Contact and Ticket Information

7 p.m., January 12, 2008
The Hawaii Theatre
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Tickets can be purchased from the Hawaii Theatre Center in person, online and by phone.

1130 Bethel Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Hours: 9 to 5,
Tuesday through Saturday

Phone: (808) 528-0506

hawaiitheatre.com/boxoffice.html

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Prices:
$125, $75, $55, $35

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Jean Evans (537-5966 x209)
Beth-Ann Kozlovich (x206)

 

 

Heartfelt mahalo to our sponsors:

David Cornwell/First Light Pictures

First Annual “Breathe Concert” Will Unite Allies in the Fight for Lung Health in Hawaii

Hawaii’s Entertainers To Sing the Praises Of Smokeless Air in Public Spaces

HONOLULU, HI – • Ten percent of Hawaii’s children are asthmatic, the second highest rate in the country. Children of Hawaiian and Japanese descent suffer at two and three times the national rate respectively. • Hawaii has the second highest tuberculosis rate in the country. • More than 154,000 Hawaii residents are afflicted with lung disease, including asthma, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. • New Year’s Eve fireworks so foul our air that the state receives a “D” each year for short-term particulate air pollution. • Nearly 40,200 Hawaii children (14 percent of the state’s youth total) are at risk of secondhand cigarette smoke exposure inside the home, according to the Hawaii Department of Health. • Hawaii’s law that prohibits smoking in public indoor places has been under attack by those who want to roll back the law.

Despite our state’s reputation for health, Hawaii clearly has unresolved health issues. The American Lung Association of Hawaii (ALAH) therefore is resolved to begin 2008 by rallying support in the community to advance the cause of lung health.

The first annual “Breathe Concert—Clean Air for Everyone” featuring a top lineup of Hawaii entertainers will begin at 7 p.m. on January 12^th at the Hawaii Theater. Among more than 20 entertainers are numerous Hoku and Po`Okela award winners. ALAH Executive Director Jean Evans said Hawaii’s finest entertainers will lend their support to retaining existing laws that protect the quality of the indoor air in which they perform. The concert will be held four days before the State Legislature convenes.

“Our timing is no coincidence,” Evans said. “Passage of the law that prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants, airports, offices and all other public spaces was a milestone in public health. We must protect this pro-health law and focus attention on the necessity to retain and strengthen it during the 2008 legislative session. In addition, we must continue our funding to support adults and children who suffer from asthma and other chronic pulmonary diseases. This fabulous concert will help us do that.”

Entertainer and ALAH Board member Cathy Foy-Mahi is chairing The Breathe Concert. Foy said she gladly accepted the invitation to lead this major fundraising effort because she knows the importance of clean indoor air. “I sing for a living and can’t tolerate smoking where I earn my livelihood,” Foy said. “The new no-smoking law is a hit among all the entertainers because it will extend our careers, as well as our lives. The evidence continues to support the fact that secondhand smoke kills!”

Loretta Ables is another island entertainer who supports the new law and the concert. “I am asthmatic and suffered for years singing in public while surrounded by smokers,” said Ables, who will play Bloody Mary in Lincoln Center Theater’s forthcoming production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. “It was especially difficult when cigar smoking was the rage and we would literally have groups of 10-20 people coming in surrounding us and lighting up cigars. The air was so thick you could hardly see through it. I absolutely could not breathe, and my doctors said I was in serious risk of losing my voice altogether because of the secondhand smoke. I totally support the cause, the concert and the fight for clean air!”

Song Written and Recorded for Concert

Foy has spearheaded the creation of a signature song titled “Breathe” that was written for the ALAH and its concert by composer Johnson Enos. The song, arranged by Kenneth Makuakane of the multi-award winning group The Pandanus Club, was recorded in Hawaii at the Avex Studios by several noted island entertainers. Local broadcasters have been asked to give the song significant airplay leading up to the January 12^th concert.

The ALAH revealed earlier this year that 44 percent of the 1,400 students surveyed about at-home smoking said someone in their home smokes. “These results suggest that far too many family members seem unaware that their smoking habit is harming their children,” Evans said. “We must continue our work to spread the word to smokers that the health of their entire family can be improved now and for decades to come if they accept our help and quit.”

-- Hawaii joined 13 others states in prohibiting smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, when it implemented a new law in November 2006. The law is a health-protection measure that safeguards everyone in those locations from secondhand smoke, a proven health hazard. Evans said the ALAH supports clean air quality -- inside and outdoors -- and is working to ensure that the dangers of secondhand smoke are well understood by our community.

“The Breathe Concert will be our largest event in years and will help us continue our efforts,” Evans said. “We welcome the support of everyone who enjoys clean air and ask them to join us on January 12^th for this important fundraising event.”

• Rocky Brown – member of the original Broadway Cast of Miss Saigon; successful career both in New York and the Philippines; has performed at Carnegie Hall and featured with the Honolulu Symphony.

• Keahi Conjugacion – award-winning jazz singer and recording artist whose stylings are reminiscent of Dinah Washington and Etta James.

• Tony Conjugacion – one of Hawaii’s versatile and talented artists; Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year for his “Hawaiian Passion” album.

• Danny Couch –- singer and composer who has won several Na Hoku and Hawaiian Music awards; has performed with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones and many others.

• Diamond Head Theatre Shooting Stars – children’s performing group that has appeared in numerous island venues over the past dozen years.

• Yvonne Elliman – the Hawaii native was cast as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, resulting in instant fame; numerous recordings, including “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”

• Cathy Foy-Mahi – one of Hawaii’s most versatile entertainers; recording artist, concert performer in New York, Hawaii, Japan and Europe; original cast member of Song of Singapore; three-time Po`Okela Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical; New York Outer Critics Circle Award nominee.

• Raiatea Helm – at 23, the Molokai native is heralded as the successor to entertainment greats Aunty Genoa Keawe and Amy Hanaialii Gilliom; won Na Hoku awards as Female Vocalist of the Year and Most Promising Artist for her debut CD when she was 17.

• Ka Hale I o Kahala Halau Hula - Kumu Hula Leimomi Maldonado

• The Rev. Dennis David Kamakahi – Grammy and Na Hoko Award-winning slack key guitar master, singer and composer.

• Kristian Lei – played lead role in a Miss Saigon production in Germany; stage credits include the Hawaii Opera Theatre production of The King and I; Entertainer of the Year, Filipino Centennial 2006.

• Zanuck Lindsey – Hoku award-winning guitarist for Best Jazz Album in 2000; has performed around the world, from Hawaii to the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Mexico, Russia and more.

• Shari Lynn – veteran of numerous stage musicals, including Gypsy, where she routinely stops the show with “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

• Shawna Masuda – a 2005 Aiea High School graduate, she’s already starred in Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast and Kismet in local theater.

• Guy Merola – an active member of Hawai`i’s musical community since his arrival in 1980, with leading roles at Diamond Head Theatre and Manoa Valley Theater; featured in Friends and Nabors Christmas Show.

• Angela Morales and daughter Sheldeen Morales – Angela is one-third of Na Hoku-winning Na Leo, Hawaii’s first group to successfully cross the line between “Hawaiian” music and the adult contemporary music format. Sheldeen is following in her mother’s musical footsteps.

• Aaron J. Sala – considered a “mega-talent among young Hawaiian artists;” a vocal arranger and noted for his “Hawaiian swing” piano and his choral arrangements for the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest. Aaron is doing graduate work in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii

• Jordan Segundo – a Top 32 finalist in Season Two of “American Idol”; has performed with The Honolulu Symphony and at the Pro Bowl; played a leading role in the Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production of The King and I.

• Afatia Thompson – a former UH Warrior running back, Afatia mixes songs based on his Christian faith with Polynesian music and soft rap. Winner of 2007 Na Hoku Award for Best R&B Hip Hop Album

• Destination Groove Dance Hawaii – dancers will be the winners of the only televised dance competition program in Hawaii.

The Sponsors

Sponsors of The Breathe Concert to date include Koga Engineering & Construction; Grace Pacific Corporation; Drs. Liz Tam and Mark Grattan; Central Pacific Bank; HASR Wine Company;  Wendy Akita, and Evan Cohen. Media sponsors include the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, KGMB-TV, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, KSSK, Honolulu Magazine, TV-Mail, David Cornwell/First Light Pictures, FCA Hawaii Printing, Island Family, and Asiaconnections.com. The ALAH is a private 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that was founded on Kauai in 1929; it is the oldest voluntary health organization in Hawaii. The organization’s mission is to prevent lung disease and to promote lung health through research, education, and advocacy.