WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.040 Welcome to our latest deep dive. We are we're 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.059 so thrilled to have you joining us today. Absolutely. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.299 Really glad you're here. You know, if you have 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:09.720 ever gone tumbling down a late night Internet 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.740 rabbit hole, you know that sometimes buried right 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:15.080 beneath the dry dates and the historical footnotes, 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:17.980 you find a human story so wild it reads like 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:20.300 a Hollywood script. Oh, completely. Yeah. Kind 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:22.120 of story where you have to double check the sources. 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:25.199 Right. And today we are looking at a figure whose 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:28.820 life is, frankly, just astonishing. We're talking 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.039 about the multi -layered, completely unexpected 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.380 life of King Benny Nawahi. A true legend of the 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:37.560 Hawaiian steel guitar. Exactly. Our source today 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:40.299 is a heavily detailed Wikipedia article about 00:00:40.299 --> 00:00:43.259 him. And our mission is to explore how a kid 00:00:43.259 --> 00:00:46.259 playing for actual pennies in a local park transformed 00:00:46.259 --> 00:00:49.259 himself into a massive vaudeville star. And not 00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:51.619 just a star, but an absolute ukulele master. 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:55.259 Yes. A master who shared the stage with a legendary 00:00:55.259 --> 00:00:59.140 cowboy icon and eventually became an open ocean 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.299 endurance swimmer under the most unimaginable 00:01:01.299 --> 00:01:03.859 circumstances. It really defies logic. It does. 00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:06.980 By the time we wrap up this deep dive, I promise 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:09.560 you are going to be rethinking what is humanly 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.780 possible when life throws a massive curveball. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.420 So. OK, let's unpack this. I've been really looking 00:01:16.420 --> 00:01:19.099 forward to this one. It is so easy to just look 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:21.920 at a musician's timeline and see the hit records 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:25.700 or the big tours. But Nawahi's life is a masterclass 00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:28.939 in survival and adaptability. Yeah. He didn't 00:01:28.939 --> 00:01:31.519 just ride the shifting cultural tides of the 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:34.280 20th century. He continuously reinvented himself 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:37.730 to stay ahead of them. Reinvention is, I mean, 00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:39.810 it's really the core theme here. Let's start 00:01:39.810 --> 00:01:41.909 right at the beginning. He was born Benjamin 00:01:41.909 --> 00:01:46.150 Kiyokahia Nawahi in July 1899. In Honolulu. Right, 00:01:46.230 --> 00:01:48.849 which was then the territory of Hawaii. And he 00:01:48.849 --> 00:01:51.829 was one of 12 children. 12. 12. You can just 00:01:51.829 --> 00:01:54.310 imagine the sheer volume of activity and noise 00:01:54.310 --> 00:01:57.189 in that household. Now, despite the famous moniker 00:01:57.189 --> 00:01:59.629 King Benny Nawahi, he wasn't actually of royal 00:01:59.629 --> 00:02:02.069 descent. No, not at all. That king title came 00:02:02.069 --> 00:02:03.969 much later from the showbiz machine, which we 00:02:03.969 --> 00:02:06.239 will definitely get into. It was. Pure early 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:09.360 20th century marketing. His actual origins couldn't 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.659 have been further from royalty. Oh, incredibly 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:15.620 humble. As a kid, Nowahi was learning to play 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.460 guitar out in the public parks of Honolulu. Literally 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:21.939 playing for pennies. Yes, from anyone walking 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:24.580 by. This wasn't some prestigious conservatory 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:27.419 education. It was the ultimate grassroots musical 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:30.740 training. And he wasn't alone out there in the 00:02:30.740 --> 00:02:32.659 parks. He had some pretty intense competition. 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:35.979 He really did. He was jamming with other kids 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:38.419 who would go on to be massive legends in their 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.759 own right, like Soul Hoopy and Sam Ku West. So 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:44.520 Hoopy actually became his direct rival later 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.740 on for the title of King of the Hawaiian Guitar. 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:49.500 Which is a very hotly... tested title back then 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.719 it was but noah he was mastering multiple instruments 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.340 the ukulele the standard guitar the mandolin 00:02:55.340 --> 00:02:58.000 and especially the hawaiian steel guitar but 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.199 wait before we get too far how does a steel guitar 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:02.300 actually work compared to a standard acoustic 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:05.550 guitar yeah that's a crucial distinction Because 00:03:05.550 --> 00:03:07.650 it plays into everything he does later. Okay. 00:03:07.750 --> 00:03:09.569 For those who might not know, playing a Hawaiian 00:03:09.569 --> 00:03:11.810 steel guitar isn't just fretting and strumming 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:13.830 like you would around a campfire. The guitar 00:03:13.830 --> 00:03:15.930 usually sits flat on your lap. Your fretting 00:03:15.930 --> 00:03:18.189 hand doesn't press the strings down to the wood. 00:03:18.389 --> 00:03:21.150 Instead, you hold a heavy, solid metal bar, which 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:24.009 is the steel, and you slide it continuously along 00:03:24.009 --> 00:03:26.349 the strings to change the pitch. That sounds 00:03:26.349 --> 00:03:28.770 tricky. It requires incredible micro -precision. 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:31.610 If your hand is off by a millimeter, the note 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:34.400 is completely out of tune. You are constantly 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.460 managing this floating intonation while plucking 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:39.479 the strings with your other hand. That sounds 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:41.919 insanely difficult to master, especially just 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.759 figuring it out by ear in a park. But he clearly 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.580 had a gift because in 1919, he makes this massive 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:51.060 leap. He joins his brother Joe's band. The Hawaiian 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:53.879 Novelty Five. Hawaiian Novelty Five, yes. And 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:57.289 their main gig was on the Matsonia. But... How 00:03:57.289 --> 00:03:59.629 does a kid playing for change in a park suddenly 00:03:59.629 --> 00:04:02.289 get a steady gig on a luxury ocean liner? Was 00:04:02.289 --> 00:04:04.729 it just sheer luck? It was a mix of immense talent 00:04:04.729 --> 00:04:07.710 and really understanding the local economy. The 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:10.729 Metzoni was a major passenger liner sailing the 00:04:10.729 --> 00:04:12.810 route between Honolulu and San Francisco. Oh. 00:04:12.990 --> 00:04:15.409 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:18.970 that ship was literally and figuratively his 00:04:18.970 --> 00:04:23.089 vessel to mainland success. In the early 1900s, 00:04:23.089 --> 00:04:26.209 these luxury liners were essentially floating 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:29.170 cultural exchanges. Captive audiences. Exactly. 00:04:29.490 --> 00:04:32.050 By playing for wealthy travelers sailing between 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:34.610 the islands in California, the Hawaiian Novelty 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:37.269 Five built a massive audience. They were getting 00:04:37.269 --> 00:04:39.410 paid to rehearse and perform in front of mainland 00:04:39.410 --> 00:04:42.470 tastemakers, which acted as a direct pipeline 00:04:42.470 --> 00:04:44.870 to getting booked in North America. And it worked 00:04:44.870 --> 00:04:47.750 brilliantly because that pipeline led them straight 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:49.910 to the North American Orpheum vaudeville circuit. 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:52.329 The big leaks. The absolute pinnacle of live 00:04:52.329 --> 00:04:54.389 performance at the time. We are talking about 00:04:54.389 --> 00:04:57.670 a vast network of grand theaters across the U 00:04:57.670 --> 00:05:00.269 .S. and Canada. But it was also an incredibly 00:05:00.269 --> 00:05:03.089 grueling lifestyle. Vaudeville meant constant 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:05.170 travel on steam trains, living out of boarding 00:05:05.170 --> 00:05:07.430 houses and performing three, sometimes four times 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:09.589 a day. Every single day. Every single day. And 00:05:09.589 --> 00:05:11.670 you were constantly fighting to keep a restless, 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:15.629 demanding audience engaged. And the timing of 00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:18.069 their arrival on the mainland was perfect because 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:20.629 Nauahi didn't just arrive in America. He arrived 00:05:20.629 --> 00:05:23.050 right as America was losing its collective mind 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:26.350 over Hawaii. The 1920s Hawaiian music craze. 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:29.910 Exactly. There was a very specific catalyst for 00:05:29.910 --> 00:05:32.930 this. In 1920, the United States Congress officially 00:05:32.930 --> 00:05:35.629 established Hawaii National Park. Which later 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:38.649 got split into two separate parks. Right. That 00:05:38.649 --> 00:05:41.250 congressional act effectively put a massive national 00:05:41.250 --> 00:05:44.709 spotlight on the islands. Finally, the 1920s 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:47.110 became an absolute heyday for all things Hawaiian. 00:05:47.550 --> 00:05:50.230 The mainland developed an insatiable craze for 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:52.589 the aesthetics, the tropical escape, and especially 00:05:52.589 --> 00:05:54.970 the music. It's a fascinating cultural phenomenon. 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:57.670 A piece of federal legislation meant for land 00:05:57.670 --> 00:05:59.889 preservation inadvertently triggers a massive 00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:01.910 pop culture movement. Right. The American public 00:06:01.910 --> 00:06:03.730 was coming out of the shadows of World War I. 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:07.430 They were hungry for exoticism. And this romanticized 00:06:07.430 --> 00:06:10.470 version of Hawaiian music provided the perfect 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:13.709 breezy escapism. And whenever there is a craze, 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:15.629 the music industry is right there to cash in. 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:18.649 Tin Pan Alley, which was the epicenter of the 00:06:18.649 --> 00:06:20.629 American music publishing industry in New York, 00:06:20.709 --> 00:06:23.430 started pumping out songs just to capitalize 00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:25.839 on the trend. Oh, they definitely did. the titles 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:28.100 they came up with from our sources are delightfully 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:30.980 ridiculous for instance in 1915 they released 00:06:30.980 --> 00:06:33.899 hello hawaii how are you and the funny thing 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:35.879 is a lot of people on the mainland pronounce 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:39.800 the state's name as hawaii just to make the lyric 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:43.279 rhyme how are you how are ya then in 1916 we 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.120 get oh how she could yaki haki wiki waki woo 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.720 that sounds like pure Cartoon dialogue. Complete 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:52.399 nonsense syllables just thrown together. Then 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:56.000 there's Hula Dream Girl in 1924. It is blatant, 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.639 unabashed commercialism from publishers who had 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.319 likely never even been west of the Mississippi, 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.379 let alone to Honolulu. It absolutely was the 00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:06.339 commercialization and, frankly, the caricature 00:07:06.339 --> 00:07:09.319 of a culture. But for a legitimately authentic 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:12.660 Hawaiian musician like Benny Nauahi, this fabricated 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:15.120 craze was an unprecedented professional opportunity. 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:17.540 Right. It was the real deal. He had the actual 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:20.060 authenticity. authentic skills that Tin Pan Alley 00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:22.600 was desperately trying to imitate. And he squeezed 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:25.740 every drop out of that opportunity. He eventually 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:27.800 separates from his brother's band and goes solo 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:30.399 as a singing ukulele and steel guitar player. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.680 This is when Sid Grauman... Of Grauman's Chinese 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:37.319 theater fame? Yes, the legendary theater impresario. 00:07:37.660 --> 00:07:40.720 He officially proclaims Nawahi the king of the 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.720 ukulele. That royal branding stuck for the rest 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.079 of his life. But to survive as a solo act in 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:49.639 vaudeville history, especially during a saturated 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.740 cultural craze, just being a great musician wasn't 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.759 enough, was it? Not even close. The market was 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:58.819 completely flooded with Hawaiian acts, both authentic 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:01.480 musicians from the islands and mainland imitators 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:03.740 wearing cheap grass skirts. You couldn't just 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:05.439 stand there and play beautifully. You needed 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:07.379 a gimmick. You needed a hook. You had to have 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:09.360 a hook that made the audience gasp and tell their 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.120 friends to buy a ticket. That constant need to 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.680 hustle wasn't just about the music, it was about 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.540 sheer spectacle. Which explains how he ended 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:20.240 up performing my absolute favorite detail of 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.779 his stage show, Nawahi's signature novelty stunt. 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:26.529 He wouldn't just play the Hawaiian steel guitar. 00:08:26.790 --> 00:08:29.389 He would play the classic American folk song, 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:32.669 Turkey in the Straw, on the steel guitar. Using 00:08:32.669 --> 00:08:34.809 his feet. Using his feet. It's an incredible 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:37.029 mental image, especially when you think about 00:08:37.029 --> 00:08:38.909 the physical mechanics of the instrument we talked 00:08:38.909 --> 00:08:42.190 about earlier. Exactly. You just described how 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:44.970 hard it is to hold a heavy metal bar and slide 00:08:44.970 --> 00:08:47.190 it with micromillimeter precision using your 00:08:47.190 --> 00:08:49.769 hands. He was doing that with his toes. It's 00:08:49.769 --> 00:08:51.669 wild. While plucking the strings with his other 00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:55.019 foot. To the fast -paced bouncy tune of Turkey 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:57.399 in the Straw. What's fascinating here is why 00:08:57.399 --> 00:08:59.779 these gimmicks mattered so much. It wasn't just 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:02.580 cheap entertainment. It was a pure survival tactic. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:06.340 In the fiercely competitive environment of 1920s 00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:08.700 vaudeville, extreme novelty was the currency 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:11.840 of success. You had to stand out. You had acrobats, 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:15.480 comedians, animal acts, and dozens of musicians 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:17.919 all vying for the same audience in the same theater. 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:21.470 The Wahi understood that he couldn't just rely 00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:24.730 on the exoticism of the Hawaiian craze. He had 00:09:24.730 --> 00:09:27.769 to elevate it with sheer, undeniable physical 00:09:27.769 --> 00:09:30.730 showmanship. Yeah. Playing a complex stringed 00:09:30.730 --> 00:09:33.169 instrument with his feet demonstrated a level 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:35.690 of dexterity that completely separated him from 00:09:35.690 --> 00:09:38.389 every other act on the bill. He was a true showman. 00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:41.750 And that drive to stand out, that constant hustle, 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:44.230 bleeds right over into his recording career. 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:47.879 Here's where it gets really interesting. By 1928, 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:50.320 Nowahi is absolutely dominating the recording 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.799 studio. He starts recording for major labels 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.500 like Columbia, Victor QRS, and Grey Gull. He 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:57.580 was incredibly prolific. But he wasn't just putting 00:09:57.580 --> 00:09:59.320 out records under the name King Benny Nowahi. 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:01.539 He became a total chameleon. He was basically 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:04.659 the 1920s equivalent of a modern musician dropping 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:07.399 secret albums on Spotify under a dozen different 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:10.240 producer tags. Yes. He recorded under an absurd 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.200 number of aliases. He recorded as the Red Devils, 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.649 the QRS Boys. Slim Smith. Slim Smith. Slim Smith 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:19.409 sounds like a gravelly blues singer from Chicago, 00:10:19.669 --> 00:10:23.409 not a Hawaiian steel guitar master. He also recorded 00:10:23.409 --> 00:10:26.169 as the Hawaiian Beachcombers, the Georgia Jumpers, 00:10:26.210 --> 00:10:28.529 and King Nauahi and the International Cowboys. 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:31.950 The Victor Library even has a listing for a tune 00:10:31.950 --> 00:10:35.029 credited simply to J .A. Nauahi. He was everywhere, 00:10:35.210 --> 00:10:38.210 playing everything. Why so many names, though? 00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:41.190 Well, that fluid identity tells us so much about 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:44.500 how the 1920s music industry operated. Back then, 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:46.740 session musicians were often paid a flat rate 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:48.879 per recording rather than ongoing royalties. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:51.419 To make a living, you had to record constantly. 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.080 But labels didn't want to flood the market. Exactly. 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:56.059 They didn't want 20 records by the same artist 00:10:56.059 --> 00:10:59.720 in one month. So musicians used pseudonyms. Furthermore, 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:02.399 genre was remarkably fluid behind the doors of 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.059 a recording studio. If a label needed a hillbilly 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:07.320 record to sell in the South, Noahi could be a 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.740 Jordan jumper. If they needed a bluesy sound, 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:12.179 he was Slim Smith. And because of that genre 00:11:12.179 --> 00:11:14.360 hopping, Nowahi found himself playing with some 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.620 incredibly unexpected bandmates. Under that international 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.899 cowboy's alias, his groups included a singer 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:22.320 named Tim Spencer and a young guy named Leonard 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.899 Sly. Two very important names. Now those names 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:27.019 might not immediately ring a bell for you, but 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:29.559 they would soon form the legendary Western music 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.120 group the Sons of the Pioneers and Leonard Sly. 00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:35.710 You probably know him better by his later stage 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:38.750 name. The ultimate American cowboy star. Roy 00:11:38.750 --> 00:11:42.169 Rogers. That is right. Roy Rogers' early bands 00:11:42.169 --> 00:11:45.429 featured none other than King Benny Nawahi. It 00:11:45.429 --> 00:11:48.690 is such a remarkable historical crossover. A 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:52.129 Hawaiian steel guitar prodigy from Honolulu backing 00:11:52.129 --> 00:11:55.250 up the future king of the cowboys. It proves 00:11:55.250 --> 00:11:58.539 his immense versatility. Nowahi refused to be 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:00.740 confined to the Hawaiian Novelty Act box. He 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:02.840 was highly adaptable. He was a working musician 00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:05.580 who seamlessly blended into the emerging Western 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:07.960 and country music scenes, heavily influencing 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:09.720 the sound of the steel guitar and country music 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:11.580 along the way. He was just constantly working, 00:12:11.779 --> 00:12:15.179 recording, touring, innovating. But then, right 00:12:15.179 --> 00:12:16.980 at the height of all this momentum, the story 00:12:16.980 --> 00:12:20.019 takes a sudden, terrifying turn. The entire trajectory 00:12:20.019 --> 00:12:24.269 of his life changes overnight. It is 1935. Nowahi 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:27.809 is 36 years old. He has been riding this incredible 00:12:27.809 --> 00:12:31.250 wave of vaudeville and recording success. One 00:12:31.250 --> 00:12:33.950 night, he's simply driving home from a performance. 00:12:34.210 --> 00:12:36.769 And while he is behind the wheel out of nowhere, 00:12:37.090 --> 00:12:40.149 he is struck blind. Just completely, instantly 00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:42.809 blind. Completely. And the craziest part about 00:12:42.809 --> 00:12:45.330 him going blind is that doctors could never figure 00:12:45.330 --> 00:12:48.669 out why. There was no underlying condition, no 00:12:48.669 --> 00:12:51.450 gradual degradation of his sight. It was instant 00:12:51.450 --> 00:12:54.519 and it was permanent. Terrifying. Imagine the 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:56.720 sheer terror of that moment. You're driving down 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:58.600 the road after a gig and the world just goes 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:01.360 dark. For someone whose entire livelihood involved 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.980 navigating stages, reading sheet music, reading 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:06.360 the room and traveling across the country, this 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:07.940 really should have been the end of his career. 00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:10.610 It's hard to even fathom the logistics. Think 00:13:10.610 --> 00:13:12.490 about the physical realities of the vaudeville 00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:14.350 circuit we talked about earlier. Yeah. You are 00:13:14.350 --> 00:13:16.809 constantly walking onto unfamiliar stages in 00:13:16.809 --> 00:13:19.309 different cities, dealing with trap doors, intense 00:13:19.309 --> 00:13:22.370 stage lights, props from other acts left in the 00:13:22.370 --> 00:13:25.110 wings. Just a chaotic environment. Suddenly having 00:13:25.110 --> 00:13:27.730 to navigate that fast -paced environment without 00:13:27.730 --> 00:13:30.909 your sight is a monumental hurdle. But he didn't 00:13:30.909 --> 00:13:33.259 quit. He never allowed this permanent loss of 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:35.759 vision to stop him. He figured out how to adapt 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.919 his stage presence. He continued performing and 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:41.080 touring for decades, keeping his music alive 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:44.679 all the way until the 1970s when a stroke finally 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:47.659 left him partially paralyzed. A true lifetime 00:13:47.659 --> 00:13:49.840 of dedication. He even made a brief appearance 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.259 in an Academy Award nominated documentary in 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:54.720 1985 called Wizard of the Strings right before 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.000 he passed away in Long Beach, California. His 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:59.740 ability to just accept the new reality and keep 00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:01.379 moving forward rather than... Then retreating 00:14:01.379 --> 00:14:03.240 tells you everything you need to know about his 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.240 character. And if you think continuing to play 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.639 the vaudeville circuit blind is impressive, we 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:09.500 need to talk about what he did outside of music. 00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:11.639 Because this is the part of his life that just 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:13.679 completely blew my mind. This is the legendary 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:17.559 swim. It is 1946. It has been 11 years since 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:21.200 he lost his sight. He is entirely blind. And 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:23.860 what does Benny Nowahi do? He decides to set 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:26.580 a marathon swimming record. He swam across the 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:29.600 Pacific Ocean from San Pedro, California to Santa 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:32.419 Catalina Island. For some context on how punishing 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:35.539 that is, that is a 22 -mile swim in the open 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:38.679 ocean. The Catalina Channel is notorious for 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:40.940 strong, unpredictable currents and freezing water 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:44.429 temperatures. 22 miles. Blind. He essentially 00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:46.809 became the ultimate blind swimmer Catalina ever 00:14:46.809 --> 00:14:49.690 saw. The sheer physical mechanics of how he accomplished 00:14:49.690 --> 00:14:52.669 this are unbelievable. The swim took him just 00:14:52.669 --> 00:14:55.309 over 22 hours to complete. Almost a full day 00:14:55.309 --> 00:14:57.730 and night in the water. Submerged in the cold 00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:00.529 Pacific waters. And he was guided by exactly 00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:04.309 two things. His coach, a man named John Sonicson, 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:07.129 and the sound of a bell ringing on a lead boat. 00:15:07.330 --> 00:15:10.269 That is it. A single ringing bell cutting through 00:15:10.269 --> 00:15:12.289 the crash of the ocean waves. What's fascinating 00:15:12.289 --> 00:15:14.429 here is the psychological endurance required 00:15:14.429 --> 00:15:16.990 for an open ocean swim like that, compounded 00:15:16.990 --> 00:15:19.009 by the profound sensory deprivation of being 00:15:19.009 --> 00:15:21.970 blind. Right. Cited long -distance swimmers tackle 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:24.450 a channel or a straight, they rely heavily on 00:15:24.450 --> 00:15:27.070 visual milestones. They can see the horizon line. 00:15:27.169 --> 00:15:29.250 They can watch the shoreline of the island slowly 00:15:29.250 --> 00:15:31.909 getting larger. That gives you a boost. It gives 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:34.429 them a massive psychological boost to keep pushing 00:15:34.429 --> 00:15:36.970 through the pain. Norway had none of that visual 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:40.409 framing. He was just in a void. Exactly. A dark, 00:15:40.450 --> 00:15:43.789 freezing void of water. You were fighting unpredictable 00:15:43.789 --> 00:15:47.269 ocean swells that toss you around, dealing with 00:15:47.269 --> 00:15:50.330 sheer muscle exhaustion, trusting your life entirely 00:15:50.330 --> 00:15:53.070 to the sound of a bell. Just one bell. If you 00:15:53.070 --> 00:15:54.970 lose the sound of that bell over the roar of 00:15:54.970 --> 00:15:57.710 the waves, or if you panic in the darkness, you 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:01.110 are lost at sea. It is an absolute masterclass 00:16:01.110 --> 00:16:04.950 in trust, in physical endurance, and in supreme 00:16:04.950 --> 00:16:07.850 mental discipline. It completely redefines the 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:10.370 limits of human capability, which brings us to 00:16:10.370 --> 00:16:12.690 the end of our journey today. So what does this 00:16:12.690 --> 00:16:15.289 all mean for you right now? I think his story 00:16:15.289 --> 00:16:17.610 is the ultimate reminder that when the ground 00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.009 shifts underneath us, whether it is the shifting 00:16:20.009 --> 00:16:23.269 cultural tastes of an industry or a sudden, terrifying 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:25.929 physical condition, we possess this deep, innate 00:16:25.929 --> 00:16:29.279 capacity. To adapt. To reinvent ourselves. Yes. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.799 Wow. And when everything goes dark, to literally 00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:34.299 just keep swimming. This raises an important 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:37.419 question about how we view limitations. So often, 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:39.840 a physical disability is framed by society as 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.259 an ending, or at best, a reason to lower our 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:45.059 expectations. But Noahi fundamentally refused 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:47.279 to let his blindness dictate the boundaries of 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:50.019 his life. He just refused. He didn't just try 00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:52.740 to maintain his old life. He pushed outward into 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:55.200 the Pacific Ocean to achieve something that most 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.279 sighted athletes wouldn't even dare attempt. 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.480 He challenges us to look at our own perceived 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.440 limitations and question whether they are truly 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:06.779 insurmountable boundaries or just new conditions 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:08.980 that we haven't adapted to yet. New conditions 00:17:08.980 --> 00:17:11.420 we haven't adapted to yet. That is such a powerful 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:14.299 way to frame it. Before we sign off, I want to 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:16.519 leave you with one final provocative thought 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:20.279 to ponder on your own. It is about those 22 hours 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.099 in the water. Imagine the sensory experience 00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:26.289 of that swim. Remember, Nowahi wasn't just an 00:17:26.289 --> 00:17:28.869 athlete. He was a master musician. His entire 00:17:28.869 --> 00:17:31.930 identity was built on highly tuned auditory skills. 00:17:32.190 --> 00:17:34.089 That's a great point. He could hear the microtones 00:17:34.089 --> 00:17:36.750 of a steel guitar sliding into place. He could 00:17:36.750 --> 00:17:39.690 lock into perfect time with Roy Rogers. How much 00:17:39.690 --> 00:17:42.349 did that incredible world -class musical ear 00:17:42.349 --> 00:17:45.589 help him during that swim? Imagine how his brain, 00:17:45.589 --> 00:17:48.349 trained for decades to isolate melodies and harmonies, 00:17:48.430 --> 00:17:51.289 was able to zero in on the exact pitch and rhythm 00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:53.450 of that single bell ringing on the lead boat. 00:17:53.549 --> 00:17:56.009 He heard the music in the ocean. Where anyone 00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:58.630 else might have just heard the chaotic, terrifying 00:17:58.630 --> 00:18:01.769 noise of the crashing ocean, Nawahi, the musician, 00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:04.910 found the rhythm, followed the note, and navigated 00:18:04.910 --> 00:18:07.250 the vast Pacific. It makes you wonder. Maybe 00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:08.930 the music never actually stopped for him. It 00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:11.230 just changed its tune. Thank you so much for 00:18:11.230 --> 00:18:13.490 joining us on this deep dive into the extraordinary 00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:16.390 life of King Benny Nawahi. We hope you walk away 00:18:16.390 --> 00:18:19.190 as inspired by his journey as we are. Until next 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:21.789 time, keep exploring, keep questioning, and we 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:23.150 will catch you on the next one.