Colony band fundraiser a laughing matter

PALMER — What do you think of when you hear the term “high school fundraiser?”

Spaghetti feeds, car washes, maybe a gun show?

Hawaiian comedy tour probably doesn’t rank on that list, but promoters of the Na Ali’i of Comedy show hope that after Saturday it will be.

“They are four of the best-known comedians in Hawaii and they’re very well known throughout the Lower 48, especially in the Polynesian community,” said Lani Monds, a Colony High School choir teacher who set up the show.

The comedians are Augie T., Frank DeLima, Andy Bumatai and Mel Cabang.

“I love them. They’re very funny guys, they’re very clean, which is really important to us,” Monds said.

The show is a fundraiser for the Colony High School marching band. The comedians are splitting the proceeds with the band’s booster club.

“Everyone I know that has seen it has said it was good,” said band teacher Jamin Burton. “Everyone who has seen them just raves about how hilarious they are and how worth it is.”

Burton said he tries to bring his band to a big, national celebration regularly enough to get each kid a chance to go to such an event in the course of his or her high school career.

In 2006, they marched in the National Independence Day Parade on the Fourth of July. In 2009, they marched at the first Inauguration Parade for President Barack Obama. In 2010, it was the Sugar Bowl. In 2011, a pair of students marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Next year it’ll be the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That’s what the fundraising is for. Burton and a group of kids went down for a “preview trip” this year to scope out the lay of the land.

On that trip, he said, he learned that he also can invite band alumni to join the Colony Band.

“Honestly, I didn’t even ask for it until I saw that other bands were doing it. I saw a group of people with one of the other bands that were all there,” he said.

He had no idea that was allowed, but it solved a problem he’d had — a lot of his graduating students were the very ones who’d completed and submitted the successful application to march in the parade. It made planning for the trip kind of melancholy.

“That was the hardest thing, trying to talk about it and all the seniors were bummed,” Burton said. “ It was great to let them know that they could come if they wanted to.”

But is he set up for that? Does he have the uniforms and other equipment to make it happen?

“No we don’t. We’re going to have to get some more uniforms and probably a couple more instruments, but we have a really good fundraising plan,” Burton said.

Which, of course, is where things like Na Ali’i come in.

Monds said that she met some of the comedians a few times when she lived in Hawaii. A good friend of hers, she said, did publicity work for them so when Burton was looking for fundraising opportunities she asked her friend if she could get one of the comedians.

Instead, she got four.

“‘We’re actually looking for a charity up there to come up and support,’” she recalled her friend saying. “So that worked out very well.”

The four comedians add up to a show that lasts an hour and a half. Burton said there will be a 30-minute pre-show with the Colony High School choir.

Monds and Burton agreed that tickets were moving faster at Anchorage locations than in the Valley, but buzz was starting to spread.

“All of the people I know up here who are from Hawaii are like, ‘oh, that’s so cool!’ It makes you homesick,” Monds said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

What: Na Ali’I of Comedy

When: Saturday, Feb. 2

Where: Colony High School gym

Cost: $30 per ticket

Tickets available at Colony High, Matanuska Music, and in Anchorage at Hula Hands Restaurant or Kansha Japanese Restaurant.