Joseph Kekuku's 151st Birthday

[Michael Kiese]

This Friday, Dec 19, is Joseph Kekuku's 151st birthday.

I recently discovered that he is buried in Dover, New Jersey. I'm currently planning to visit some family for the holidays, and Dover is not terribly far out of the travel route. I may pay him a visit.

Finding his gravesite is what made me realize that his birthday is coming up.

Joseph discovered steel guitar at the age of 11, so that makes Steel Guitar about 140 years old.

So "Hau'oli la Hanau" to the inventor of the instrument we all love!

[Rick Aiello]

I heard he was close friends with a guy from Martin guitars and his preference for large bodied guitars ultimately led to the “Dreadnaught” body style … interesting if true

[Mike Neer]

Years ago, Mike Esposito organized a Joseph Kekuku Festival at the Dover Theater. It was going to be a great night, and it still was, but the heavy rains the night before completely flooded the basement of the theater and made getting around very difficult.

Anyway, I performed with the group The Moonlighters, and met Dave Giegrich, Mike Scott and others whom I can’t recall at the moment. It was a pretty cool event that could have been so much better if the weather cooperated.

[Michael Kiese]

I heard he was close friends with a guy from Martin guitars and his preference for large bodied guitars ultimately led to the “Dreadnaught” body style … interesting if true

Aloha Rick,

That's very interesting! You know, a lot of that information was unfortunately lost because it was so long ago.

Hawaiian music really did have a large influence on American music and Jazz. So much of the contributions that Hawaiians have made to music has been lost, and then recovered by historians, and that information is very very slowly diffusing back into consciousness.

But if you know what to listen for, you'll hear the Hawaiian music influence. A lot of Jazz and Country has Hawaiian DNA in their turnarounds and licks.

I have a hunch that the secondary dominant II7 V7 I came from Hawaiian music, and namely the lap steel itself. All that old jazz had dominant chords everywhere, which is the language of steel guitar, which came from Hawaiians.

[Michael Kiese]

Years ago, Mike Esposito organized a Joseph Kekuku Festival at the Dover Theater. It was going to be a great night, and it still was, but the heavy rains the night before completely flooded the basement of the theater and made getting around very difficult.

Anyway, I performed with the group The Moonlighters, and met Dave Giegrich, Mike Scott and others whom I can’t recall at the moment. It was a pretty cool event that could have been so much better if the weather cooperated.

That's really cool to know! I used to wonder how the sacred steel players were introduced to Hawaiian steel, and I noted that most of the sacred steel based gospel churches are in the New Jersey, and New York areas of the country.

Once I found out that Joseph Kekuku himself is buried in New Jersey, that question was answered.

[Glenn Wilde]

I heard he was close friends with a guy from Martin guitars and his preference for large bodied guitars ultimately led to the “Dreadnaught” body style … interesting if true

I have put a raised nut on my D28 and let me say that it makes a fine steel guitar.

[Glenn Wilde]

This Friday, Dec 19, is Joseph Kekuku's 151st birthday.

I recently discovered that he is buried in Dover, New Jersey. I'm currently planning to visit some family for the holidays, and Dover is not terribly far out of the travel route. I may pay him a visit.

Finding his gravesite is what made me realize that his birthday is coming up.

Joseph discovered steel guitar at the age of 11, so that makes Steel Guitar about 140 years old.

So "Hau'oli la Hanau" to the inventor of the instrument we all love!

Perhaps you can bring your stuff and play him a song!

[Michael Kiese]

Perhaps you can bring your stuff and play him a song!

Yessir, that's the plan!

I was planning to bring my frypan and a Mobile Cube.

Rick Aiello offered to lend me his National because it would be more apropos as Joseph's era was before electrification.

Now I feel pressure to practice up something. I'll be playing for the creator of the steel guitar.

This is how a nice thought becomes work. LOL.

[Rick Aiello]

I got to meet Michael and his lovely wife this afternoon when he picked up the ‘27 Tricone …

Looking forward to the performance video

[Glenn Wilde]

I got to meet Michael and his lovely wife this afternoon when he picked up the ‘27 Tricone …

Looking forward to the performance video

Good on you to loan it to him, ditto on the video

[Chris Templeton]

One of the years I went on Scotty's Jerry Byrd tour, we visited Joseph Kekuku's grave at the Hawaiian Memorial Park Cemetery.

[Michael Kiese]

One of the years I went on Scotty's Jerry Byrd tour, we visited Joseph Kekuku's grave at the Hawaiian Memorial Park Cemetery.

Aloha Chris,

Hawaiian Memorial Park is in Kaneohe, Hawai'i. You likely visited the musician's section of the cemetery right at the front entrance. That's where Gabby Pahinui, Andy Cummings, Atta Isaacs, Benny Rogers, and many other Hawaiian musicians are buried. It's so sweet that they all planned to be buried next to each other. Almost as if so they can easily find one another and play more music in the afterlife.

Joseph Kekuku is the inventor of the steel guitar. He was born in 1874, in Laie Hawai'i, and died in Dover, New Jersey in 1932.

[Michael Kiese]

I got to meet Michael and his lovely wife this afternoon when he picked up the ‘27 Tricone …

Looking forward to the performance video

Yup, it was nice driving out to your part of northern Virginia! First time I ever traveled through there.

It was nice meeting you and your family! I'll be dropping by again soon!

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha All!

So here's the update...

After picking up the Tricone at Rick's house, I drove through Dover, New Jersey as a detour on my way to upstate NY to visit the in-laws for Christmas.

I found Orchard Street Cemetery, but it was dark and the ground was covered with snow. I still got out and looked around, hoping I'd find the bench. But no dice. I was trudging through an old cemetery established in 1851 with a super bright tactical flashlight and a German Shepherd. lol. Must have been entertaining for the locals. And by locals, I mean the ones below ground. lol.

The description of the grave location on findmygrave.com is wrong. It says Joseph's grave is along the South East wall of the cemetery. It's ACTUALLY along the South WEST wall of the cemetery. lol. The person that wrote the description doesn't know their cardinal directions. haha. So I was trudging along the wrong wall of cemetery at night. In the snow. Looking for a marble bench. lol.

Yesterday, I drove back down to Virginia to avoid a cold weather front moving in, and dropped by the cemetery. This time it was daylight. But the weather was cold and wet. The snow turned to slush.

My first inclination was to look along the southeast wall, just to reverify there wasn't a bench in that location. Then I had the inclination to check the opposite wall. Luckily, I did find the bench! Then I tried looking for the grave, but couldn't find it!

As luck would have it, 2 other people were walking through the cemetery at the same time. They were nice and waved at me. I waved back and said "Pardon me, do you happen to know where the Hawaiian is?"

The guy said "YES! He's right here!" lol. Lo and behold there was Joseph and his wife, Adelaide, right next to him.

The 2 people happened to be the leaders of the volunteer organization that stewards the cemetery. Their names were Paul and Barbara Wood. Check out their website at: https://www.orchardstreetgatehouse.org

They told me some stories they knew about Joseph Kekuku. It was cool inside information that's not available online. Not sure of the truth of it so I don't want to include it online. But interesting nonetheless.

Anyways, Paul was kind enough to offer to take my picture with Joseph's headstone. My German Shepherd puppy was getting in the way. haha.

It was just too cold and wet to sit out and play. There was a cold front moving in as well. It wasn't wise to linger too long. I didn't take the tricone out this trip.

But I DID take my insta360 camera out and recorded myself walking through the entrance to the cemetery, leading to the bench and Joseph's grave. I'll be uploading that to my YouTube channel soon. Most likely. haha.

I got to tell Joseph "Hauoli la Hanau", "Mele Kalikimaka", and "Hau'oli Makahiki Hou" all in one visit. (Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year).

I also made a findmygrave account and submitted edits to Joseph's page. I'm glad it exists because I wouldn't have found his grave without it, but it certainly needs some fixing.

Looks like another fun project series! I plan to go out to Joseph's grave again to play for him. The bench is oriented quite nicely, facing Joseph's grave. Inviting players to come by and play for him. Without the bench, I wouldn't have found it at all. It was a very nice thought and appropriate for players of his instrument. We need to sit down and play in our laps.

Mahalo to the kind people who exemplified the Aloha Spirit and installed the bench in Joseph's honor and memory!

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

Enjoy!

[Chris Templeton]

My mistake about Joseph's burial. We must have gone to view other steelers graves.

[Rick Aiello]

Smart … this is some serious cold …

You got a Fender Custom and found Joseph plus you got in some Tricone time … you have to put this trip in the “W” column

[Michael Kiese]

My mistake about Joseph's burial. We must have gone to view other steelers graves.

Yeah, but you still got to visit the graves of a lot of the heavy weights in Hawaiian music history!

It's a very cool location. Lots of mana in that soil...

Not even many locals realize that it's there, and it's in plain sight.

[Michael Kiese]

I heard he was close friends with a guy from Martin guitars and his preference for large bodied guitars ultimately led to the “Dreadnaught” body style … interesting if true

Aloha Rick,

There's a similar story about Major Kealakai, a band leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band: https://youtu.be/opeeSMT9Ijg?si=hBQmUTqEtVN3eQZJ

https://youtu.be/axoaPXgX_ow?si=rXYE62XTllOxmxKs

Please do check out those videos!

Enjoy!

[Nic Neufeld]

Hawaiian Memorial Park is in Kaneohe, Hawai'i. You likely visited the musician's section of the cemetery right at the front entrance. That's where Gabby Pahinui, Andy Cummings, Atta Isaacs, Benny Rogers, and many other Hawaiian musicians are buried. It's so sweet that they all planned to be buried next to each other. Almost as if so they can easily find one another and play more music in the afterlife.

That's a really beautiful spot, been there a couple of times to pay respects. Others to note that are all there in that same spot...Benny Kalama and Charles Kaipo Miller (probably others but those are the ones I spotted/know about).

The other place is Diamond Head Memorial Park over by, well, Diamond Head. Final resting spots for Alfred Apaka, Jules Ah See, Iwalani and Haunani Kahalewai, Billy Hew Len, Barney Isaacs, Jack Pitman, Randy Oness (and unrelated but because I was on an original Hawaii 5-0 kick there for a while...Kam Fong Chun, who played Chin Ho Kelly).

If anyone ever hears of where Andy Iona is buried, likely in California, I'd sure be curious. Could never find anything. Such a great player -and- composer.

For Joseph Kekuku, it is nice at least that they've got a statue of him up in the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie...

[Michael Kiese]

That's a really beautiful spot, been there a couple of times to pay respects. Others to note that are all there in that same spot...Benny Kalama and Charles Kaipo Miller (probably others but those are the ones I spotted/know about).

The other place is Diamond Head Memorial Park over by, well, Diamond Head. Final resting spots for Alfred Apaka, Jules Ah See, Iwalani and Haunani Kahalewai, Billy Hew Len, Barney Isaacs, Jack Pitman, Randy Oness (and unrelated but because I was on an original Hawaii 5-0 kick there for a while...Kam Fong Chun, who played Chin Ho Kelly).

If anyone ever hears of where Andy Iona is buried, likely in California, I'd sure be curious. Could never find anything. Such a great player -and- composer.

For Joseph Kekuku, it is nice at least that they've got a statue of him up in the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie...

Wow, I didn't know about Diamond Head Memorial! Thank you for sharing that, Nic! I'll definitely go there next time I'm back home.

All I could find about Andy Iona is that he is buried in Los Angeles.

Apparently Sol Ho'opi'i is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles County, California

If anyone is ever in LA, it would be great to visit both of them.

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L ... -1902-1966