Pakele Live! To Hold Fundraiser for Family of Slain Mililani Grad, w/Kamaka Fernandez, B.E.T, “Champ” Kaneshiro & Kaleo Pilanca

Aloha mai kakou,
Just getting out a quick press release - please help spread the word! (I'll do a regular newsletter in a day or two.)

Pakele Live! with Tony Solis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2010

MEDIA CONTACT: Lynn Piccoli
(808) 292-0067
lynn@pakelelive.com

Pakele Live! with Tony Solis To Hold Fundraiser for Family of Slain Mililani Grad

HONOLULU — Kamakakehau Fernandez, B.E.T, and Comedians Blane “Champ” Kaneshiro and Kaleo Pilanca will perform in a March 4th benefit for the family of Patrick Shige Matsuda. Matsuda, 40, a Mililani High School graduate who was born and raised in Honolulu, was brutally beaten and stabbed in front of his home in Bakersfield, CA on February 7, 2010. Three men have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with his death.


Matsuda left Hawai’i in 1988 to attend CSU Bakersfield on a wrestling scholarship, and gained the distinction of becoming the only wrestler to qualify for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships for two consecutive years. He graduated with a degree in Physical education in 1993. An avid body builder, he won the middleweight National Physique Committee (NPC) USA championship title in 2001. At the time of his death, he was a Health, Safety & Environmental field representative for Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company.

Matsuda was a dedicated family man, devoted to his wife Annette, and actively involved in the lives of his four young children; Whitney, Madison, Ciara, and Patrick. Upon receiving the news of his death, Tony Solis, host of OC16 TV’s Pakele Live! concert series and a former classmate of Matsuda, began organizing the fundraiser with the help of other classmates, family members and friends. In addition to performances by award-winning falsetto singer Kamakakehau Fernandez, local hip-hop/reggae duo B.E.T., comedian, bodybuilder and local TV personality Blane “Champ” Kaneshiro, and comedian Kaleo Pilanca, morning host on 102.7 FM Da Bomb, there will be raffle prizes. All funds raised will benefit the Matsuda children.

The fundraiser will be held from 6-8 pm on Thursday, March 4 in the Pakele Lounge at the Ala Moana Hotel (140 Atkinson Drive, Honolulu). Admission is free, but donations to benefit the Matsuda children will be gladly accepted. The concert will also be broadcast live at http://www.pakelelive.com/

Organizers of the event are still accepting donations of prizes to be raffled. Anyone wishing to donate items may contact Kehau Hatico at (808) 330-7459 or eztyga007@hotmail.com, or Tony Solis at (808) 348-0234.

###