PBS Hawaii Weekly Newsletter - AUGUST 23 - AUGUST 29

Aloha mai kakou from Leslie Wilcox, President and CEO...

Hawaii oldtimers will remember jitneys, the sturdy old limos, open-air station wagons, and vans which were operated by entrepreneurial private citizens. They filled the seats with riders and dropped off each passenger at home. It wasn’t a speedy commute, but it wasn’t a bad transportation alternative.

FILIPINO AMERICAN LIVES Delano Manongs / Jeepney (image) A version of jitneys, “Jeepneys” (pictured) are still very much on the roads in the Philippines. They are modified and ornately personalized former military Jeeps left behind by American soldiers after World War II.

The story of Jeepneys is just one story in a series of three upcoming films showcasing Filipino culture and the historical relationship between the US and the Philippines. In Hawaii, people of part or full Filipino ancestry are said to comprise a quarter of Hawaii’s population.

Here’s the timetable for FILIPINO AMERICAN LIVES, airing Saturday, August 29:

FILIPINO AMERICAN LIVES Harana (image) --At 8:00 pm, Harana: The Search for the Lost Art of Serenade is the story of Florante, a classically trained guitarist who returns from the U.S. to the Philippines after 12 years. He rediscovers the music of harana, an almost forgotten tradition where men sing under the window at night to declare their love for a woman. And he meets three of the last surviving practitioners.

--At 9:00 pm, Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the United Farm Workers tells the story of farm labor organizer Larry Itliong and a group of Filipino farm workers who instigated The Delano Grape Strike of 1965 in California, bringing about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW). Also in this hour, the film Jeepney follows the artists, drivers and passengers of these flamboyantly ubiquitous vehicles.



We’re following up on a previous program looking at how U.S. veterans in Hawaii are being served by the Veterans Administration. The next INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAII (Thurs., Aug. 27, 8:00 pm) asks: What's Standing Between Hawaii's Veterans and Full Use of Their Benefits? This time, a VA official has agreed to be with us in studio alongside a veteran and other guests.

INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAII is a live public affairs show that is also live streamed on PBSHawaii.org. Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email, or Twitter. You may also email your questions ahead of time to insights@pbshawaii.org or post them to our Facebook page www.facebook.com/PBSHawaii.


Here are other highlights of the week ahead on PBS Hawaii:



PBS Hawaii Presents Hidden Leagacy: Japanese Traditional 
Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps (image) Bay Area koto artist and filmmaker Shirley Muramoto’s film Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps premieres on PBS HAWAII PRESENTS (Thurs., Aug. 27, 9:00 pm). Through historical footage and interviews with artists who were interned, this documentary tells the story of how traditional Japanese cultural arts were maintained at a time when the War Relocation Authority emphasized the importance of assimilation and Americanization. Featured are artists in the fields of music, dance and drama who were interned at Tule Lake and Manzanar in California, Amache/Granada in Colorado, Rohwer in Arkansas, Gila River in Arizona and Topaz in Utah.



VICIOUS  Sister The UK comedy series VICIOUS (Sun., Aug. 23, 9:30 pm) returns, with Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as partners Freddie and Stuart, who have lived together in a small London flat for nearly 50 years. The partners make snide remarks aimed at the other’s age, appearance and flaws, but underneath their co-dependent fighting, they have a deep love for each other. In the season opener, they try to help their neighbor Violet cope with panic over an impending visit from her sister.



POV Point and Shoot (image) Matt VanDyke was a recent college grad with a love of action movies when he decided to embark on a self-described “crash course in manhood.” POV Point and Shoot (Mon., Aug. 24, 10:00 pm), chronicles how VanDyke, with a video camera, set off on a 35,000-mile odyssey across North Africa and the Middle East that led to his participation in the 2011 Libyan revolution. Drawing from more than 100 hours of VanDyke’s videos, director Marshall Curry, with full creative independence, has made a film that asks thorny questions about manhood, personal risk and the nature of war in the era of social media.



Coming up Tuesday, August 25 are two specials that are part food program, part travelogue and part appreciation of workers who start early in the morning so that we have wonderful things to eat all day:

A FEW GOOD PIE PLACES Frank shows off a delicious pie (image) --At 8:00 pm, A Few Good Pie Places is a tour of pie shops from New York to Montana. We meet the bakers who are experts in making dough and creating the fruity, creamy fillings and the lattice tops. Pictured: Baker Frank Ruzomberka of Grant Bar in Millvale, PA, with his coconut cream pie.




A FEW GREAT BAKERIES Narusuke baking (image) --Then at 9:00 pm, on A Few Great Bakeries, we find out how the businesses that make cakes, pies, bread and bagels become neighborhood landmarks. We visit small, family-run bakeries from Maine to Alaska, with many stops along the way. Pictured: Baker Narusuke Monguchi at Mahoroba Japanese Bakery in Sacramento, CA.






GREAT PERFORMANCES Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2015 (image) GREAT PERFORMANCES (Fri., Aug. 28, 9:00 pm) presents the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2015, the annual event performed in the gardens of Austria’s Imperial Schonbrunn Palace. Zubin Mehta conducts, with pianist Rudolf Buchbinder as soloist in works by Grieg, Sibelius, Richard Strauss and Johann Strauss II.




Encore pick of the week:

JAZZ AND THE PHILHARMONIC Chick Corea and Dave Grusin (image) Jazz and the Philharmonic (Fri., Aug. 28, 10:30 pm) highlights two great musical art forms: classical and jazz. Performers including Terence Blanchard, Chick Corea (pictured right), Dave Gruisin (pictured left), Bobby McFerrin and others commemorate the works of composers such as Bach and Mozart. The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra from the University of Miami Frost School of Music and National YoungArts Foundation alumni are also featured.



For more program listings by genre, click here.

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A hui hou kakou — until next time,
Leslie

Leslie Wilcox 
President and CEO 
PBS Hawaii 
2350 Dole St. 
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 
Ph. 808.372.6055 

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