LIHU‘E — When Larry Rivera, one of Kaua‘i’s Living Treasures, goes on tour, he’ll be no different than other celebrities on a road trip.
“I’m going to be on KSSK with Larry Price and then I’m meeting with someone from an Internet radio station that will be broadcasting from Waikiki to all parts of the world,” said Rivera, excited about the upcoming tour to Honolulu.
Rivera was on hand to perform music from his eighth, and what he describes as his final, CD which was released Sunday at Borders Books and Music in Lihu‘e.
“He doesn’t know this yet, but he’s also been invited to perform with Melveen Leed at the Elks Club,” said Carol Courtney of Coco Palms Music. “He’s definitely going to be doing a lot of performing.”
Lavishing generous helpings of anecdotes about Coco Palms Resort, Rivera worked through the various numbers with the help of Richard Beach on bass and Ilima Rivera, one of his daughters.
“We were at a baptismal and I came right after that so I don’t know how, or what, I’m going to do,” Rivera said to Maria Henderson, a visitor from England who stopped to catch the performance.
Although billed as a compilation of his classics, Rivera slips in a few numbers he composed recently, giving a thumbs up as he talks about Charlie Perreira of Moloa‘a, a longtime Coco Palms employee and a maker of Hawaiian style fishnets.
That is described in “Charlie’s Song.” Add to that the performance of “I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye to America,” which he gave at the recent Veterans Day parade, and more recently, “Father Damien,” which coincided with the visit of the relic of Saint Damien of Moloka‘i.
“Do any of you know how to get ahold of Bette Midler or Celine Dion?” Rivera asked. “I would love to have them perform ‘I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye to America.’”
Directed by Ron Pendragon, Rivera also got help from Paul Togioka, nominated for an Emmy earlier this year, in “Mokihana Mountain,” and got the audience fully involved in “The Honeybee Song” where he had the ladies doing one background part and the men doing another.
In speaking of his Friday night performance at Waimea Theater where Rivera said he hasn’t stepped foot in since he was 7 years old, he pointed out two songs which have special meaning to him on the CD.
“The hall was full of spirits of people I knew — my parents, my grandparents, and a lot of Kaua‘i people from the past,” Rivera said, noting “Days of My Youth,” composed by the late Kui Lee, as one of the non-Larry Rivera compositions. “I could feel them there.”
“Kamalani,” the title tune which describes the legend of the frog that is his birthmark, has been recorded by at least 15 artists and groups, but no one has made it the title of their CD, Rivera said.
Courtney said for more history on Coco Palms in the Larry Rivera style, visit www.thelarryrivera.com.
•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
