Samoa Show Featuring Chief Sielu at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu, Hawaii

I have taken my mother on many adventures. She will readily share that she loved them all and usually reminds us that her "all time favorite" was our first trip to Hawaii. In March 2002 She joined my children and I for an adventure that included Maui, Oahu, and Kauai.

This is video from the Samoan show featuring Chief Sielu. He's a pretty big deal. Search his name you'll find his Wikipedia page and so many videos that frankly are better quality than this one. But this was the one that we were at together, the one where my mother got called out of the crowd to taste the juice from a freshly opened coconut. And! She got a few wonderful photos with her crush of the day, Chief Sielu. My daughter Whitney shot the entire video. I was fighting with my very wet, fiercely rained on digital camera. It was year #2 using a digital camera. They had no tolerance for moisture back then.

Occasionally, my Mom claims I tried to kill her twice in Hawaii. 1. I put her on a bike at the top of a volcano on Maui at sunrise. We rode to the ocean. She survived. 2. I rushed to see a green sand beach as the sun was setting on the Big Island, one of the only green sand beaches on the planet. She survived. When she says "my son tried to kill me," That's not true. It's not like she has any money.

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Key Moments:
00:00 Chief Sielu and his band singing and welcoming guests to the Samao Show.
00:00:45 Singing for the Japanese guests.
00:01:42 Confuses someone saying "Ireland" for "Island" and improvs a song.
00:02:25 Selling ice cream before taking a quick break.
00:03:43 Show begins. Samoan greeting, comedy
00:05:20 Men cook in Samoa. Starting the fire with two sticks.
00:06:25 Chief Sielu calls out our photographer Whitney for shooting video and shows off his chest.
00:06:40 Chief Sielu returns to making fire.
00:09:27 Opening a coconut with a sharp stick and a rock. Explains how to tell if a coconut is ripe.
00:11:35 Chief Sielu interacts with Jim about opening a coconut incorrectly.
00:12:30 Invites my Mom, Shirley to try the coconut juice, teases her for laughs.
00:13:22 Invites a Japanese guest to try the coconut juice and teases makes her uncomfortable for laughs.
00:14:35 Shredding the coconut meat to the tune of "Jingle Bells." Teases Korean guests about singing jingle bells, and one of their songs that sounds extremely similar.
00:16:25 Milking the coconut with coconut fiber from the shell. Korean guest tries the milk with comic interaction about marital status. Gives her palm frond headband with flower and invites her up for a photo.
00:18:50 Gives my Mom a flowered headband. He flirts with her about being single and invites her up for a photo. Funny interaction about how enthusiastically she hugs him.
00:19:35 Gives flowered headband to the Japanese guest and teases her about how intimidated she is by him.
00:21:20 Climbing a coconut tree.
00:23:00 Invitation to the finale, the BIG "Horizons" production show featuring all islands. Invitation to a tour of the community, university campus and the temple. "Aloha"
00:23:45 High quality photo slideshow featuring Chief Sielu and Shirley with links to other Hawaii videos.
00:24:06 End
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Arizona Andersons
Original photography - Jim (stills) and Whitney Anderson (video) - March 06, 2002
Edited for Mother's Day May 14, 2023