aura) renewed old friendships outside the ballroom. Pascual, a founding member of Phase VII, and Michael Mendoza came back to Hawaii from the mainland for the show. It was the first time in more than 16 years that all eight Mendoza siblings had played together — and they commemorated the event with a limited-edition Aura T-shirt and a “Souvenir Time Line” booklet. Both items sold well.

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

Phase VII 2011 70's Nightclub Reunion IX

YouTube is so amazing, it's not more than a couple of days that the event is over and a part of Phase VII's performance is already available to see. Phase VII, like you would have seen them in the 70's at the Infinity, Hawaiian Hut or Da Sting.......of course with more hair back then. Cool!!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

Tidbit written by Roger Bong from Aloha Got Soul

Aloha Got Soul
THE AUTHORITY ON HAWAIIAN FUNK, JAZZ, AND SOUL MUSIC.


EVENTS, FUNK, LIVE!, PHOTOGRAPHY, SOUL
Something to Shout About: The Final 70s Night Club Reunion
POSTED BY ROGER BONG ⋅ JUNE 13, 2011

FILED UNDER 70S NIGHT CLUB REUNION, 70S NIGHTCLUB REUNION DVD, ALA MOANA HIBISCUS BALLROOM, AURA HAWAII BAND, AURA MENDOZA FAMILY, AURA REUNION, HAWAIIAN DISCO, HAWAIIAN FUNK, HAWAIIAN MUSIC BLOG, HAWAIIAN SUPERMAN, LIL ALBERT HAWAII, NUEVA VIDA HAWAII, PAULINE WILSON 70S REUNION, PHASE VII REUNION, POWER POINT HAWAII MUSIC, WAIKIKI 70S CLUBS, WAIKIKI DISCOS
Forty years in the making, the last reunion concert featuring Hawaii’s biggest disco, funk, soul and R&B acts from the seventies finally came to an end Saturday night at the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom.

Pauline Wilson captivated the crowd.

It was a blast, every band went all out, everyone was in high spirits. The dancefloor was jam-packed from the very first song to the last!

For now, some thoughts on this year’s 70s Night Club Reunion (the last of its kind, although we hope that isn’t totally true!). More photos and more stuff soon.

Nueva Vida was a surprise hit (for me, at least). Triple threat of singers, including Carla Young, Lil Albert and Pauline Wilson. Young did a stellar version of Us3′s “Cantaloop.”
Remember when I said Babadu was the Hawaiian Stevie Wonder? I was only partly correct. Lil Albert powered the house with smashing, Wonder-ful vocals. He was good.
And Pauline Wilson. Of the handful of songs she performed with Nueva Vida, the crowd went wild for her.
Power Point: another unexpected hit (probably because I had no idea what to expect in the first place). Super high energy, all smiles, very very funky.
Greenwood: first band up. Tight as ever. Dance floor filled in seconds.
Aura rocked the ballroom and it was almost impossible to move toward the stage. It was packed.
I met a lot of cool ‘club’goers who wondered why a 23-year-old was hanging out at the reunion show. The stories they told me about Waikiki’s clubs—like The Point After and Hula Hut—packed every night with outstanding house bands that kept the night going on and on.

Makes me wish my generation had something at least close to 1970s Honolulu. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same if it happened today.

Lil Albert belts it out.

Memory lane aka a half dozen display boards filled with memorabilia from tons of bands were out in the hotel lobby, featuring newspaper clippings, flyers and posters from: Natural High, Mackey Feary Band, Greenwood, Phase VII, Power Point and so many others that I need to go back and look through my photos again.

When Natural High reunited for the 70s NCR a few years back, tickets sold out in 5 minutes. No joke: all tickets were gone in 5 minutes. Can somebody please play me one of their records?

And Phase VII. Last band up. The ‘horniest’ band around I heard someone saw. Every person in the crowd watched them with smiles of nostalgia while singing along to the songs of their youth.

Everyone had a good time, so much that the performance went over 30+ minutes—maybe an hour? Hotel staff eventually turned on the house lights for the last two songs of Phase VII, but people kept dancing and Phase VII kept singing!

Nobody wanted it to end…


Aura brought the funk.

Power Point funked it up big time.
Big thanks to Irwin aka ‘Supes‘, Candy Au of Ala Moana Hotel and Rob Kimura of Greenwood for organizing these reunions for the past seven+ years.

Missed out on the action? Buy the live DVD set of the 70s Night Club Reunion!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

Midlife Crisis' Rodney Lee's 70's NCR Recap

Rodney Lee has and is a huge proponent of all the retro music happenings around town and especially the 70's Nightclub Reunion series. Here's Rod's recap of the evening. Thanks Rod for all you do. You and your wife Paula are simply cool!!!

70′s Nightclub Reunion IX – Recap
Jun 12, 2011
Whew! What a night. Greenwood, Aura, Nueva Vida with Pauline Wilson, Power Point, and Phase VII.

As is the tradition, Greenwood started the night off. Before they could get to the chorus of their first song - Get Down Tonight – the dance floor was overflowing. And the dance floor stayed that way for the rest of the evening. The music was pumping and the electricity was flowing.

After snapping a few pictures, Paula and I jumped in to the sea of people. The songs flowed one into each other and there was no time to get off the dance floor. There was a chicken-skin moment when Greenwood started playing Summer Sun by the Jamestown Massacre. The whole dance floor was singing along!

And leading into Greenwood’s hana hou song, Robin Kimura took a stroll down MLC lane and asked how many people remember going to dances at Manoa Gym, Kaimuki Gym, and Nuuanu Y. Then they broke out with One Fine Morning by Lighthouse. As Robin explained it, One Fine Morning was symbolic as they felt like they came full circle from those days that they played the high school circuit.

The crowd wanted more.

Then Aura hit the stage. Aura rocked the house with Journey and other tunes from the late 70′s and early 80′s. I really mean it when I say they “rocked” the house. I felt like I was back at the Point After.

Next up was Nueva Vida. As I mentioned, the dance floor was packed shoulder to shoulder. But most of the people were just watching Nueva Vida perform. It was almost like attending a concert! Nueva Vida was solid. The sound was so polished. And when Pauline Wilson started singing Follow Your Road, the place went nuts!

As I was talking to Robin Kimura earlier in the night, he said that he was listening to Pauline Wilson playing with Nueva Vida earlier in the day during the sound check – and he was getting chicken skin. And when Pauline started singing Follow Your Road, I knew exactly what Robin was talking about. Chicken skin.

The fourth band up was Power Point. What can I say. When Power Point plays – it’s a party. Those guys have so much energy up on the stage. And that energy flows down to the dance floor. Mention Power Point to me and I immediately hear “When we party – we party hardy! When we boogie – we boogie woogie!“. If anyone was starting to fall asleep, Power Point woke them up!

Then to wrap up this memorable event, Phase VII took us through to the rest of the night. I knew I should’ve had a 5 Hour Energy earlier in the evening. I was mostly glued to my seat, enjoying Phase VII. But the Hawaii ’72 folks – they couldn’t be bothered squeezing in to the crowded dance floor. They just got up and were dancing at their table. Paula included. Sally called it their Flash Mob. LOL

And they weren’t the only ones. Other tables jumped on the bandwagon and started dancing at their tables too. It was almost like the whole ballroom became one huge dance floor! It was quite a sight to see. And quite an experience.

As the house lights went on and it was time to leave, we hung around – mostly because we didn’t want this night to end. But after the house lights went off and on a couple of time, we caught the hint and slowly headed out. But in the lobby, Sally caught Pauline Wilson and told her what a wonderful job they did. And Sally knows when a photo op presents itself, she asked Pauline if she’d pose for some pictures.


Photo courtesy of Sally


Photo courtesy of Sally

I was sharing with Pauline Wilson that when she sang Follow Your Road, it was a highlight of the evening. Pauline said that she couldn’t let the night go by without singing it for everyone. Thanks Pauline!

A big mahalo to Robin Kimura of Greenwood and Candy Au of the Ala Moana Hotel Catering office for putting together yet another successful and memorable 70′s Nightclub Reunion – the Final one. We’re sad to see it end. But we’re thankful for all the hard work that you and the band members put in to allow us to relive our younger days – even if just for one night.

And thanks to Sally, opso, snow, konaish, Yuki and friends, and Funkshun’s Frances Quinlan for joining us at table #29. We had a blast!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

Pauline Wilson at the 70's Nightclub Reunion Hawaii

Great footage of Hawaii diva Pauline Wilson singing Seawind hit Follow Your Road. What a treat for all who were in attendance, Saturday, June 11, 2011 at the Final 70's Nightclub Reunion at the Ala Moana Hotel. Cool!!!

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @

Aura Revisited-John Berger

Nobody knows the entertainment scene in Hawaii like John Berger. Going back to his early days in journalism, John had the "IT" factor getting the stories out. Today's story about the Mendoza family is the exact reason why Robin Kimura who originally got together with Candy Au to come up with the 70's Nightclub Reunion. As the 70's Nightclub Reunion series comes to a close, the bands on hand for its finale gives the exclamation point this event.




70s Aura revisited
The Mendoza siblings’ band will reunite to make their mother’s dream come true

By John Berger

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 10, 2011


A MOTHER’S dream will come true Saturday for Aiko Mendoza when the nightclub band Aura plays a long-anticipated reunion set at Robin Kimura’s ’70s Nightclub Reunion IX at the Ala Moana Hotel.

Mendoza’s eight children — Dennis, Del, Brian, Michael, Cliff, Vincent, Beverly and Christine — were the core of the group throughout its long run as one of Hawaii’s most popular groups of the 1970s and ’80s, and this will be the first time in more than 16 years that all will be on stage together.

“She’s in a care center right now but we’ve made special provisions — the nurses, the transport, everything has been arranged (so) she will definitely be there,” Aura leader Dennis Mendoza said earlier this week, while the group was setting up for a rehearsal at Big Mike’s Pro Sounds, a warehouse and rehearsal space in Waipahu.

’70s NIGHTCLUB REUNION IX

Where: Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $40-$50
Info: 944-4333 or www.70snightclubreunion.com

Dennis, Del and Brian Mendoza are coming out of retirement for the show. The younger brothers are full-time musicians in Las Vegas, taking time off from their regular gigs to return home to join their siblings on stage.
Dennis Mendoza says his mother, who is battling dementia and recovering from a stroke, seems to have perked up since learning of the reunion show.

“… Every time we see her that’s the first thing that comes out of her: ‘Where are you guys playing? When is the band getting back together again?’ She always remembers that. We’re definitely doing it for Mom,” he said.

Music was always a shared experience for the Mendoza family. Dennis and Beverly were professionals by the time they finished high school. Their brothers and sisters joined them in the years that followed. Dennis (keyboards), Del (guitar) and Brian (bass) were the instrumental core of the group. Vincent, the youngest, became the group’s drummer shortly before Aura opened in 1976 at the Point After nightclub in what was then the Hawaiian Regent Hotel (now the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa).

Many of Hawaii’s top pop bands of the era got their start playing school dances or social club events. From there, if they were good enough, they were booked for Richard Sumiye’s “Wanna Take You Higher” hotel ballroom parties or his Magic Mushroom club. Some made the jump to nightclubs in Waikiki or its environs.

Aura — known in its earliest days as the Nomads or Beverly & the Nomads — came up through the military club circuit and engagements in some of the rougher civilian clubs. The crowds in those places liked funk and soul over Top 40 pop, and Aura came to “The Point” with a repertoire that appealed to the club’s cosmopolitan clientele.

One thing everyone remembered about the band was the horn section — loud, rich and tight. Another, of course, was the two “girl singers” up front. Female vocalists were always a draw in Waikiki in those days because there weren’t many of them. Aura had two, and they definitely were there to sing and not merely serve as eye candy.

Nowadays, Aura would be called a “cover band,” but although the group played other artists’ hits, the members’ skill as arrangers and their charisma on the club’s small stage won them a large and loyal following.

Completing the 10-piece lineup at Saturday’s show will be “honorary Mendozas” Bill Popaka and Adney Atabay.

Kimura, the promoter and producer of the Nightclub Reunion series, has said this will be the last. His concept from the beginning was to reunite groups that played in local nightclubs in the decade between the early ’70s and mid-’80s. From the beginning, he required groups to perform with their original members, refusing to work with remnants of old groups or contemporary oldies bands.

The other big act playing the event is Phase VII, with six of the seven original members playing their first-ever reunion performance. Kimura’s band, Greenwood, will go on first, and Power Point and Nueva Vida featuring Pauline Wilson complete the bill.

-posted by Cool Tropical Jazz LLC @