Pineapple Strummers bring 'aloha' spirit to Camarillo seniors
Group plays for the love of Hawaiian music
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Jann Hendry/Acorn Newspapers MAHALO- The Pineapple Strummers trio, Tyrus Goo, left, and Kay and Mike Nakamura, provide lunchtime entertainment at the Apple-A-Day Cafe at the Camarillo Community Center on the fourth Tuesday of each month.

Mike Nakamura is doing exactly what he wants these days.

Since retiring from his civil service job at the Naval Base Ventura County five years ago, the Camarillo resident has had time to pursue his hobby and perfect his passion- playing the ukulele.

"It's so much fun," said the 70-year-old Hawaii native.

Nakamura entertains around the county and elsewhere with his wife, Kay, who also plays the ukulele and dances the hula.

Knowing the Nakamuras' love for Hawaiianstyle performances, longtime friend Walt Robbins asked them to play at the Apple-A-Day Cafe, the senior lunch program at the Camarillo Community Center.

Robbins, chair of the Camarillo Council on Aging and a volunteer with the Camarillo meal delivery program to homebound seniors, said it's a way of brightening up the seniors' day.

He felt the mission was accomplished after he spotted an older, frail-looking man, who only seemed interested in eating his food, tapping his foot to the ukulele music.

"I felt good about it," Robbins said, "because that was really what we were trying to do."

The husband-wife team asked their friend Tyrus Goo, a singer and ukulele player, to join them, and they named the group the Pineapple Strummers.

The Strummers have been a lunchtime staple at the cafe for the last several months.

The Nakamuras are members of three other Hawaiian-style bands that have performed at private events and ukulele festivals in Southern California and at the Ventura County Fair for more than a decade.

In addition to playing the ukuleke, for the last two years Kay has performed a hula dance for the crowd. Kay takes professional hula lessons because she wants to give an authentic performance.

"I'm enjoying that," said Kay Nakamura, also a retired civil service worker from the Navy base.

"We just have a great time," Mike Nakamura said.

"To share the same interest as my wife, that's a plus."

The couple perform mainly at senior homes and centers, gigs that generally don't pay.

But that doesn't stop them from performing.

"I've never had so much fun in my life," Mike Nakamura said.

Mike and Kay Nakamura have two adult sons.