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Sharon Yamato
310-823-7997
sharony360@gmail.com
GO FOR BROKE NATIONAL EDUCATION CENTER TO HOST 7TH ANNUAL "EVENING OF ALOHA" GALA DINNER
For Immediate Release
Photos provided upon request
November 15 Event to Feature Keynote Speaker Ret. General Eric K. Shinseki and the Best of Asian Fusion Cuisine, Music and More!
TORRANCE, Calif. (October 7, 2008) – The Go For Broke National Education Center is excited to announce that its much anticipated Evening of Aloha gala dinner will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2008 at the Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles. This ever-popular evening affair, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, Union Bank of California, and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., will feature an amazing dinner with cuisine prepared by world-renowned chef Roy Yamaguchi (Roy's Restaurants worldwide) and Chris Yeo (Straits and Sino restaurants Northern CA and Atlanta) and exceptional entertainment by award-winning Hawaiian music group, Maunalua. Attendees will be treated to a special keynote address given by retired General Eric K. Shinseki, former U.S. Army chief-of-staff. Serving as the evening's Mistress and Master of Ceremonies is actress Tamlyn Tomita and KABC-TV news anchor David Ono.
In addition to the keynote address, fabulous food and entertainment, an exceptional silent auction and opportunity draw for a 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid will also take place. Dinner tickets are $175 per person, and all veterans and spouses receive a special price of $125 per person. Tables of 10 are $1750. The silent auction and registration starts at 4 p.m. and the dinner and program begins at 6 p.m.
General Shinseki, who also serves as the National Educational Center's national spokesperson, served as the 34th chief of staff, U.S. Army from 1999-2003, before retiring from active service on August 1, 2003. He served for 38 years in a succession of military command and staff assignments worldwide, including two combat tours in Vietnam and more than 10 years in Cold War and post-Cold War Europe. He culminated his service in Europe in 1998, with three simultaneous commands: U.S. Army, Europe; NATO Land Forces, Central Europe, both headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany; and the NATO-led Peace Stabilization Force, Bosnia-Herzegovina, headquartered in Sarajevo.
In addition to decorations from the U.S. government, General Shinseki was recognized by NATO and the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, and Thailand for his military service. Currently General Shinseki serves as a director on several corporate boards and serves on the senior advisory boards at the Center for Public Leadership, JFK School of Government, Harvard University, and at the Government Accountability Office to the Comptroller General of the United States. Additionally, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council of the United States, and the Association of the United States Army.
The National Education Center's Board of Director and Evening of Aloha's signature Chef, Roy Yamaguchi has teamed up this year with Chef Chris Yeo, who will serve up a sumptuous three-course menu. The fourth course, dessert, is being presented by King's Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant.
Based on childhood memories of Hawaii, Chef Yamaguchi invented what he refers to as "Hawaiian Fusion© Cuisine" — a combination of exotic flavors and spices mixed with the freshest of local ingredients and an emphasis on seafood. Soon after the original Roy's opened in Honolulu, "Food & Wine Magazine" dubbed it the "crown jewel of Honolulu's East-West eateries," and it was named one of "Conde Nast Traveler's" "Top 50." "Gourmet" acknowledged Yamaguchi as "the father of modern East-West cooking" while the "New York Times" described him as "the Wolfgang Puck of the Pacific." Yamaguchi is now regarded as a pioneer who mastered a distinctive style. As testimony to his success, there are now 37 Roy's, including 28 in the continental U.S., seven in Hawaii, one in Japan and Guam. Southern California locations include: Los Angeles, Pasadena, Newport Beach and Woodland Hills.
He has received the James Beard "Best Pacific Northwest Chef" award, and has hosted six seasons of the PBS-TV show, "Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi" seen on more than 300 stations in all 50 states and in more than 60 countries. Equally notable, he was a featured chef on the acclaimed TV Food Network program, "My Country, My Kitchen," which took viewers back to his roots in Japan.
Chef Chris Yeo, Straits restaurants and SINO Restaurant & Lounge's executive chef and owner, graduated from Singapore's Hotel and Catering School and worked for two years at the world-renowned Mandarin Hotel. Moving to London, he switched careers and studied at Vidal Sassoon, becoming a hair stylist in London and later moving to San Francisco to open his own salon.
Yeo had always loved good food, and dreamed of bringing his native Singaporean food to the Bay Area. He opened Straits Café in San Francisco in 1987 and a Palo Alto location in 1998. In 2003 he opened an upscale version of Straits on San Jose's Santana Row, and another in Burlingame, California. In September 2005, Yeo opened SINO Restaurant & Lounge in Santana Row, focusing on a new concept of Chinese cuisine. In May 2008, Yeo partnered with Grammy award-winning artist Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to open a Straits Restaurant in Atlanta.
Visitors to his Straits restaurants are taken with Yeo's dishes that integrate the bright flavors and cooking styles of Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Nonya (a result of the marriage between Chinese men and Malay women generations ago, considered the native style of Singaporean cooking) cuisines. He also uses exotic spices and the freshest herbs and ingredients.
This elegant evening of fine dining will also feature wonderful Hawaiian entertainment provided by musical group Maunalua. Award-winning Los Angeles-based hula halau Keali'i O Nalani will also perform.
With the success of their first two albums that garnered them multiple Na Hoku Hanohano awards (Hawaii's version of the Grammy award) in 2001 and 2004 for "Hawaiian Album of the Year," "Group of the Year," and "Favorite Entertainers of the Year," Maunalua has been working hard to uphold the honors bestowed to them by Hawaii's Academy of Recording Artists. Their efforts paid off in 2008, being recognized again with the Na Hoku Hanohano "Group of the Year" award.
Maunalua's foundation is fortified by their ohana or family. All three members are blessed by the love of their ohana and allows them to pass on this "aloha" in their music.
Kahi Kaonohi has more than 20 years of music experience. His bass guitar playing drives the group with emotion and energy second to none. He also has one of the most "Hawaiian" voices Hawaii has seen in a long time. Bruce Spencer, with more than 30 years of experience, comes from a wonderful line of musicians and is the son of legendary Elaine Ako Spencer. He is the mastermind behind Maunalua's magical three-part harmonies and one of Hawaii's masters of the ukulele. Bobby Moderow, also with 20 years of music experience, was schooled by the legendary slack-key guitar master, Raymond Kane. Taking his art very seriously, he teaches those willing to carry on this reversed art form.
Proceeds of the 7th annual Evening of Aloha will support the National Education Center's preservation and education programs, including the Hanashi Oral History Program that maintains the nation's largest collection of WWII Nisei veteran oral histories; American Story Teacher Training Program with workshops and curriculum materials that provides educators with tools to teach the values embodied by the Nisei WWII veterans, and other interactive initiatives and programming.
For tickets contact Yumi Yukawa at (310) 222-5702 or email her at yumi@goforbroke.org. More information and tickets are accessible at www.GoForBroke.org/eoa as well as a list of additional Evening of Aloha sponsors and other sponsorship opportunities.
The Go For Broke National Education Center was established in 1989 and built the Go For Broke Monument near Los Angeles' Civic Center as an eternal tribute to those who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service (MIS), and the many other men and women who served overseas during World War II. For more information, visit www.GoForBroke.org.
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